VX & PD series battery / batteries

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Federico Prieto

I have a "near new" Sony NP-F970 Info-Lithium Battery that I let about one year without use....Now it can't get charge at all...It looks like totally dead....

Is there a way to recover it?

Thanks

F

Federico, if you have a voltmeter or a multimeter, check this NP-970 to see what its voltage level is. Many chargers require a battery to be at a certain minimum voltage, before they will start the charging cycle. If it has been unused for a year, its voltage may have dropped below the level that your charger requires. Do you have an external charger or are you using the camcorder's built-in charger? I have an external charger that won't work on 7.2 volt batteries that have dropped below the 5 volt level. However, if I put them in a camcorder and set it to internally charge, it will bring a battery up from below 5 volts.

It's important to know that with a battery that has run down very low, for the first 10 to 15 minutes of charging, nothing will show in the "time-remaining" display. It has to slowly build up the charge from its low level, for anything to show in the display. I think that many people with low batteries may put them into a camcorder and when 5 minutes goes by, with no charge showing, they give up and assume the battery is ruined. The chargers in these camcorders are "smart" and are programmed to charge extra-low batteries very slowly at first. This is a safety precaution, as a lithium battery with a very low voltage level may react badly if too high a charging current is sent into it. I've heard rumors about such batteries exploding when too high a charge is applied, but I know of no specific cases. This might be the reason that my external charger is programmed to not charge extra-low batteries at all. If this battery of yours won't respond to the camcorder's charger after 15 or 20 minutes, then it might be best to send it to the recyclers and buy a new one.

[Jack D. Hubbard]

your batteries. I have a couple of 960's that are 5 years old and still work well. I use and charge them in rotation. For example if I use a battery for a half day (970's last a long time), I put in it the charger and still might an hour or two of power. I will do the same thing for each battery. I rarely run them all the way down. It should be said I am not a tech type, but a producer/editor who shoots a lot of tape. But my batteries seem to last a long time. And I use them to run lights, decks and cameras.

[Mekhael Trepanier]

hopping someone can help me out here

i bought a used vx 2000

i just also bought a generek brand battery off ebay on teh bakc side of the battery it specifies that its for sony NP - F960

same as the other battery that came with the camera

the problem im having is when i turn the camera on about 10 seconds latter a blue screen apears that says for info lithium battery system

does this simply mean my new cheap battery wont work ?
or is there something im not doing rite

thanks for any input

MEKHAEL

[Mike Rehmus]

It does mean your battery is not compatible.

[Mekhael Trepanier]

thank you
not the answer i was hopping for but i guess thats life

time to find a real sony battery for the camera

thanks for your reply

[Alex Dolgin]

Does not have to be a Sony battery. Lenmar makes good quality batteries, 100% compatible with the Sony "Infolithium" standard. (They are more expensive than "Ebay" batteries, but much less costly than Sony)

[Daniel Lynn]

Me again!

I had a question about the batteries available for the VX2100. On the Sony website, it claims that the NP-F770 gets up to 10 hours of use (I'm assuming that's with only the viewfinder, under simple settings). However, the listing is for a Handycam. Should I make the the assumption that the Handycam uses less juice in general and that using the F770 in my VX2100 with give me significantly less time than 10 hours? If so, how many hours with the battery give me? The sony website doesn't list it.

Is anybody using this battery. I don't need a 10 hour battery, but if on the VX2100 that same battery is only a 3-5 hour battery, than that's what I need.

Thanks!

Daniel

[Chris Barcellos]

I think that is fine. The Sony power consumption is one of many nice things about these cameras. They are stingy with use of power.

On my VX2000 I use the 550, and can get a couple of hours with it. I also have a Lenmar 750, which I can shoot for 3 to four hours, with the LCD actually open a lot.

I also use a Lenmar 950 for my FX1, and get all day use out of the battery. (I define all day as shooting alot, leaving camera on sometimes, but not running, shooting all the time. Point is, I can start out the day, with the 750 or the 950 on either of the cameras, and have one back up for each 550 or 330, and not be worried about not having enough power for the day...

[Terence Murphy]

I believe the battery you're talking about is the NP-970 (not a 770, which I don't think even exists). On my VX2100, I can shoot 8+ hours of tape, LCD on, using zoom and LOTS of start/stop recording, on a single Sony-brand NP-970. Absolutely amazing battery life. So basically I would expect to get the advertised run times for all the Sony batteries (isn't that unusual)?

-Terence

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Terence Murphy

I believe the battery you're talking about is the NP-970 (not a 770, which I don't think even exists).

No, there is a Sony 770:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

I don't have any experience with it however. I haven't used my VX-2000 for a long time, but when I did I could get about 8 hours with the LCD on, zooming, starting, stopping, rewinding, etc. using an NP-F960 battery, which was a bit larger than that NP-F770. The 960 has since been replaced by the NP-F970. I now have two 970's and one of my old 960's which I use on my Z1. The Z1 definitely draws more power... I get maybe 5 hours with the 970. But on your VX-2100 I'm pretty confident you would see more than 8 hours with a 970.

Personally I would get a couple of these instead of the 770's, you never know when you might need the extra run time. But the VX is really a low power champ as well as a low light champ!

[Steve Wolla]

I would just get the 970. It is a great battery, it allows you to shoot almost all day with it and not have to worry.

[Tom Hardwick]

I agree. I have two 960s and they are a quite remarkably compact and light storage container for so much power.

[Daniel Lynn]

I must have been giving this matter a lot of thought beacause my waking thoughts this morning were: check the product manual.

In case anyone else was wondering and doesn't have a manual, here's a brief outline:

NP-F570 - 90 (typical w/ LCD screen) to 230 (continuous w/ viewfinder)
NP-F770 - 190 to 470
NP-F970 - 295 to 705
(those are approximate minutes of recording time)

I ended up buying the F770 from BHPhotovideo.

Thanks for all the help.

[Gabriel Ng]

Hi all... need a lil help here...

My church's PD170 gives a "SET CLOCK" message each time it's powered up and all its settings has been reseted.

I've searched the web and all over this forum for a way to replace the CR2023 battery but can't seem to find any information about it... Can't even find the little hatch that holds the battery! I'm so blind!

In its manual, it does say that the whole set comes with the CR2023 battery, and I don't think it's for the remote coz it uses AAs.

Reading on, it says that there's an internal battery that keeps its internal clock and settings when the unit isn't powered. To charge it, charge the camera for more than 24 hours, either with an AC charger or a fully charged Li-ion battery...

neither of these 2 options has worked for me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated... going back to Sony would be my last resort.

Thanks!

[Azril Aziz]

gabriel my vx2100 also got the same 'Clock Set' problem as what you mentioned. I tried the 24 hrs AC charge but still the problem exist. Pls let me know if u have found the solution. btw my VX is about 4 yrs old. Bought it at Midvalley , Kuala Lumpur.

Azril,
Kajang,
012-286 0990