[NecroticSoldier]

When Pentax sent me the K-x and lens kit, it came with the Eneloops charger and 4 2000 mAh batteries in a box wrapped all together. That should answer your question.

They were made for each other! I'm not getting them yet, because... mine came with Energizer Lithiums (PHOTO) took about 500 shots so far, no giving up yet.

[Perrumpo]

They were made for each other! I'm not getting them yet, because... mine came with Energizer Lithiums (PHOTO) took about 500 shots so far, no giving up yet.

That's what mine came with, too, (without charger) but I had read such good things about the eneloops with the K-x, that I got a couple eneloop chargers w/ batteries, also. Each brand has been great.

[Bei Fei]

I just pulled the trigger on this charger. Seems to be a good deal? Its only good for the rest of the day or until its sold out.

POWEREX MH-C9000 WizardOne Charger 49.99

Newegg.com - Shell Shocker Deal. Exclusive Jaw Dropping Savings on PC Components and Electronics.

[UnknownVT]

I just pulled the trigger on this charger. Seems to be a good deal? Its only good for the rest of the day or until its sold out.

POWEREX MH-C9000 WizardOne Charger 49.99

Newegg.com - Shell Shocker Deal. Exclusive Jaw Dropping Savings on PC Components and Electronics.

Excellent charger at a very favorable price - get it!

[Camgen]

I got the eneloops about a week after I got my kx, I haven't use them yet about 750 shots later, damn lithiums won't drain, still showing green, even though I tried depleting them by playing with the lcd. Can't wait!!!

[KxBlaze]

I got the eneloops about a week after I got my kx, I haven't use them yet about 750 shots later, damn lithiums won't drain, still showing green, even though I tried depleting them by playing with the lcd. Can't wait!!!

Me too. I am trying to deplete my Energizer Lithiums. I am curious as to how many shots I can get from my yet to be used Eneloops.


ALSO, this has been pointed out already but just in case. Make sure you guys have updated the firmware to Ver 1.01. This will increase the accuracy of the battery meter. I had Ver 1.00 and it said my Lithiums where depleted (after approx 500 shots). I updated to Ver 1.01 and put the old lithiums back in and have since taken another approx 100 shots and the batteries are still going.

[PhotonLight]

The current highest capacity in LSDs are 2100mAh (LSDs with higher capacities are probably "wishful" advertising).

FWIW, when we were first looking into carrying PowerEx products in our store, we went through and tested a bunch of batteries from various manufacturers, among them some Imedion AA's which is Powerex's LSD line. Surprisingly, the PowerEx Imedions we tested actually came out closer to 2200mAh even though only rated at 2100mAh.

[redeleon]

Eneloops are very good..
I use them on my Kx
and me and my friends went out for a photowalk.
we've been shooting the whole day and their batteries depleted quickly..
they are using canon 500D bot are brand new..

by night time, I continued on shooting photos while they are just watching me do it,
because their batteries depleted.

[Oddity96]

Okay i have read and understood about the battery's. what i am confused on is the chargers. i don't know what to get, i have went to the links you guys posted and have gotten even more confused. can some one break it down for me. i want something that will charge the battery and i don't have to put in all the settings myself but not waste the battery life. is this possible? if it is not is there a chart or something i can refer to when charging my battery's? i know i sound like nweb that's cause i am so please bear with me

[justDIY]

Okay i have read and understood about the battery's. what i am confused on is the chargers. i don't know what to get, i have went to the links you guys posted and have gotten even more confused. can some one break it down for me. i want something that will charge the battery and i don't have to put in all the settings myself but not waste the battery life. is this possible? if it is not is there a chart or something i can refer to when charging my battery's? i know i sound like nweb that's cause i am so please bear with me

Maha Energy's WizardOne works fine all on its own. The menus and settings are there if you want to fiddle with them, or revive some old batteries. Normally I just snap my low batteries into it, it defaults to charge at 1A, and 20-30 min later I have full batteries good to go. If the batteries are very low (like from a flashlight), I can zip the rate up to 2A and have them ready in no time.

[UnknownVT]

Okay i have read and understood about the battery's. what i am confused on is the chargers. i don't know what to get, i have went to the links you guys posted and have gotten even more confused. can some one break it down for me. i want something that will charge the battery and i don't have to put in all the settings myself but not waste the battery life. is this possible? if it is not is there a chart or something i can refer to when charging my battery's? i know i sound like nweb that's cause i am so please bear with me

Maha Energy's WizardOne works fine all on its own. The menus and settings are there if you want to fiddle with them, or revive some old batteries. Normally I just snap my low batteries into it, it defaults to charge at 1A, and 20-30 min later I have full batteries good to go. If the batteries are very low (like from a flashlight), I can zip the rate up to 2A and have them ready in no time.

Yes well the Maha C9000 is an excellent charger- I have and use one -
but it can be intimidating and it has so many features that it can become confusing and it is relatively expensive.

