Generic Battery Warning

[Conrad Theil]

Just a small warning about the Pearstone BPS-FV70 that “Replaces Sony NP-FV70” battery.

It did not fit my Sony NX70U

There is a tab in the camera battery bay that prevents this battery body from being taken by the camera. Maybe I was foolish for buying it – but from everything I’ve seen it should have worked. I’m hoping B&H will take care of me and not charge me for the return as I don’t see any warnings on their page either – I will find out in the morning when they are open.

Pictures of the offending tab on the Pearstone that prevents it from being slid in the final 2mm are attached.

[John Knight]

I just purchased a FV100 battery from Hong Kong based trader 'hk_yuqian' on Ebay. Cost US$28.90+shipping. Looks genuine. Maybe fake. Fits, works well, seems to last a long time.

[Bob Hart]

Conrad.

Maybe all you need to do is carve with precision, that little plastic web out with a sharp pointy-ended knife or soldering iron and knife-end. There appears to be a clearance behind it. It might be there as a tricky means to avoid infringing on a registered design, intended to break away on first insertion but too thick to do so. If the battery is legit licenced to use the design, then it might be a defect in the plastic castwork.

Ask BH if they will permit you a warranty on the battery if you precisely trim that web out, the battery fits home but then still does not work. Let BH know anyway so they can in turn tell the supplier.

The third party manufacturer might have got lucky with initial pre-release tests, gone into mass-production where the web fault might have been introduced and may be ignorant of the fault.

[Dave Blackhurst]

FWIW, as far as I know, Sony doesn't "license" their battery designs/technology - anything not genuine Sony (be they knockoffs with "sony" fake labels or "generics") may or may not work properly - Sony changes the shell designs slightly every couple years, and a lot of it has to do with the little bits of plastic (physically the FP, FH and FV batteries were nearly identical, just enough different to prevent "old" batteries on "new" cameras).

When the generics are "reverse engineered", they try to match the "keys", sometimes with mixed results. Chinese molds are often "off"...

The second lockout is whether the electronics properly communicate with the camera (thus making modification of the plastic bits somewhat speculative, and usually futile).

There is a chance that cleaning out that bit of plastic might work since presumably the electronics are properly coded as an "FV".

Somehow I've never been comfortable with aftermarket batteries, and since the generics are so much less, it's worth a try, but I've always returned to picking up genuine Sonys...

[Mike Beckett]

Given that B&H have the genuine Sony FV100 for $90, and the Pearstone is just $20 cheaper, I'm not sure I would risk a generic brand in my camera - especially if it has to be butchered to fit!

[Andrew Smith]

And when there is a fault/issue with your camera and you send it in for repairs at a Sony repair shop, they will ask you to leave the camera battery in the unit. Apparently issues can originate from the quality of the electricity supplied to the camera from the battery.

Guess what they tell you if you are using a non-genuine battery?

Andrew

[Conrad Theil]

I had a similar thought about "shaving" the offending spot. However, when I looked closer I noticed that the battery had a different Voltage I grew concerned about the warranty. Then I noticed that the mAh rating (which I’ve found is the best indicator of life) was not as good as the “Authentic” battery so I sent it back and will probably get the real Sony VF100.

Now my thoughts are the same as Mike B. So much for saving a few dollars. At least John got a screaming deal - hopefully it's not "hot!"

[Mike Beckett]

Conrad, hopefully B&H will honor your refund on that.

It is good to get a warning about this product, this may prevent other people from making the same mistake. It's just a pity you have to be the one to suffer the inconvenience.

The only off-brand battery I've ever used was an IDX one for my Panasonic HMC40. I figured that IDX was a well enough known brand to be reliable, but technically even that could void the warranty if something went wrong!