[vk4akp]

Yep, it's got me beat.

I just went out and blew away about 100 shots to stress test the camera.

Tried both lenses, first 30 or so with the flash up. Let the auto focus hunt a lot by just swinging the camera around and pretty much just held the snapshot button down continuously for long periods of time.

Battery indicator never moved off full at any point.

Yet these are still the same Varta batteries that were in the camera yesterday and wouldn't take 5 shots at that time.

Both yesterday and today I even removed and reinserted the batteries to be sure of good contact.

Also today is even colder.

So a mystery. I will continue to play around with it and see what happens over time.

Fingers crossed. Maybe it was just having a bad day and thought it was a K-M!

.-.-.

[vk4akp]

Hi Guys,

Well I felt I really had to come back to this thread to impress upon you all the importance of a decent charger.

I've recently received a bit of a re-educations on batteries.

While my past experiences and attitudes towards NiCd batteries hold true there is a drastic difference with NiMh.

I won't go into the technical side of things (unless asked) too much here but some important things apply to NiiMh that didn't to NiCd.

Unlike NiCd, NiMh is not tolerant at all to over charging and this is the quickest way to kill off your batteries (lessen available cycles and capacity).

As batteries age their capacity diminishes for many reasons so you could never be sure of correct slow charging timer based cut out times based on cell capacity.

For this reason we are stuck with fast charging at C0.33 or more to detect max charge via -delta V and or temperature.

This avoids over charging and damage to the batteries.

Neither of the 10 cell chargers I have listed can safely do this with NiMh battery capacities over about 600mAh.

I have since come across a very good charger that can do the job correctly plus many other things like recover capacity on older cells, and display actual analysed cell capacity.

Others may want to look into this charger also as it is ideal for AA based cameras plus more.

Maha MH-C9000



.-.-.

OK thanks for the replies guys.


My chargers while not the best money can buy they are high end good quality ones using Neg Delta V and individual cell monitoring etc.

Vanson V-6988, 10x AA/AAA -Neg Delt V Computer controlled Charger



Hong Kong SAR Computer-controlled Ni-MH and Ni-Cd Battery Charger. Manufacturer, Exporter

--

MinWah Intercept MW8998, 10x AA/AAA -Neg Delt V Charger.



http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MB3551&CATID=18&form=CAT&SUBCATI...T&SUBCATID=295

Minwa Electronics Co., Ltd.

>Products>chargers>NiMh>-Delt-V>page 7>MW8998

I will look into some better chargers again but I only buy 10x AA capacity chargers and refuse to fast charge batteries.

I will also buy some Eneloop's from Woolies today to try.

.-.-.

[bergmania]

I use 2500mAh Varta NiMh's with no problems but I do prefere energyzer lithiums as AF is alot faster..

[Ex Finn.]

That C9000 is a beast, lot of features and not super expensive.
Someone else here said it works well as a night lite also, after using it , I agree.

Cheers, Mike.

[OutOfFocus]

I swear by my C9000. It has totally changed the NiMH charging experience from frustration to an addiction.

I wish the "night light" would turn off at the end of the current cycle, so I could just glance in its general direction when I wake up in the middle of the night.

[P. U. Laster]

I have been unsing both Vartas and Eneloops ("Duraloops" actually) in my K200. My opinion is that Vartas are slightly inferior: on average they give less shots, but the real difference I noticed is in "voltage stability" or "consistence".

Sometimes the Vartas act funny, e.g. after a few shots they seem depleted but if I turn the mode knob I immediately get the battery meter to jump to 100%. Or sometimes switching the battery places equally does the trick. I never experienced that with the Duraloops, so I know it's not the camera.

Two things to note: the funny behaviour I described takes place regardless of the charge level, so I don't think it's related to the batteries dying.
And, most important, I found that a good battery charger can make quite a difference. You don't have to break the bank to buy one: a cheap one that I use and recommend is the LaCrosse RS700 (or BC700 as it is called outside Europe), I paid about 30 € for it, and at that price I'm really satisfied. If your batteries are good, you will get the most out of them; and if they are bad, you will be able to spot the defective ones just by reading the voltage and capacity.

[theperception2008]

That C9000 is a beast, lot of features and not super expensive.
Someone else here said it works well as a night lite also, after using it , I agree.

Cheers, Mike.

Haha I just picked up a MH-C9000 and boy is that LCD screen bright! It is def. a worthy investment. I have a set of eneloops going through break it since all I had before was the charger that came with them.

fyi. My eneloops when they are slightly above 50% and around 1-5% starts showing funny readings in my K100D Super, but after a second or two they recover voltage :-) and even out. But all that was from sitting sets of eneloops charged from the factory. Now that the Maha is charging them they should be alot better :-)

[vk4akp]

Your description of flicking the mode knob and swapping batteries around is exactly what I experienced as well!!!

I could not have described it better!.

Only with Varta's.

I also noticed in my old Canon Powershot A430 (I think). That if I leave freshly charged batteries in for a few weeks they come up as flat in the camera.

However a quick discharge in the C9000 shows they are virtually fully charged.

Very strange. I guess I start buying more Eneloops.

.-.-.

I have been unsing both Vartas and Eneloops ("Duraloops" actually) in my K200. My opinion is that Vartas are slightly inferior: on average they give less shots, but the real difference I noticed is in "voltage stability" or "consistence".

Sometimes the Vartas act funny, e.g. after a few shots they seem depleted but if I turn the mode knob I immediately get the battery meter to jump to 100%. Or sometimes switching the battery places equally does the trick. I never experienced that with the Duraloops, so I know it's not the camera.

