VX & PD series battery / batteries

Dave Glardon · July 26th, 2005, 03:35 AM

The VX1000 had PD 720 and the VX2100 has PD 750.

My vx2100 did not come with an external charger but I have one from my vx1000... is it ok to charge the PD720s on it, and use the older batts in my vx2100 if I need be?

This is an easy question but I can't find any info about this and I would hate to ruin one of the batteries.

Thanks in advance!

Boyd Ostroff · July 26th, 2005, 07:30 AM

I'm not familiar with the "PD" series of batteries... are you sure this is correct? The PD-150, PD-170, VX-2000, VX-2100, FX1 and Z1 all use the Sony Infolithium series L batteries which should have a big letter "L" on them in a gold square. The model numbers should all be in the form NP-Fxxx. When the VX-2100 was introduced the largest available batter was the NP-F960 but a larger NP-F970 was introduced recently with the FX1 camera. The batteries are 7.2 volts.

On the AC-VQ850 external charger that came with my Z1 the specs say that output voltage is 8.4V 1.4A. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the VX-1000 so I can't provide a definitive answer to your question, but perhaps these specs will help.

Dave Glardon · July 26th, 2005, 12:30 PM

I'm sorry, I meant to type NP-720 for the old batteries (vx1000) and NP-F750 for the new ones (vx2100).

Both are Li-ion and are exact shape and size.

Boyd Ostroff · July 26th, 2005, 01:02 PM

Should work, just less capacity. Are the voltages the same? Of course I've never actually *tried* it :-)

Gustavo Godinho · July 27th, 2005, 06:05 AM

I thought my battery wasn´t working well, but then I tested other battery and the problem remained: the camera is not reading well the battery charge left. Sometimes it shows I have 420 minutes left. Then I take a look again and it shows 485 minutes, some minutes later 387 minutes, and it goes on. One day it was showing 147 minutes and then turned off, as the battery was completely discharged. What might be causing it?

note: 420 minutes, 485 minutes and 387 minutes are just examples.

Jeff Toogood · July 27th, 2005, 06:43 AM

Are these Sony batteries or generic ones?
Also the time remaining will change depending on whether you are using the LCD screen and doing alot of zooming or not.

David Ennis · July 27th, 2005, 09:10 AM

I'd repeat Jeff's question. What brand of batteries are you using?

Assuming they are compatible with the Sony system, it is recommended to occasionally (about every 30 charges) completely drain the battery by allowing the camera to drain it unitl shutdown. This calibrates the electronics in the battery to work with the elecronics in the cam.

If that doesn't work it lools lik a defect, probably in the cam if it's happens with mulitiple batteries.

Boyd Ostroff · July 27th, 2005, 09:24 AM

All three of my Sony cameras show some degree of what you describe, but probably not that extreme. The camera constantly recalculates how much time remains on the battery based on current power use, so if it says 420 and then several minutes later says 387 I don't know that anything is wrong. However if it says 147 minutes and then suddenly goes dead, that's not right...

Gustavo Godinho · July 27th, 2005, 01:47 PM

Guys, thanks a lot! At first I suspected (almost sure) the problem was happening ´cause of my batteries, that are from a brand I never heard of (ENERGIA). But, last week, when I was working with 2 other PD´s, I changed the battery and used a Sony one. The problem happened exactly as I described.

In fact I was really was zooming A LOT and was using the LCD. I don´t know if it could explain such variations. Anyway, I will do some new tests. One thing I´m almost sure: there is a problem. Nothing could explain the camera turning off at 147minutes. Hope it´s only the battery. Have you heard of a PD-150/170 with this kind of problem?

When i complete new tests I´ll come back here.

Mike Rehmus · July 27th, 2005, 02:31 PM

A failing battery will do as you describe. I can send you an old sony LiON battery that will do the same thing.

LiON batteries are particularly long-life devices. So they do go bad and usually abruptly. One day OK, the next day functionally dead. They may even charge but they won't run a camera very long.

Gustavo Godinho · July 27th, 2005, 02:50 PM

Thank you for your response, Mike. The problem is: my battery is only 9 months! Anyway, I´ll do some tests and then I´ll tell ya

Boyd Ostroff · July 27th, 2005, 02:58 PM

FWIW, I had a genuine Sony NP-F960 battery completely fail after about two years of light use. Would not take any charge or operate the camera. The second identical battery, bought at the same time, still works fine two years later. Go figure...

Mike Rehmus · July 27th, 2005, 03:23 PM

Yup, got some the same age and some are going strong and the others are paper weights. The local college has VX-1000 cameras that are 8 years old and the original batteries are still working fine.

Georg Liigand · November 10th, 2005, 03:49 PM

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a dual battery charger for NP-F970, 960 and 570 type Sony InfoLithium batteries, but I am not able to find a genuine one. Is there any at all?

I found this from Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AC-DC-Dual-Cha...QQcmdZViewItem

Is it any good and how do such non-genuine chargers treat the InfoLithium batteries? I've heard that it's quite important that the carger (camera itself in my current situation) communicates with the battery's InfoLithium system to ensure safe operation during charging. Will the 3rd party ones treat the batteries correctly?

Thanks a lot.

Don Bloom · November 10th, 2005, 05:44 PM

B&H has Sony dual battery charger for those batteries.
Sony BCV-500 Portable Dual AC Charger - for L Series Lithium-Ion Batteries
Mfr# BCV500 • B&H# SOBCV500
Our Price: $ 82.95

Don

July 26th, 2005, 03:35 AM	#166
Dave Glardon New Boot Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 11	VX2100... can I use my old VX1000 batteries in it? The VX1000 had PD 720 and the VX2100 has PD 750. My vx2100 did not come with an external charger but I have one from my vx1000... is it ok to charge the PD720s on it, and use the older batts in my vx2100 if I need be? This is an easy question but I can't find any info about this and I would hate to ruin one of the batteries. Thanks in advance!

