K20d battery display funkiness

nostatic · 03-20-2008, 10:46 AM

The battery display on my K20d is all over the map. On fresh charge it shows full, but sometimes within a relatively short time/number of shots will show half full. Then it will show empty. Then back to full. I thought maybe it had to internally calibrate but it is now on it's third full charge and it still does it. I have no idea how much battery I have left.

Anyone else seeing this? In the two weeks I had the K10d the battery display was well behaved (and fairly conservative).

davemdsn · 03-20-2008, 04:11 PM

I have not seen mine go from empty back to full, but I have seen it go from 1/2 back to full or empty back to half. My K10 does it as well. I think that it is telling you how much time you have left (in a very vague and arbitrary way) before the battery is depleted. It's estimation of how long the battery has is dependent on what you are doing at the time. In other words, if I am looking at the LCD a lot the symbol may drop to 1/2, then go back to full when I stop using the LCD. This is only a guess based on the behavior I have seen. One thing I like about my Sony camcorder is the very detailed, and pretty accurate battery signal display.

flyer · 03-20-2008, 04:28 PM

I noticed mine was also acting up. With two fresh batteries (one in the grip, one in the camera), it was showing empty. I took off the grip and it showed full again. When I put the grip back on, it went to half. Really weird and even more unreliable than the gauge of my K10D, which, by itself, is no recommendation.

skamaraju · 03-20-2008, 07:06 PM

Mine showed empty after say 300 shots. But is continuing even after 200 more with that empty still showing. Wierd.

nostatic · 03-20-2008, 10:27 PM

ok, so sounds like a feature, not a bug

Mine finally ran out today. It was showing empty for a number of shots. but it seems to be rather random and not well calibrated. Time to buy a second battery. The K10d actually seemed a bit more consistent with the display.

Related amusing (though not at the time) story. I bought a Ducati Multistrada a few years back. Bike was up in San Francisco so I flew up from LA planning to drive it back down. The gas guage (digital readout) is notoriously flaky. It'll show half a tank then poof. Knowing that I left SF and tracked my mileage. I filled up in Tracy and doing the math I figured I could get 150 miles out of the full tank. At 90 miles past that I pulled into a gas station to put on rain gear (this was in March). I stupidly didn't gas up as I figured I had at least 30-40 more miles and that would get me to the base of the grapevine. The only problem was that from my last fillup I'd been fighting serious head and sidewinds. Another 20 miles down the road, just as it was getting dark and starting to rain, it died. No gas. I had AAA but found out that my auto policy doesn't cover motorcycles. Most expensive gallon of gas I ever bought.

The rest of the trip almost killed me. Going up the grapevine in a driving rain, unable to see, with semis flying past me on both sides. Finally made it to the summit, almost got a motel room, but figured, "it'll clear up in a few miles." Actually it did, and I finally got home 10 hours after I left SF.

Of course then there is the ignomious end of the bike involving a coyote on the 405 freeway in Irvine and the Duc turning into a flaming hockey puck but that's another story...

03-20-2008, 10:46 AM	#1
nostatic Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: socal Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,575	K20d battery display funkiness The battery display on my K20d is all over the map. On fresh charge it shows full, but sometimes within a relatively short time/number of shots will show half full. Then it will show empty. Then back to full. I thought maybe it had to internally calibrate but it is now on it's third full charge and it still does it. I have no idea how much battery I have left. Anyone else seeing this? In the two weeks I had the K10d the battery display was well behaved (and fairly conservative).

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03-20-2008, 04:11 PM	#2
davemdsn Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Boise, Idaho Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,413	I have not seen mine go from empty back to full, but I have seen it go from 1/2 back to full or empty back to half. My K10 does it as well. I think that it is telling you how much time you have left (in a very vague and arbitrary way) before the battery is depleted. It's estimation of how long the battery has is dependent on what you are doing at the time. In other words, if I am looking at the LCD a lot the symbol may drop to 1/2, then go back to full when I stop using the LCD. This is only a guess based on the behavior I have seen. One thing I like about my Sony camcorder is the very detailed, and pretty accurate battery signal display.

03-20-2008, 04:28 PM	#3
flyer Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ste-Anne des Plaines, Qc., Canada Posts: 2,013	I noticed mine was also acting up. With two fresh batteries (one in the grip, one in the camera), it was showing empty. I took off the grip and it showed full again. When I put the grip back on, it went to half. Really weird and even more unreliable than the gauge of my K10D, which, by itself, is no recommendation.

03-20-2008, 07:06 PM	#4
skamaraju Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: India Posts: 162	Mine showed empty after say 300 shots. But is continuing even after 200 more with that empty still showing. Wierd.

03-20-2008, 10:27 PM	#5
nostatic Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: socal Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,575 Original Poster	ok, so sounds like a feature, not a bug Mine finally ran out today. It was showing empty for a number of shots. but it seems to be rather random and not well calibrated. Time to buy a second battery. The K10d actually seemed a bit more consistent with the display. Related amusing (though not at the time) story. I bought a Ducati Multistrada a few years back. Bike was up in San Francisco so I flew up from LA planning to drive it back down. The gas guage (digital readout) is notoriously flaky. It'll show half a tank then poof. Knowing that I left SF and tracked my mileage. I filled up in Tracy and doing the math I figured I could get 150 miles out of the full tank. At 90 miles past that I pulled into a gas station to put on rain gear (this was in March). I stupidly didn't gas up as I figured I had at least 30-40 more miles and that would get me to the base of the grapevine. The only problem was that from my last fillup I'd been fighting serious head and sidewinds. Another 20 miles down the road, just as it was getting dark and starting to rain, it died. No gas. I had AAA but found out that my auto policy doesn't cover motorcycles. Most expensive gallon of gas I ever bought. The rest of the trip almost killed me. Going up the grapevine in a driving rain, unable to see, with semis flying past me on both sides. Finally made it to the summit, almost got a motel room, but figured, "it'll clear up in a few miles." Actually it did, and I finally got home 10 hours after I left SF. Of course then there is the ignomious end of the bike involving a coyote on the 405 freeway in Irvine and the Duc turning into a flaming hockey puck but that's another story...