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02-07-2008, 02:13 PM   #46
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QuoteOriginally posted by jgredline Quote
Here is a question I was pondering this morning..
Has anyone tried mixing brands and battery capacity?
Example. 3 duracel MAH 2650 and 1 Energizer MAH 2500?
What would happen?
The owners manual (DS & DL) specifically advises against doing just that....so let us know how you get on.

02-07-2008, 03:55 PM   #47
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QuoteOriginally posted by GWP Quote
The owners manual (DS & DL) specifically advises against doing just that....so let us know how you get on.
I should have listened.
02-07-2008, 04:38 PM   #48
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Since this thread is already devoted to battery talk, I thought I would just jump in instead of starting my own. Anyhoo, I use eneloop batteries. Should I be looking to discharge them before recharging, or does it matter with these. Thanks Charlie
02-07-2008, 09:57 PM   #49
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Hi Folks...
OK, but this one is a little different....How often can we get a cool gadget for under 15 bucks in this rather expensive camera hobby?...Well, one of the best investments that I have made is purchasing this cool little battery tester...
Impact | Universal Battery Tester EC741 for AA, AAA, 9V, | EC741
Now what is very cool about this tester is that for example...
I have
2 sets of duracel mah 2650
4 sets of energizer mah 2500

Now I have noticed that two sets of my energizers lasted about 400 Pictures worth while two sets lasted about 150 pictures worth...Well, what it turns out to be, is that there was one weak battery in each of the two sets that was only allowing to get 150 Pics...Well after juggling the two week sets I was able to put together 3 good solid sets of mah 2500 and one good set of duracel mah 2650...I should mention that I thought both sets of duracel where dead...

Now back to the energizers...What my nifty little tester is telling me is that my bad/weak batteries are only accepting a 60% charge where my good ones are accepting a 100% charge...So my weak set consist of 4 60% charged batteries and was able to get 227 Photos from the weak set...Not bad for batteries I was about to toss.....

So for the money spent, this was a really great investment..This means that the 12 new batteries I bought with the tester, can not wait until I really need them...



02-08-2008, 01:06 PM   #50
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I'll throw in my own little bit of experience...

First, I believe that any of the La Crosse and similar chargers can "test" the batteries just fine on their own, without the need of a separate tester. Just put it in Charge/Test mode and you'll see exactly how many mAh are being pumped into the batteries.

What I've done is numbered all my NiMH batteries individually with Sharpie markers (which unfortunately seem to wear off over time, I need to find a better solution), then use my La Crosse BC-900 to test them all and mark the results down on the grid. I can now look up any battery on a big list and see exactly how many mAh it should have when fully charged, and weed out the really weak batteries.

The Refresh mode may help, too - with the charger, I got four La Crosse 2400 mAh batteries, one of which only took 1616 mAh, after a refresh, it took 2410 then 2510 next time I tested it.

Most of my batteries are Lenmar 2500mAh ones (got a 20-pack from buy.com for $21 a couple years ago), these all saw many recharges in a cheap one-hour Rayovac charger but most are still OK, but the weak ones are 1800-1900 mAh and the good ones are 2300-2500mAh.

Now, back to the Pentax content. I have an *ist DL and a K100D, and have found myself with no usable batteries more times than I care to remember. Just a couple days ago, I was trying to fire up the DL (I had ground down an old Ricoh-mount lens and I could get it to mount on the DL but not the K100D), and I tried three different sets of batteries - all of which had been charged within the past week or so - and all of them gave the empty batteries warning on both the DL and the K100D. I tossed a set onto the charger, and each battery took about 250-300mAh to be fully charged, and at that point, the cameras were happy with them and showed full charge.

Furthermore, these batteries generally work great on a vacation setting or similar, when the camera recieves heavy usage and the batteries are charged nightly. I can get around 350 shots per set, maybe more.

So, from what I can see, even if the battery still has 2,000 or so mAh left it in, that may not be enough to satisfy the camera. Perhaps the voltage output drops when it's not fresh off the charger? I don't know, but if I just had one camera, I'd probably suspect a problem with the camera, but since both of mine are behaving that way, I'm going to guess that it's just the way it is.

Either way, I'm keeping my eyes open for a deal on Eneloops or similar low-discharge, I'm tired of being frustrated when I want to use the camera and can't find any batteries that work!
02-08-2008, 02:40 PM   #51
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A few days ago I saw Rayovac hybrid batteries at Walmart for $8.76 for four of them. Not sure how they compare to the Eneloops (of which I have 4 sets of 4 already to power the camera and flash). They also had Duracell "low discharge" batteries for ~$13.