July 27th, 2005, 06:05 AM	#170
Gustavo Godinho Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Belém - Pa - Brazil Posts: 130	PD170 problem reading battery charge: help! I thought my battery wasn´t working well, but then I tested other battery and the problem remained: the camera is not reading well the battery charge left. Sometimes it shows I have 420 minutes left. Then I take a look again and it shows 485 minutes, some minutes later 387 minutes, and it goes on. One day it was showing 147 minutes and then turned off, as the battery was completely discharged. What might be causing it? note: 420 minutes, 485 minutes and 387 minutes are just examples. __________________ lml

July 27th, 2005, 06:43 AM	#171
Jeff Toogood Major Player Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: St.Thomas, Ontario, CANADA Posts: 428	Are these Sony batteries or generic ones? Also the time remaining will change depending on whether you are using the LCD screen and doing alot of zooming or not. __________________ Toogood Studios

July 27th, 2005, 09:10 AM	#172
David Ennis Fred Retread Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hartford, CT Posts: 1,227	I'd repeat Jeff's question. What brand of batteries are you using? Assuming they are compatible with the Sony system, it is recommended to occasionally (about every 30 charges) completely drain the battery by allowing the camera to drain it unitl shutdown. This calibrates the electronics in the battery to work with the elecronics in the cam. If that doesn't work it lools lik a defect, probably in the cam if it's happens with mulitiple batteries. __________________ "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence..." - Calvin Coolidge "My brain is wired to want to know how other things are wired." - Me

July 27th, 2005, 01:47 PM	#174
Gustavo Godinho Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Belém - Pa - Brazil Posts: 130	Guys, thanks a lot! At first I suspected (almost sure) the problem was happening ´cause of my batteries, that are from a brand I never heard of (ENERGIA). But, last week, when I was working with 2 other PD´s, I changed the battery and used a Sony one. The problem happened exactly as I described. In fact I was really was zooming A LOT and was using the LCD. I don´t know if it could explain such variations. Anyway, I will do some new tests. One thing I´m almost sure: there is a problem. Nothing could explain the camera turning off at 147minutes. Hope it´s only the battery. Have you heard of a PD-150/170 with this kind of problem? When i complete new tests I´ll come back here. __________________ lml

July 26th, 2005, 07:30 AM	#167
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	I'm not familiar with the "PD" series of batteries... are you sure this is correct? The PD-150, PD-170, VX-2000, VX-2100, FX1 and Z1 all use the Sony Infolithium series L batteries which should have a big letter "L" on them in a gold square. The model numbers should all be in the form NP-Fxxx. When the VX-2100 was introduced the largest available batter was the NP-F960 but a larger NP-F970 was introduced recently with the FX1 camera. The batteries are 7.2 volts. On the AC-VQ850 external charger that came with my Z1 the specs say that output voltage is 8.4V 1.4A. Sorry, I'm not familiar with the VX-1000 so I can't provide a definitive answer to your question, but perhaps these specs will help.

July 26th, 2005, 12:30 PM	#168
Dave Glardon New Boot Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 11	I'm sorry, I meant to type NP-720 for the old batteries (vx1000) and NP-F750 for the new ones (vx2100). Both are Li-ion and are exact shape and size.

July 26th, 2005, 01:02 PM	#169
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	Should work, just less capacity. Are the voltages the same? Of course I've never actually tried it :-)

July 27th, 2005, 09:24 AM	#173
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	All three of my Sony cameras show some degree of what you describe, but probably not that extreme. The camera constantly recalculates how much time remains on the battery based on current power use, so if it says 420 and then several minutes later says 387 I don't know that anything is wrong. However if it says 147 minutes and then suddenly goes dead, that's not right...

July 27th, 2005, 02:31 PM	#175
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	A failing battery will do as you describe. I can send you an old sony LiON battery that will do the same thing. LiON batteries are particularly long-life devices. So they do go bad and usually abruptly. One day OK, the next day functionally dead. They may even charge but they won't run a camera very long. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

July 27th, 2005, 02:50 PM	#176
Gustavo Godinho Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Belém - Pa - Brazil Posts: 130	Thank you for your response, Mike. The problem is: my battery is only 9 months! Anyway, I´ll do some tests and then I´ll tell ya __________________ lml

July 27th, 2005, 02:58 PM	#177
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,787	FWIW, I had a genuine Sony NP-F960 battery completely fail after about two years of light use. Would not take any charge or operate the camera. The second identical battery, bought at the same time, still works fine two years later. Go figure...

July 27th, 2005, 03:23 PM	#178
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	Yup, got some the same age and some are going strong and the others are paper weights. The local college has VX-1000 cameras that are 8 years old and the original batteries are still working fine. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

November 10th, 2005, 03:49 PM	#179
Georg Liigand Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Estonia Posts: 214	Dual charger for VX2100 batteries Hello, I'm looking to buy a dual battery charger for NP-F970, 960 and 570 type Sony InfoLithium batteries, but I am not able to find a genuine one. Is there any at all? I found this from Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AC-DC-Dual-Cha...QQcmdZViewItem Is it any good and how do such non-genuine chargers treat the InfoLithium batteries? I've heard that it's quite important that the carger (camera itself in my current situation) communicates with the battery's InfoLithium system to ensure safe operation during charging. Will the 3rd party ones treat the batteries correctly? Thanks a lot.

November 10th, 2005, 05:44 PM	#180
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	B&H has Sony dual battery charger for those batteries. Sony BCV-500 Portable Dual AC Charger - for L Series Lithium-Ion Batteries Mfr# BCV500 • B&H# SOBCV500 Our Price: $ 82.95 Don