Two things to note: the funny behaviour I described takes place regardless of the charge level, so I don't think it's related to the batteries dying.
And, most important, I found that a good battery charger can make quite a difference. You don't have to break the bank to buy one: a cheap one that I use and recommend is the LaCrosse RS700 (or BC700 as it is called outside Europe), I paid about 30 € for it, and at that price I'm really satisfied. If your batteries are good, you will get the most out of them; and if they are bad, you will be able to spot the defective ones just by reading the voltage and capacity.

[vk4akp]

OK 4 ish years later and I'm back at it again.

I hadn't done much with my K200D for some time as i found it had a few stuck pixels that the cameras firmware just will not map out.
Going back through all my photo's I find it was a fault from new (day one). You can imagine my disappointment, after all we buy these camera's for their high quality images.
This and the battery issues prompted me to just pack it away and give up on Pentax for some time.

Well I've started to get a bit of interest again in DSLR since seeing two new items released.
The hd-pentax-da-55-300mm-f4-5.8-ed-wr lens
HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR Reviews - DA Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
And the pentax-af-540fgz-ii flash
PENTAX AF 540FGZ II reviews - Pentax Camera Accessory Review Database
(Both weather sealed).

Since buying the K200D in all this time I still have not seen a replacement body I like. (AA battery support [in main body], Weather sealed body, penta prism (not mirror), Battery Grip option, live view, & lastly HD video support.

So I'm tossing up buying some new accessories like this lens and flash to use on my K200D once again until a newer model finally comes out that I like.
This is also assuming that the dreaded stuck pixels don't annoy the hell out of me again. And that I can get around the AA battery issue.


Anyhow this brings me back to the original subject. (Battery issues).

Now I have noticed some interesting things since playing with the camera again.

I am currently testing with the following batteries. (Both new & used).
- Sanyo Eneloop [1900mAh]
- Varta ready2use [2100mAh]
- Aldi Active Energy [2300mAh]
- Aldi Ultracell [2000mAh]

I have noticed something interesting.
Regardless of the brand of battery the camera still plays up the same.
I also cleaned the battery terminals of the camera and batteries with alcohol just to be sure and did get some improvement after this.

But the big thing is for the camera not to play up the batteries need to be freshly charged.
let them sit for a few days and bang, same problem.
The camera just does not tolerate the lower resting voltage of the batteries. However cycling the same rejected batteries in the c9000 charger @500mA discharge shows perfect "as new" capacity. (Nothing wrong with the batteries).

I really think what's needed is a firmware update for the K200D that recognises that the lower voltage is acceptable.

Now back on to chargers.
I have noticed that there is now a new charger that to me looks to be based on the Maha c9000 design but with some new very nice features.

It's the SkyRC NC2500 Charger.



NC2500 Charger

This charger has the interesting ability to link to an Android device and display real time statistics on the battery as it's charged and discharged.
You can actually see the voltage curve of the battery as it's discharged over time.
This would be very handy for knowing exactly how the different branded batteries react.

This charger is now also on my shopping list. They run out at about US$99 + postage.

I'll post more info in future as I'm sure this is going to be an ongoing issue for many K200D owners.

.-.-.

[kkoether]

Quit watching the battery meter like a hawk. Last weekend I shot almost 1500 shots on my K200D without changing batteries using Sanyo Eneloops!!! My experience is that the battery meter will be all over the place The meter measures voltage from the batteries, Current from the batteries is what makes you camera work. Eneloops have the ability to deliver more than enough current to power your camera for quite a while. Because current is the inverse of voltage (ie voltage goes down as current goes up) that is why the battery meter is all over the place. The characteristics of "Low Self Discharge" batteries make it really hard to properly meter them. Go enjoy your camera! I know I do!!!

[vk4akp]

Hard to enjoy a camera that switches it's self off after every 3-4 shots (without flash even) and on a full set of eneloop batteries.

As for the battery meter, I don't think I've mentioned paying any attention to it so far as I don't.

I wouldn't call something that has 3 levels much of a meter anyhow. Basically two lit up sections giving 3 possible scenarios. (full, half full, and empty).

However as you've brought up the subject of the meter here's another interesting thing about this problem.

Full set of batteries inserted for the first time.
Turn on the camera. One bar! Half full reading.
Turn off. On again. Full!
Again. This time empty.

And so on. Random results every time. It's all over the place.

No there is something seriously wrong with this model and this battery issue that's been reported by many many people right from the word go.

The big question is. Is it a hardware design fault that can't be rectified? Or is it something that can be addressed in a firmware upgrade?

Hopefully the latter!
.-.-.

[kkoether]

Sounds more like something is shorted internal to the camera that is causing a significant drain on the batteries. Have you tried a set of Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries? If it acts up with those then I'd say there is something wrong internally and given the age of the K200D the repair will probably be cost more than the camera is worth. As I said my K200D delivers great battery performance using Eneloops. It's the only thing I've ever used in it other than the initial set of Energizer Ultimate's that shipped with my camera.

[vk4akp]

No, I only use rechargeable batteries. I refuse to buy primary cells of any description as they are bad for the environment.

As previously mentioned cleaning the battery terminals with alcohol and freshly charging the batteries makes the camera work.
It wants to see that initial high voltage level then it is happy.

My guess is it's a firmware thing.

The fact it won't map out the bad pixels either tends to suggest they really need to bug fix the firmware in this model for multiple issues.

Both these problems have existed from new and have been reported by others.
.-.-.

[Learjet]

Sometimes I think cameras just hate all rechargeable batteries. Even on my K-x the battery meter goes orange after only a few shots, but at least it still keeps going for a couple of hundred.

OT I see we have very similar callsigns. 73's from VK4BKP.