Photoclubalpha

Does anyone know a cheap but reputable source for battery rechargers for the np fm500h (alpha 700 ) battery. Mine is dead, luckily I have three batteries to get me through the weekend but after that......

Gerard

Ansmann do a neat one which charges almost everything ever made - the Digi Charger Plus, mains or car. Any charger which works for the earlier A100 battery is fine. I bought one car charger with mains adaptor just for the Alpha batteries for $10 from a Hong Kong ebayer and it works fine, but you can not get them in a hurry. Just remember that any A100-A700 charger will handle both types of cell. For main use, I bought the double Sony charger, which reconditions the cells and uses the intelligent readout. It's fantastic, also runs the camera from AC power if needed, but it costs.

David

Thanks David, I am resisiting buying the expensive charger from Sony, but perhaps I am just being stubborn.
Gerad

That AC-VQ900AM charger is on my wish list too.

I was one of the lucky ones who got one when B&H sold them off at $49 each!

David

As anyone ever bugged Sony about making a car DC charger? It's a very missing accessory. I hate dealing with an inverter on road trips.

There is also a market for a nice solar charger. By the time you hook stuff up for doing it now, things can get pretty big. Something Sony could get right before other brands get there.

PhotoTraveler wrote: There is also a market for a nice solar charger. By the time you hook stuff up for doing it now, things can get pretty big. Something Sony could get right before other brands get there.

Yes: let's go green!!!
I'm planing a photographic safari to Peru next year, including the Inca Trail, for a group of friends. One of the issues to resolve willbe charging batteries during the 3 days walk up in the Cuzco mountains...

There is a solar charger available for the infolithium batteries. It also fits a lot of the camcorder batteries. there were 2 threads on it in the DPR forums.

Javelin wrote:There is a solar charger available for the infolithium batteries. It also fits a lot of the camcorder batteries. there were 2 threads on it in the DPR forums.

Could you provide a link, please.

Found it! Didn't look good there for a minute.

http://store.sundancesolar.com/sochforsowis.html


And the DPR link to the thread it came from

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=28404410

Javelin wrote:Found it! Didn't look good there for a minute.

http://store.sundancesolar.com/sochforsowis.html


And the DPR link to the thread it came from

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=28404410

Thanks

Well, it's an option.

But it looks pretty bulky and with multiple parts due to it's universalness.

Also, having spent a part of my career working with batteries and more importantly lithium Ions, there is no way in heck I'm putting a battery on a 3rd party charger. So not a solution for me.

PhotoTraveler wrote:Also, having spent a part of my career working with batteries and more importantly lithium Ions, there is no way in heck I'm putting a battery on a 3rd party charger. So not a solution for me.

Why? Do they harm the batteries?

They can and probably will.

There is literally thousands of lithium ion battery formulas. From the materials in their layers to the construction to the electrolyte in them. Which gives them all different properties. This dictates their charging heavily.

A very generic charge cycle for a lithium ion is a constant current charge (lets say at 1C) to it's cut off voltage (around 3.6v) and then the rest at a constant voltage charge (less and less C rate).

The issue is the value for 1C could be massively different. For one sell it could be 100s of Amps or it could be fractions of Amps. Now camera batteries will be in a similar range, but similar doesn't really get you there. Similar the cut off voltage will vary. It's not always 3.6V, it could be higher, could be lower. A charger factors all these in when it charges the cell. Since deviating will shorten the life and even cause a major issue.

Basically, if you charge at a rate greater than that cell was designed for, you will generate excessive heat in it, and shorten it's life. Further you will probably over shoot it's voltage limit. When you over voltage a cell, that's when they really can want to burst into flames. Even if the cell gets into the constant voltage phase of things if could be continually over voltaging the cell. Further at that point it could stuff too many coloumbs into the cell, again, bad.

The problem with a universal solution is the universal aspect. They can only go with a generic charge profile. This could be a destructive profile. So the charger doesn't match the battery and bad things happen. In most cases it will probably just result in your cells not fully charging, or shortened battery life.

Of course there is very similar issues in using 3rd party batteries. Since their charge and discharge profiles will be different as well. In using them, your device might not run as it should as they might not support the needed current for the device (if you have a higher energy cell, for the same size and voltage, power will go down).

The other problem with 3rd party batteries is they tend to be cheaper because they use cheaper cells, and do not manufacture them as well. This is a major danger of them.

This gets to why things like infolithium exist that try to block them out. It prevents bad batteries from being used in devices. Also the chip in the cell very well carries charge profile info on that cell. So one charger can charge an array of batteries, since it gets what it needs from the cell (I'm assuming this is something infolithium does, as it fits with what we see far as the array of chargers that all work).

For years I warned in forums that tougher regs on them were coming, and sure enough now you are more limited on carrying cells on planes. This is only an early step. It is only a matter of time before all cells are required to have infolithium like chips in them. Thus finally eliminating the 3rd party battery market which should be banned anyways for lithium ion. I don't want to be in a plane wreck (IE die) because someone else bought a 3rd party battery that was over charged and then failed at altitude. Lithium Ion cells and air transportation is a nightmare, it's not just a travel hassle for people.

Thanks for the explanation. Everything is clear now. Thanks again.