Battery drain.

[iain clyne]

Has anyone found that their Sony batteries drain while in their camera bag. I have just taken two out of my bag that were fully charged when put in, one was below half and the other on was flat.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Hi IAIN,
I haven't experienced this and routinely am carrying up to 6 batteries.....any. chance your batteries have been exposed to temperature variations whilst in your bag....?

 

[iain clyne]

Hi IAIN,
I haven't experienced this and routinely am carrying up to 6 batteries.....any. chance your batteries have been exposed to temperature variations whilst in your bag....?

It might be that with the weather we have been having lately.

 

[spudhead]

Hi Iain any lipo-lion or similar batteries are prone to issues regarding temperature, and not just in cameras

 

[Ralph]

I have got only one genuine battery and the rest are after market.
While I was using the aftermarket Battery pack my batteries were okay as I think .
And with out it I have not notice this either.
I also carry 6 batteries with me on every outing,

 

[iamdlewis]

Yes but the loss of power generally takes days before it is lower than 90%. I have noticed that my older batteries do drain faster than newer ones and the 3rd party ones do drain faster than the Sony of the same general age.
Naturally cold weather will drain batteries faster than normal regardless of age.

 

[iain clyne]

What's interesting is I have two third party batteries in my bag as well, all were in the bag for the same amount of time, all were fully charged when put in. The third party batteries only dropped about 10%.

 

[Unframed Dave]

I don't know if it's the case with Sony batteries, but dji drone batteries are programmed to discharge if left "idle" for longish periods.

 

[iain clyne]

Maybe that might be the case with the Sony ones.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Hi Iain,
all my batteries are sony originals and are 3 to 4 years old and i have at times had them
sitting idle for a week or more with very little(5% max) or no charge degradation t all...i know this doesn't help
you but could the problem revolve around your initial chage/charger.....?

 

[iain clyne]

They were all charged on the charger that came with my A1. I have another charger so will give that a go.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

I have a cube 2 dual sony battery charger which gives a digital/LED readout of the % charge in
each battery as they charge which I find very useful...a little more expensive than other chargers but very useful when charging and for sorting out charged batteries from used just by putting the battery in the charger and it gives an immediate read out of the level of charge remaining.

 

[iamdlewis]

They were all charged on the charger that came with my A1. I have another charger so will give that a go.

I don't see what difference a charger will make in this, the power going in is going to be the same. If any charger says that the battery is full and then you put that battery in the camera and the camera says it is full then the charger works correctly.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Charger malfunction Is not an impossible event .....in Iain's situation he needs to eliminate
the possible causes to allow him to identify the real cause.

A simple process of elimination....nothing more complicated than that..

 

[iain clyne]

Some are older, two are less than six months old. The third party ones don’t get used unless I need them so are nearly new.
i have now charged them all up to full on another charger and will see how they fair.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Lets see.......maybe common sense, as aspoused by some non engineers/ would be technicians may not prevail...

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Not going to get into an argument with you Ray. If the charger works properly with all batteries except two, it isn't the charger. It doesn't take an Engineer to determine that. BTW, I work for one of the largest engineering firms in the world. Be careful where you go, you may end up on the short end.

I am not looking to argue either but as a professional chartered and fellow engineer of a worldwide recognised enginerring organisation in the oil and gas industry designing Oil refineries for the past 30 years have dealt all my life with ,"would be" engineers from around the world and don't need you to question my simple effort to help Iain solve his problem ......my advice was simple and well explained and doesn"t need your oversight...stick to your wheel house.....

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Agreed....

 

[spudhead]

I don't know if it's the case with Sony batteries, but dji drone batteries are programmed to discharge if left "idle" for longish periods.

