[photolady95]

I have a K-50 and lately any of my fully charged Li109 batteries will not work in the camera. Is there a way to fully discharge them?
I have two Pentax brand and two wasabi brand. Even though the Pentax charger says they are fully charged, inserting in the camera does not allow it to power on.

I'm using the AA adapter at the moment, it works find with the Eneloops I have.

I don't think it's the camera because the AAs and adapter work fine.

[johnhilvert]

Unlike NiCad batteries, lithium-ion batteries do not have a charge memory. That means deep-discharge cycles are not required. In fact, it's better for the battery to use partial-discharge cycles.
There is one exception. Battery experts suggest that after 30 charges, you should allow lithium-ion batteries to almost completely discharge. Continuous partial discharges create a condition called digital memory, decreasing the accuracy of the device's power gauge. So let the battery discharge to the cut-off point and then recharge. The power gauge will be recalibrated.

See Five tips for extending lithium-ion battery life - TechRepublic

[photolady95]

I should have mentioned, I never change batteries until the camera shows a red square but they still have charge on them, how much, I'm not sure.

The Wasabi batteries are only a couple months old bought them the middle of July, this year and one Pentax battery came with my K-50 when I bought it in March this year. The last one came with my K-30 which is now defunct.

But in this instance it makes no sense to me that all four act the same.

[photolady95]

I am buying another K-30 this week. When it gets here, I'll test these batteries in it. If it's the batteries, the Wasabi are under warranty and I can maybe get them replaced. I don't know what could have happened to them as they were working yesterday. This morning is when I discovered the already charged batteries would not power the camera on.

If it does turn out to be the camera, it's still under warranty.

[Unregistered User 8]

Could it be the battery terminals inside the camera body rather than the batteries themselves? Just a thought.

[photolady95]

Could it be the battery terminals inside the camera body rather than the batteries themselves?

If that were the case it wouldn't allow for the adapter to work either.

[KiloHotelphoto]

Are you plugging the charger directly into a outlet or are you using a power strip? I once had a problem with a power strip and it would not charge my battery but plugging into the wall it worked. Also do you have another charger to try? Could be that, hopefully it's something easy and cheap to fix.

[photolady95]

I have two chargers, one I got with my K-30 and the new one I got with the K-50. One is plugged into a power strip but everything else plugged in there works, and the other one is plugged into a UPS, battery backup unit. Again, anything else plugged into it works. I'll try plugging the new charger straight into a wall outlet tomorrow and see if that's the problem. Thanks for the suggestion.

[bill.mc]

But in this instance it makes no sense to me that all four act the same.

I would also find that strange.

I would look at common factors applying to all your lithium batteries before the batteries themselves, that is the charger or the camera.

On the camera, have you looked at the battery type setting in the menu? If set on auto, the camera senses the battery type and acts accordingly. Perhaps this sensor is playing up.

On my K50, if I set it to NickleMetal, both AA's and lithium work
But if set to Lithium, fully charged AA's show battery depleted and the camera sometimes will not start.
In your case I'd be cautious setting it to Lithium, in case you cannot start the camera to change the setting back.

[photolady95]

Okay, plugged new charger straight into wall outlet, inserted battery, green light came on stayed on for about 10 minutes. Pulled battery reinserted into camera and pushed harder than usually and camera powered up just fine.
Next battery in charger green light stayed for about three minutes. Tried it in camera, nothing. So maybe that's the old one from the K-30 which was used when I got the camera. I'll try recharging the two Wasabi batteries and see if they'll work after charge is complete.

[photolady95]

Bill I have battery type set to Auto. But with KiloHotelphoto's suggestion, I think I've found the problem at least for one battery. The new Pentax battery seems to be showing fully charged on the camera. Could be cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser helped too. I did this with the first one I charged which was the new Pentax battery, then did the same with one Wasabi and charged it. After the light went out, I inserted the Wasabi battery into the camera and the camera powered on.

[photolady95]

Cleaning the contacts on the batteries seems to have fixed the problem for the two Wasabi and one Pentax. I'm waiting on the charge of the older Pentax. All batteries are now functioning as they should. So, in conclusion if this ever happens again, I know what to do to fix it. Clean the contacts on the batteries.

Thanks to all who chimed in with their suggestions it is appreciated.

[photolady95]

I'm reviving this thread for one reason only. When I cleaned the contacts on the batteries almost a year ago, today I had to clean them again. So, in conclusion, and because someone else had the same problem in another thread, and I suggested they clean the contacts, they wanted to know how long cleaning with an eraser lasts..... I can say, almost a year!

[ZombieArmy]

I wonder if the contacts getting muddled also has something to do with power delivery with the aperture block problem...

[photolady95]

I wonder if the contacts getting muddled also has something to do with power delivery with the aperture block problem..

I wouldn't think so. My black K-30 had aperture failure and even using newly cleaned battery did not bring it back to life, but using the AA adapter did.