Thanks Alex. I figured I'd be needing to get a new battery.

Any thoughts about my other two problems? Could the settings be resetting due to battery problems as well? Is there some connection? or are these two different problems that just happened to appear approximately at the same time?

The settings are usually stored separately, backed up by a small coin battery. Not sure where this coin battery is in your camera.

"Cleaning tape" message is a result of an intermittent head clog, try to clean the heads by the cleaning tape.

Same battery problem
 

Adi,

If it's any consolation, I have a Sony 960 battery that's now less than 3 years old and it started doing the same thing about 6 months ago. It starts out showing a full charge. After operating the camera for at least an hour or two, the battery time remaining shown on the LCD seems to be correct.

Then, poof, time remaining drops to zero.

I guess there's what, a 90-day or 1-year warranty on those things? So, no sympathy, or a partial credit, from Sony.

Interestingly, I have a couple of generic batteries that are about a year older than the 960, and they continue to work perfectly.

PD150 internal battery problem?
 

I've got an trusty old PD150 which I havent used in a while but is now not holding any of the settings i put in once it's turned off and on again (even for a second) - as soon as it comes back on I have to reset the clock even! very frustrating...

I'd heard that it was the internal battery that needed charging up again coz I hadn't used the camera in a while... fair enough... so I left it plugged into the mains (i think charging?) for 24 hours and it still does exactly the same thing!

HELP!

I think your assumption about the internal battery is spot on. I borrowed a friend's 150 once to use as a b-cam to my 170 and it had the same problem. Only, his only lost the settings when a power source was removed, and it held info when it was off as long as it was plugged in or had a battery in it.

I would call Sony. That sounds like something that they can fix or at least give you advice about. www.sony.com/professional

Keep us posted. I'd love to know what to do if this eventually happens to my cam. Good luck.

~~Dave

See this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...ternal+battery

-Terence

keeping a battery or it connected to the mains works but i kind of want to find a fix rather than a work around...

im not sure but is that other thread suggesting that the internal batteries are in the cameras handle and that they can be replaced? anyone tried this? doesnt look too tricky but i dont want to make the problem worse!

My PD150 has the same problem. Are you suggesting taking the camera apart and replacing the batteries? Has anyone tried this?

i spoke with a Sony authorised repair place and they told me this:

"The battery in question is located on the CK 093 board.
Battery spare part number is BT250, 1-528-724-21, sell price 13.93GBP.
Labour charge for replacing would be 1 hours Labour, 75.00GBP.
Our Engineer feels that anyone who is competent in soldering would be okay doing this job."

I don't think this is the same place as the diagram PDF in the other thread... Can anyone tell me where the battery is after reading the above? I have a friend who's pretty good with a soldering iron so might be able to fix this myself....

i spoke with a Sony authorised repair place and they told me this:

"The battery in question is located on the CK 093 board.
Battery spare part number is BT250, 1-528-724-21, sell price 13.93GBP.
Labour charge for replacing would be 1 hours Labour, 75.00GBP.
Our Engineer feels that anyone who is competent in soldering would be okay doing this job."

I don't think this is the same place as the diagram PDF above... Can anyone tell me how to get to the CK 093 board? I have a friend who's pretty good with a soldering iron so might be able to fix this myself....

I would be very surprised to hear that it was a soldering job Bevan. I'm pretty sure the Sony man was using the term to signify a certain DIY aptitude.

I'd suggest you tackle it yourself. Go gently, take pictures as you go along and stick the removed tiny screws through a piece of paper so you don't lose them. On the paper have a rough drawing of the camera and that'll show you where the screw came from.

tom.

ah! that's great to hear! well, in that case im sure i can manage it myself!

if only i knew where the CK 093 board was!? any ideas?

I've seen the workshop manual with its exploded views that take you step by step through the teardown process, though can't for the life of me find the link. Hrere's a starting block though:

http://www.dvinfo.net/sony/index.php

best vx2100 battery.
 

i got a battery on ebay a while back, and it was a pretty big battery, but now it doesn't hold a charge anymore, and i didn't even have it for that long!

so i was wondering who makes a really good, relatively good battery that will hold it's charge.
i've been looking at NP-F970 batteries.
but i'm not sure.

thanks!

best battery
 

I only use Sony batteries in my vx2100. They can be found on ebay.

Regards,
Michael Kladky