I think Costco has a very good deal on Eneloops with a charger.
04-13-2008, 11:38 PM   #52
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QuoteOriginally posted by joelw135 Quote
I have come to a conclusion that a cheap charger costs you money in battery life. I received my La Crosse charger and my new Ansmann 2100 mah low discharge batteries. I decided to run a discharge & charge cycle. All four batteries were placed in the charger at the same time and the LCD display showed that each battery had a different start Ma, Voltage, and mah. After discharging all night I awoke to find that the LCD display read the following:
Cell 1-2 hr 38 min
Cell 2-2 hr 27 min
Cell 3-2 hr 14 min
Cell 4-1 hr 54 min

This shows that the batteries were in a different state of charge and needed different amounts of time to discharge and recharge the batteries. I now feel that a good battery charger that discharges and conditions the batteries to be essential over a cheap charger.

P.S. I used the slowest discharge and recharge rate.
That's a fast recharge on 200mAh recharge rate

I also got my Techno-line BC700 charger and I still think it ***** My VARTA Photo batteries (2700mAh)I will send back. VARTA batteries are normally very good. These not. Avoid them.

At the moment I am doing the best with battries from GP of 2500mAh charged in there own chargers. I will order a set of Eneloops to see if they are that good.

Uptil now I haven't been able to shoot 450 shots with neither batteries I have.

I think it is a little ridiculious of Pentax to sort on batteries brands. Why don't they solved this with a simple firmware upgrade? I mean I feel a little ripped-off buying the K100 super. I never had this problem with met previous pro-sumer camera's.

04-14-2008, 04:11 AM   #53
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I have gotten 617 shots with the Ansmann with about 1/4 being flash. I am now testing the Kodak to see how many I get with them.
04-14-2008, 06:15 AM   #54
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QuoteOriginally posted by joelw135 Quote
I have gotten 617 shots with the Ansmann with about 1/4 being flash. I am now testing the Kodak to see how many I get with them.
Holy Cow. What type? I just want to have at least one good set to try out if it is not the camera (probely not)
04-14-2008, 09:02 AM   #55
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I have switched over to CRV-3 lithium rechargeables and it was the best thing I have done...I average 700 Images from a fully charged set. I now only carry 1 extra set of batteries and they are lighter than AA.
04-14-2008, 10:07 AM   #56
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eneloops is the only battery i use now

QuoteOriginally posted by creampuff Quote
GP Batteries are rubbish as they don't hold their charge well. My suggestion is to try Sanyo Eneloops. Usable straight out of the pack and the batteries retain their charge extremely well. Very well suited with the K100D and gives a very good number of shots per charge despite being 2000mAh. I use it and swear by it.
I have nothing but good experience with eneloops. Also, make sure you have a charger that can indicate each individual circuits (battery) status. I have several sets of eneloops and I label them all in sets of four - trying not to mix them up. Hope it helps...
04-14-2008, 02:59 PM   #57
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I read the below in a review here

"Pentax is one of the few camera manufacturers kind enough to offer DSLRs that use AA batteries. The biggest benefit of using AA batteries is that you can use rechargeable batteries or standard non-rechargeable batteries that can be found anywhere … even a small village drug store in a foreign country. The K100D can also accept CR-V3 lithium long-life batteries and AA lithium long-life batteries. During my review I used AA lithium batteries. I expected between 500 and 1000 exposures with the lithium batteries. However, much to my surprise, the camera still indicated the batteries had a nearly full charge after 1480 shots! My shooting was mostly done with autofocus, shake reduction on, dust removal upon each startup, and a mixture of flash and non-flash shots using both the built-in flash and an external hot shoe flash."
04-14-2008, 03:31 PM   #58
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Just to chip in my experience with Eneloops. I've been using them for about a year now for all my battery powered devices in my home. I put a set into my K100DS and so far I've shot ~600 frames (mixed bag flash, no flash, auto and manual focus etc) and my battery indicator still shows full charge. I would recommend them to anyone
04-14-2008, 08:34 PM   #59
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I use RCRV-3 rechargeable lithium. I don't know how long they last. I recharge every 2 months. It seems a lot of shots.

If you go this route, make sure you check the open-circuit voltage. I use Moby Power (from Thomas Distributing) and the O/C voltage is 3.29V per 2AA-equivalent package. Some brands' output voltage is too high and can cause problems in the Pentax K100D.
04-15-2008, 03:04 PM   #60
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I start getting sick of this!

Thinking I bought a camera where I can put in every battery I want and not the ones Pentax want.

I read on several other website there are people who can't get any brand of Battery empty, making 1000+ photos witha simpel charge (2700mAh)

So whats happening here.Why don't they just offer a new firmware to solve this major problem!

I orderded eneloop batteries In the US, how ridiculious and I don't think anymore those are gonna make me happy.Dang I wish I just had bought a camera with *GOOD* battery life. This really Sucks! I am NOT busy anymore with taking photo's but with charging, discharging and testing batteries.
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