[stevebrot]

Indeed the question has been asked many times, and every time I ask who manufactures Pentax's batteries. Anyone know?

I have tried 6 other brands, and although good for a few years, with diminishing ability to hold a charge, they have all ultimately failed and ended up being disposed of.

I guess you know at least six makers that aren't!


Steve

[reh321]

One of my spares is branded Wasabi. Have used it in my K30 and K70. It is at least equal to the Pentax brand.

I have both Wasabi and Pentax batteries for my KP,
Using my Watson charger, the Pentax complete charging when the charger reads "100%" - the Wasabi at 95%.

[DeadJohn]

2400 mAh sounds like a lie.

I've had good experiences with Wasabi and Watson aftermarket batteries. They still hold an acceptable charge despite being several years old.

I'm especially happy with the deal I got on 2 Wasabi batteries plus charger. It cost around half of 1 Pentax-branded battery. The Wasabi charger plugs directly into a socket without needing the crazy-long Pentax cord. It also has a 12V auto socket for charging on the road. It's been noted that the Wasabi charger is more likely to shorten battery life by overcharging, so I do most of my charging at home using the Pentax charger, keeping the Wasabi charger in my car.

[pentax360]

Generic battery Mah ratings aren't real.
I have an aftermarket one and it is not as good, after a couple of years it also seems to lose charge over a couple of months of not using it.

[Socrateeze]

Thank you all for the responses. It's clear that there is warranted skepticism regarding the mAh figures for non-Pentax batteries.

What I will do is conduct a controlled test to see how they compare when fully charged. To be honest I ordered them simply as part of a package with their two-battery simultaneous charger as I sometime have limited time between extended outings into the field with which to recharge my depleted batteries.

Cheers.

[Socrateeze]

Test results:

I just did a test comparing the Newmowa D-Li90 against the Pentax D-Li90 on my Pentax K-1 under controlled conditions. The former claims 2400 mAh and the Pentax claims 1860 mAh. What I did was run the video (FullHD at 60 fps) on a static scene with maximum brightness of the screen until the battery was depleted (in 25 minute chunks since that is the video limit). Here is what I got:

Newmowa: 104.9 minutes
Pentax: 149.2 minutes

Yep - you get what you pay for! The Pentax gave almost 50% more shooting time compared to Newmowa. 2400 mAh is complete BS.

At least the charger I got with it seems to work a lot faster at charging - roughly half the time of the supplied Pentax charger. However, I'll check tomorrow whether the charger (they charge at different amperages) makes a difference to the stored capacity of the batteries.

[VSTAR]

I have probably purchased aftermarket batteries from amazon for every digital camera I own. I do not believe the rating on the batteries....but I do trust the reviews by customers. Aftermarket ones do not appear to take as many shots. But for the price of one original battery I can get 3 batteries and an external charger.

[tibbitts]

My 3/2016 Wasabi batteries recently failed - they report charged but last for almost no photos. I've had only 3 OEM Pentax batteries - the oldest failed after about 6 years. Overall I believe the OEM do outperform/outlast the 3rd party batteries, but probably not enough to make them worthwhile to pay for.

[ZombieArmy]

The wasabi batteries fail spectacularly. If you need reliability don't get them.

It's irritating when you charge up a set of batteries and one you need dies after 10 shots.

[stevebrot]

At least the charger I got with it seems to work a lot faster at charging - roughly half the time of the supplied Pentax charger.

Quick charge is sort of hard on the batteries and can shorten their lives. I would avoid it for routine usage.


Steve

[photocles]

Quick charge is sort of hard on the batteries and can shorten their lives. I would avoid it for routine usage.

Yes, and I've even seen batteries physically bulge in the middle after being charged on poorly-regulated chargers - to the point where they became difficult to insert and remove from the camera body. I'm sure the battery life expectancy after that sort of abuse is just about zero.

[RKKS08]

I've even seen batteries physically bulge in the middle after being charged on poorly-regulated chargers

That's a result of the electro-chemical processes when charging, which is enhanced by quick charging.
You will see it happening with the flat batteries, as used by P&S models of all brands. After about 3 years of usage even all of my original small Pentax batteries start bulging - and I do charge these only with the Pentax charger.

What I think is even dangerous is the fact, that many of the 3rd party chargers for small batteries don't provide the 3rd contact, or it is just a dummy. With this contact the batteriy tells the charger that it is too hot, and the charger should pause charging till the internal temperature becomes acceptable again. This behaviour of many aftermarket chargers could also explain the shorter charging time.

[h4yn0nnym0u5e]

Test results:

I just did a test comparing the Newmowa D-Li90 against the Pentax D-Li90 on my Pentax K-1 under controlled conditions. The former claims 2400 mAh and the Pentax claims 1860 mAh. What I did was run the video (FullHD at 60 fps) on a static scene with maximum brightness of the screen until the battery was depleted (in 25 minute chunks since that is the video limit). Here is what I got:

Newmowa: 104.9 minutes
Pentax: 149.2 minutes

Yep - you get what you pay for! The Pentax gave almost 50% more shooting time compared to Newmowa. 2400 mAh is complete BS.

As I've had a dead DSTE D-Li90 clone knocking about for a while, I thought I'd open it up. Externally it claims 2800mAh, internally it has two 1400mAh cells in series. So claimed capacity = lie. Or miscalculation, if you want to be generous ... On the assumption the Newmowa one you tested has the same level of economy with the truth, I'd expect it to have 1200mAh cells in it, and thus be about 2/3 of the Pentax capacity. Which is your observation when you tested it, so it's probably reasonable to expect an exaggerated claim to be about 2x the actual capacity, when the battery is new. The internal protection circuit in the DSTE would appear to be OK, preventing over- and under-charging, dead cells, overheating and protecting against short circuits. (I couldn't test it as it's corroded and the cells are leaky, but it appears to be an implementation of the standard Ricoh circuit plus a thermal sensor. This circuit is shown in the data sheet linked from R5460 Series 2-Cell Li-ion Battery Protection IC) .

I'd count myself lucky to get 3 years' use out of a lithium battery pack, in general. Quite how Pentax achieve 5 or 6 years is a bit of a poser, but may be down to sourcing high-quality cells which are designed for the job in hand, and users typically using only the supplied charger. It'd be interesting to hear from people who've used only the Pentax charger on 3rd-party batteries, and vice versa.

Today I could pick up a pair of DSTE clones (which now appear to show 2100mAh on the label) from a well-known supplier, for £14.49; a single Pentax D-Li90 is £59, so I could get roughly 8 clones for the cost of one OEM. If the clones die after 3 years, not 6, that's still 1/4 the cost to me, with the minor inconvenience of changing batteries a bit more often, and maybe carrying one more spare (if I'm not carrying all of them anyway). And I won't mind nearly as much when they stop working, as long as I still have some that are OK. Please note that I Am Not A Serious Photographer (i.e. my livelihood doesn't depend on it) - YMMV.

Cheers

Jonathan