Probably better off getting the less sophisticated and less expensive chargers suggested in Post #21 - I'll paste them here:

Here are a few known good less expensive chargers -
they all have a common trait of having independent charging channels
(many cheaper chargers only can charge in pairs -
this "works", but just not so good)

Sanyo eneloop MQH03 (if you can find it - available in Asia, esp Singapore - see CPF thread)

Sony BCG-34HRMF4 - $27.65, with 4x Sony 2500mAh NiMH

Soshine SC-C3 Intelligent Rapid Charger - $13.98 shipped - but ships from Hong Kong, and does not have UL listing, however it does have CE mark. (my review on CPF)

[Camgen]

Yes well the Maha C9000 is an excellent charger- I have and use one -
but it can be intimidating and it has so many features that it can become confusing and it is relatively expensive.

Probably better off getting the less sophisticated and less expensive chargers suggested in Post #21 - I'll paste them here:

Here are a few known good less expensive chargers -
they all have a common trait of having independent charging channels
(many cheaper chargers only can charge in pairs -
this "works", but just not so good)

Sanyo eneloop MQH03 (if you can find it - available in Asia, esp Singapore - see CPF thread)

Sony BCG-34HRMF4 - $27.65, with 4x Sony 2500mAh NiMH

Soshine SC-C3 Intelligent Rapid Charger - $13.98 shipped - but ships from Hong Kong, and does not have UL listing, however it does have CE mark. (my review on CPF)

I think I'm going to get the Soshine SC-C3, it'll be avail. in 3 days. I read your review on candle power forums. My question is, how is it holding up so far? I read it is flimsy, never mind the cover as I'll probably take that off when charging to keep batteries cooler. For $13.98 can't beat that. I've been wanting the LaCrosse BC 700 but even that cost $30.00.

The Sony BCG is now $26.29 @ Amazon.

[UnknownVT]

I think I'm going to get the Soshine SC-C3, it'll be avail. in 3 days. I read your review on candle power forums. My question is, how is it holding up so far? I read it is flimsy, never mind the cover as I'll probably take that off when charging to keep batteries cooler. For $13.98 can't beat that.

Mine has been fine, and use it regularly.

I don't think it's flimsy -
but then I don't play hockey with it......

[bayareahdv]

k-x hates lenmar nimh 100-200 shots with 2700 mah and only 50 shots w flash with the 2000mah ... I had just gotten them before the k-x ... going to get some eneloops soon
Lenmar PRO 827 Battery - AA - NiMH 2700 mAh

[UnknownVT]

k-x hates lenmar nimh 100-200 shots with 2700 mah and only 50 shots w flash with the 2000mah ... I had just gotten them before the k-x ... going to get some eneloops soon
Lenmar PRO 827 Battery - AA - NiMH 2700 mAh

Pasted from Post #21 in K-x eats AA batteries??

Here's a bit of an explanation.

Pentax dSLRs using AA batteries all have a common family trait of being fussy with batteries -
due to momentary high current drain (up to 1.484 Amps) and using voltage level threshold (cut-off at 1.15V).

When there is current demand the battery's voltage drops - the higher the current demand the more the voltage level drops.

eg: the K200D will shutdown at 1.15V per battery = 4.6V total (see post #25 in K200D Battery Meter Problem )
remember also even if a single battery is low (at higher current drain/demand) - it could cause the whole set to fail.

Here's a graphical illustration using that 1.15V voltage threshold (horizontal line in red)

(NOTE: to be fair - the horizontal scale in this animated comparison are not the same for the higher capacity NiMH, their ranges are wider (better) )

Since the max current demand seemed to be tested at about 1.484Amps the critical curve would be somewhere between the 2Amp curve (dark green) and the 1Amp (purple).

The eneloop shows more curves above the 1.15V red-line than the 2 well known higher capacity NiMH, and if one cares to look at the curves in NiMh Battery Shoot Out - the eneloop maintains noticeably higher voltages than any other NiMH battery LSD or otherwise.


This is the reason why the majority consensus here whenever AA battery problems are mentioned that then knowledgeable will recommend eneloops.

I use eneloops in my K100D and K-x and I get about 1,000 shots on the K100D and over 1,100 shots on the K-x per charge, and often the camera(s) will be unused for weeks, then I will shoot hundreds of shots in a session -
eneloops have served me well.

EDIT to ADD

For the more technically minded - this is how to test the viability of any AA battery to be used in a Pentax dSLR.

There is a big difference between load and no-load voltages -
when the batteries are in use in the camera they are under load, and the voltage can be quite a bit lower than the open-circuit voltage when the batteries are under no-load.

Pentax dSLR can be quite demanding on current -
ie: the load can be pretty high.

Check out Post #23 in K200D Battery Meter Problem (mentioned above)
where dmessing measured actual voltage and current draw of his K200D in operation.

Basically the K200D draws 1.296 Amps at start up, and the peak current demand is 1.480A.

The threshold voltage for the K200D was 4.59V total (~=1.15V per cell if they are exactly matched)

I would think other Pentax dSLRs are going to be very similar, if not the same.

So to test the viability of your cells - use a resistor load of 1 ohm (and at least 3watt rating) - which would draw in theory 1.5A for alkalines and 1.2A for NiMH, and approx 1.65A for lithium AA - this is close enough to the start-up and perhaps the max current draws.

Under this load measure the battery voltage, if the cell is below 1.15V then it probably is not capable of powering up the K200D (or if in series the other cells will have to compensate/support it).

Use only cells that pass this criteria with a good margin, and see if the camera behaves any better.