[pistolero45]

Hey Pentax peeps,
Is anyone else having AA Energizer lithium problems on their Kr? I have tried both new sets of Ultimate Lithium and the next grade down and both show almost instant low battery warning even with Live view and no video use. I got Energizer to replace tem and I tried again with the same results. If you have any light to shed heap it on me!

[Philoslothical]

A couple questions: Is your firmware up to date? And, are we talking about disposable lithiums or some kind of rechargeable AA?

[pistolero45]

Firmware is just updated by factory repair. They are disposable lithium and I never use the LCD except to review.

[Philoslothical]

OK, I've seen reports before of firmware updated being reported by Pentax repair when it wasn't actually done, so you should double check this yourself. Just hold down the menu button when turning the camera on, and it should flash up the version on the LCD. It should be version 1.11.

Other than that, check the contacts on the battery holder, and the contacts in the camera, make sure they're clean. It wouldn't hurt to polish up all the contacts on the holder, just to be sure.

If neither of those things help, I think I'm out of ideas. Sorry.

I'm curious why you want to use disposable lithiums anyway. They're costly, and you'd get much more use out of a set of Eneloops for your AA holder, or just use the Li-Ion battery that comes with the camera. You can also get aftermarket versions of the Li-Ion one for about $7 each on Ebay, and they're just about as good as the $40 official one.

[wlachan]

Can't help you with Energizer AA lithium, but recommend you to consider the rechargeable Sanyo XX instead.

[Docrwm]

Sorry to ask an elementary question but do you have the menu selected for the proper battery type?

[loco]

I use the Energizer Ultimate Lithiums and love them. I have had bad luck with Eneloops after initially loving them. (Yes, I set the battery setting correctly in the menu) Eneloops just don't seem to last long for me. Initial use, they do fine. Then, after charging a few cycles with the Sanyo charger, I get less and less out of them. I'm just not impressed.

The Energizer lithiums give me over 1200 shots, using plenty of flash and even some live view. I love them and would much rather use them then constantly recharge the Eneloops.

Now, as for the OP's problem ... not sure. I have noticed that the battery indicator can be incorrect at times. I just keep shooting and the camera keeps working. I've gotten to the point where I pay no attention to the battery life indicator. I replace the battery when it says battery depleted or when I notice AF being off. The K-r's battery indicator is sketchy at best.

[JimJohnson]

I've found the Auto setting for AA battery type to be somewhat unreliable. I recently switched to the Sanyo eneloops, and left the setting at Auto... I noticed in short order my battery indicator went from green to yellow. So I changed the AA setting specifically to NiMH, and the indicator bounced back to green.

The eneloop charger and the Pentax LiON charger take up about the same space in my camera bag ... however, with the LiON batteries I HAVE to find an AC outlet and hang around it long enough to recharge, whereas using AA batteries, if I can't easily recharge a set of eneloops, I can buy AA alkaline batteries almost anywhere in the world. So the LiOn battery and charger are currently on the shelf.

[Docrwm]

I've found the Auto setting for AA battery type to be somewhat unreliable. I recently switched to the Sanyo eneloops, and left the setting at Auto... I noticed in short order my battery indicator went from green to yellow. So I changed the AA setting specifically to NiMH, and the indicator bounced back to green.

The eneloop charger and the Pentax LiON charger take up about the same space in my camera bag ... however, with the LiON batteries I HAVE to find an AC outlet and hang around it long enough to recharge, whereas using AA batteries, if I can't easily recharge a set of eneloops, I can buy AA alkaline batteries almost anywhere in the world. So the LiOn battery and charger are currently on the shelf.

Mirrors my experiences with the K-r and AAs. I still have my K-x and the Eneloops last 600-750 shots with normal use. With 1 use Li batteries costing, conservatively, $10 a set the Eneloops are a bargain!

[gp1806]

I use the Energizer Ultimate Lithiums and love them. I have had bad luck with Eneloops after initially loving them. (Yes, I set the battery setting correctly in the menu) Eneloops just don't seem to last long for me. Initial use, they do fine. Then, after charging a few cycles with the Sanyo charger, I get less and less out of them. I'm just not impressed.

Initially I had similar problems with Eneloops, but by chance I bought a Duracell CEF-23 charger with 'Duraloops' included in the package. I bought this to get the batteries, but found that this Duracell charger was much better than the Sanyo charger. Even my old Eneloops came back to being useful again using the Duracell charger. Get a quality charger that charges each cell independently and see if your Eneloops come back to full power.

[loco]

Initially I had similar problems with Eneloops, but by chance I bought a Duracell CEF-23 charger with 'Duraloops' included in the package. I bought this to get the batteries, but found that this Duracell charger was much better than the Sanyo charger. Even my old Eneloops came back to being useful again using the Duracell charger. Get a quality charger that charges each cell independently and see if your Eneloops come back to full power.

Thanks for the tip, will have to give that a try.

I thought I'd read people recommending to use only the Sanyo charger, but maybe this will work better. I hope so! Thanks again.


EDIT: Well darn, looks like that Duracell charger is out of production.

[wlachan]

The problem with Sanyo is that they have made so many AA chargers with so little info available. There have been a few good smart chargers but some aren't so good. A general rule is to avoid any Sanyo chargers with 2 LEDs. There is one with refresh feature but sadly not being exported outside Asia. There is also one from Sony with refresh (BCG34HRE4KN) and it works pretty well and can be had easily. The flip cover is flimsy though.

Whichever Japanese wallplug chargers being used, there is an undocumented trick. Since most of them have triple safety features (delta-v detection, temperature sensors & timer), when the preset time is reached, they will stop charging regardless of charging state. This time limit varies depends on model and manufacturing batch. The only way to find out is to replug the charger right after it stops the 1st round charging. If it stops soon after, that means the batteries are fully charged. If not, the charger will top them up the 2nd round. Also, some fast chargers are less likely to fully charge the batteries. From what I have observed, 5xxmA per AA seems to do best topping up the AA (about 4-5hr charging).

[loco]

The problem with Sanyo is that they have made so many AA chargers with so little info available. There have been a few good smart chargers but some aren't so good. A general rule is to avoid any Sanyo chargers with 2 LEDs. There is one with refresh feature but sadly not being exported outside Asia. There is also one from Sony with refresh (BCG34HRE4KN) and it works pretty well and can be had easily. The flip cover is flimsy though.

Whichever Japanese wallplug chargers being used, there is an undocumented trick. Since most of them have triple safety features (delta-v detection, temperature sensors & timer), when the preset time is reached, they will stop charging regardless of charging state. This time limit varies depends on model and manufacturing batch. The only way to find out is to replug the charger right after it stops the 1st round charging. If it stops soon after, that means the batteries are fully charged. If not, the charger will top them up the 2nd round.

That last tip is great! Will have to give that a try, thank you!

[GvilleRick]

I bought a LaCrosse BC-700 Alpha battery charger and love it. Works great with the Eneloops and refreshed several old batteries that I had laying around that had not worked in a while. It was around $40 from Amazon.

[Colbyt]

If I can horn it with a question? Which Eneloops? I am having some problems with quick drop off for some rechargeable off brand NiMH's that I bought. Think I need a better battery.