Lipo li fe lion batteries of any cell count in rc applications should only ever be kept at storage level charge when not in use, 40 years in high level rc racing has taught me that with cell counts from1-12 cells being charged and balanced perfectly to endure 20-25 minutes of high speed racing. Another useless fact from me

 

[spudhead]

Just wondering why most of you guys need so many spare batteries with you when you go shooting? jeez I get a 4 hour walk with 2 batteries in my grip and even then usually the second battery is either full or just come in to play

 

[spudhead]

So as an update for you guys Sony use lion battery packs in e-mount and they are 2 cell packs ie 7.2 volt 2 x 3.6 volt cells with a centre tappet for balancing of the pack.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Similar as above with 2 cameras, shooting from sunrise to sunset, with extra capacity
in case over night charging is not available and/or i camp out in the field to
recommence early morning shooting for the next day for any reason.......covering
my options basically.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Just wondering why most of you guys need so many spare batteries with you when you go shooting? jeez I get a 4 hour walk with 2 batteries in my grip and even then usually the second battery is either full or just come in to play

Agreed. I have 2. OEM and 2 powerextras. I never run out 2 in a day, and I can take 1500 shots. The Powerextra only get used when I forget to charge the Sonys

 

[iain clyne]

Some days when I am covering rugby I have two games to do with two camera bodies and if it’s cold those batteries go down quicker. That’s when I miss my Nikon D5 as the battery in that seemed to last for ever.

 

[spudhead]

Some days when I am covering rugby I have two games to do with two camera bodies and if it’s cold those batteries go down quicker. That’s when I miss my Nikon D5 as the battery in that seemed to last for ever.

That may just be the battery capacity Iain, Sony genuine e-mount packs are around about 2280 milliamp I believe and nikon could be some what bigger, although Sony a-mount cameras were heavy on the battery packs, and of course battery life depends on what you have turned on in the camera menu

 

[iain clyne]

That may just be the battery capacity Iain, Sony genuine e-mount packs are around about 2280 milliamp I believe and nikon could be some what bigger, although Sony a-mount cameras were heavy on the battery packs, and of course battery life depends on what you have turned on in the camera menu

The EVF doesn’t help either.

 

[spudhead]

So not to change the subject, but while we're waiting for Iain's testing to bear results, is anyone using a pouch to keep spares in? I currently just toss mine in a pocket in my backpack loose. Charged batteries in one, and spent in another. That takes up two pockets. If I had a case I could do it all in one, charged batteries face down and spent face up.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/859450-REG/Think_Tank_969_DSLR_Battery_Holder_4.html/qa

Thinking about the same type of thing for cards.

No but there is a reason the airport authorities ask you to tape the terminal end of your camera battery packs, these little buggers can ark out and they burn furiously or explode, a mate of mine burnt his car out with a dodgy lipo at an rc race meet while it was sat on the floor of his car it touched a metal seat rail and the rest is a lesson on how to keep lion and lipo batteries they are not allowed to charged or kept at the track side unless in a lipo safe box or bag. I for one do not carry camera batteries un taped across terminals or in items of clothing it can be very dangerous

 

[spudhead]

Another good reason to use a pouch then.

Found this on fleabay, $11 US and it holds four batteries and four cards. Perfect! I ordered it already!

Pouch is better than loose for sure Tim

 

[Unframed Dave]

One in the camera, one in the pocket for a few hours on the birds. I may take a few if I'm lugging a couple of bodies around all day.

Dave (former engineer, with letters after my name, not that I’ve ever used them)

 

[iamdlewis]

That may just be the battery capacity Iain, Sony genuine e-mount packs are around about 2280 milliamp I believe and nikon could be some what bigger, although Sony a-mount cameras were heavy on the battery packs, and of course battery life depends on what you have turned on in the camera menu

A-mounts were DSLR which unlike mirrorless are not always on when on.

So not to change the subject, but while we're waiting for Iain's testing to bear results, is anyone using a pouch to keep spares in? I currently just toss mine in a pocket in my backpack loose. Charged batteries in one, and spent in another. That takes up two pockets. If I had a case I could do it all in one, charged batteries face down and spent face up.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/859450-REG/Think_Tank_969_DSLR_Battery_Holder_4.html/qa

Thinking about the same type of thing for cards.

I like the idea of this but these make it difficult to pack in bags which is annoying because if I need my bag I am more likely to be going out in which I need more batteries.