[schnitzer79]

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been looking for a cheap non OEM LI109 battery as a spare and came across these 2 :

BPC 1050 mAh Battery for Pentax D-LI109 K-R KR K2 K-2 | eBay

D-Li109 DLi109 rechargeable Battery for Pentax k-r kr k-2 k2 K30 K-30 DSLR UK | eBay

Just not sure why one is 7.2V and the other 7.4V and if there will be any significant difference in practice. Even though the 7.2V is slightly more expensive, that will arrive within a week whereas the other one will take a month. Which one of the 2 do you guys recommend?

[percy]

1) Go for a battery that matches all the the specs of the original - I think you've probably got less chance of any potential issues

2) I have recently had problems with third party (laptop) batteries and their vendors, which had UK addresses and purported to be UK located stock, but it turns out the vendors were in China. (Don't take that to mean that all goods/vendors from China will have problems - I've had very good service when I've bought other goods from there) Two faulty batteries from different vendors and no end of problems trying to get replacements/refunds. As they say - buy cheap, buy twice!

3) If you buy a third party battery instead of a manufacturers original part, make sure it's from one of the recognised brands such as duracell, eveready or energizer for example. Hopefully you will have less problems with them and they will have higher manufacturing standards.

[i_trax]

I have K-30 and purchased AA adapter on eBay and use Eneloops

[grhazelton]

I've used Wasabi batteries for both my K 10 and K 5 with good performance. IIRC the cost was about $30 for two and a wall charger and a car charger.

[Kozlok]

I have the "MaximalPower" brand. Work great.

[schnitzer79]

thanks for the replies guys.just went for the 7.4V one since its the same voltage on the OEM one.

[ziscwg]

thanks for the replies guys.just went for the 7.4V one since its the same voltage on the OEM one.

They will all be the same voltage as Lith Ion batteries for a lot of devices start at 3.7 v. They then "arrange" them to 7.2 volts. Pentax does this arrangement.

The "thing" you should look for is the 1050 mah. This can vary a lot. The higher the number, the longer that battery will last in terms of one charge.

Some 3rd party batteries claim 1400 mah. I have seen a few test here on the forum where that 1400 was more like 800 or 600. This where things get dodgy with all the mfg claims.

So, in the end, the safest route is going with the OEM. I personally always carry backups to many things. So, even if my back up is a 600 mah 3rd party piece of crud, I can still get a couple of hundred more shots if needed.

[link81]

i like my AA insert and eneloops, that way i'm never without battery access, it also reduces the amount of stuff i have to carry. I'm not even sure if i'll buy another Li Ion or not when this one has outlived its usefulness.

[ziscwg]

i like my AA insert and eneloops, that way i'm never without battery access, it also reduces the amount of stuff i have to carry. I'm not even sure if i'll buy another Li Ion or not when this one has outlived its usefulness.

Doesn't your FPS drop with AA batteries??

[link81]

I'm not sure actually. I don't shoot much in drive mode.

[nkull]

Doesn't your FPS drop with AA batteries??

I use Eneloop batteries as well and I have ~ 70 of them because I use them in everything.. I will probably never use the original Li-ion again since the AAs are so convenient - I consider the ability to use them a huge bonus as I hate having special chargers for every battery I have to use. The voltage with 4 Eneloops will be about 4.8 Volts (they put out a pretty constant 1.2v for most of their life) Can definitely see where frame rates could drop... I will do some testing, but otherwise I like using the Eneloops and while I use multi-shot modes sometimes I did not notice a slow down (was not looking either).

[AquaDome]

Please share your experience with your aftermarket battery. I am afraid to actually buy one, though one of my cameras came with a pair of Halcyon branded batteries and their charger. They only last half as long in the camera (despite having a higher mAh rating) as the original equipment battery. They also won't hold their charge very long (full to nearly-dead in just a few days without use), so I have to charge them the night before an event to make sure they aren't dead in the bag. I only seem to use the aftermarket batteries as back up when my name-brand battery is charging.

How are those Eneloops holding up? I just skipped over them when purchasing a spare battery for my K-50.
I have tried various brands of AA and AAA rechargeables over the years (NiCad, Li, NiMh,) for radio equipment. The added investment, maintenance, and low performance lead me away from them and back to alkalines. My latest batch of NiMh AAs has gone into the battery recycle bin. I would love to find a rechargeable solution that works well.

[nkull]

I will still test the FPS on the Eneloops - But I have been using them in anything that uses AA and AAA for a couple of years ... I have had a couple of them go bad but that was because I allowed them to discharge too much without charging them in a timely manner. In my experience these batteries are rock solid and I have had them still holding a charge after sitting for nearly a year. I use a LaCrosse chargers (spelling?) have both the BC-500 and BC-700, generally just use the BC-500 for it's simplicity. I swear by these things in almost everything.