Battery life.

I cross posted this to the 4 digital groups as it pertains to all.

It's been about 2 1/2 years since I went digital, first with the Oly
E20-N and now the Nikon D-70.

I started out with two sets of AA NiMH batteries and added a third.
One set consisted of 8 2000 MAh batteries, one set of 4 1800 MAh,
batteries and one set of 4 1850 MAh batteries.

One of the early 2000 MAh batteries failed early on. Not too long ago
a second failed. In the last week I had one fail in each of the other
two batches.

They were heavily used at first, but since the D-70 have received only
occasional use. They have been conditioned twice in the last year.

I didn't name any brands as the failures seem to be pretty well
distributed between on and off brands.

Considering the cost of NiMH batteries, I think I ended up with
reasonable life out of them.

Likewise the rechargeable Lithiums are rated with both a cycle life
and calendar life. The proprietary battery with the D-70 seems to
have tremendous capacity, or longevity, but it's life is still rated
in the neighborhood of two years.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
..

Roger wrote:
I cross posted this to the 4 digital groups as it pertains to all.

[cross-posting trimmed]

I would have thought that rec.photo.digital was the better group until a
..batteries group was created!

[]
One of the early 2000 MAh batteries failed early on. Not too long ago
a second failed. In the last week I had one fail in each of the other
two batches.

I think you have simply been unfortunate. We mus have bought a dozen or
more sets of 4 and only had two fail. There were DOA and replaced by the
shop. NiMH cells don't have the same limited shelf-life that Li-ion cells
do.

Cheers,
David

"David J Taylor" wrote in
:

I cross posted this to the 4 digital groups as it pertains to all.

[cross-posting trimmed]

I would have thought that rec.photo.digital was the better group until a
.batteries group was created!

LOL. Actually, he mentioned batteries for both a ZLR (E20) and an SLR (D70)
so his post falls within the on-topic bounds of the ZLR and SLR-Systems
groups, but was totally off-topic for the rangefinder and p&s groups.

--
Bill

Woodchuck Bill wrote:
"David J Taylor" wrote in
:

I cross posted this to the 4 digital groups as it pertains to all.

[cross-posting trimmed]

I would have thought that rec.photo.digital was the better group
until a .batteries group was created!

LOL. Actually, he mentioned batteries for both a ZLR (E20) and an SLR
(D70) so his post falls within the on-topic bounds of the ZLR and
SLR-Systems groups, but was totally off-topic for the rangefinder and
p&s groups.

LOL, indeed! I do think a single posting in rpd would have been more
appropriate, rather than creating a fragmented discussion, though.

David

"David J Taylor" wrote in
:

LOL, indeed! I do think a single posting in rpd would have been more
appropriate, rather than creating a fragmented discussion, though.

Agreed, but I can understand the initial confusion until the chips finish
falling. When in doubt..post to rec.photo.digital, or at least set follow-
ups there if you feel the need to crosspost.

To the OP..we're not netcopping you. Stick around!

--
Bill

Roger wrote:

I cross posted this to the 4 digital groups as it pertains to all.

It's been about 2 1/2 years since I went digital, first with the Oly
E20-N and now the Nikon D-70.

I started out with two sets of AA NiMH batteries and added a third.
One set consisted of 8 2000 MAh batteries, one set of 4 1800 MAh,
batteries and one set of 4 1850 MAh batteries.

One of the early 2000 MAh batteries failed early on. Not too long ago
a second failed. In the last week I had one fail in each of the other
two batches.

They were heavily used at first, but since the D-70 have received only
occasional use. They have been conditioned twice in the last year.

I didn't name any brands as the failures seem to be pretty well
distributed between on and off brands.

Considering the cost of NiMH batteries, I think I ended up with
reasonable life out of them.

Likewise the rechargeable Lithiums are rated with both a cycle life
and calendar life. The proprietary battery with the D-70 seems to
have tremendous capacity, or longevity, but it's life is still rated
in the neighborhood of two years.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
.
Interesting. I've yet to find a digicam that draws much less than ½ amp
with the display on. Even my tiny Dimage-X pulls 400+ mA, but only about
6 mA with the display off, so the current delivering ability of a
battery of whatever type is all important. I've found the big battery
killer is overcharging. The practice of "topping up" a full battery
before a shooting session can be B A D ! Most chargers doing this won't
sense an overcharge before some electrolyte is destroyed, leading to a
battery with apparent full capacity, but reduced current ability. Of
course charging from flat allows the better chargers to predict the end
point and stop in time. I agree that the cost of NiMH cells is low
enough that the life is acceptable, provided you have a spare set for
when the inevitable happens and a fully charged set fails in camera.
The Lithium ion type can have exactly the same vulnerabilities, and they
are expensive

Roger wrote in message . ..
I cross posted this to the 4 digital groups as it pertains to all.

It's been about 2 1/2 years since I went digital, first with the Oly
E20-N and now the Nikon D-70.

I started out with two sets of AA NiMH batteries and added a third.
One set consisted of 8 2000 MAh batteries, one set of 4 1800 MAh,
batteries and one set of 4 1850 MAh batteries.

One of the early 2000 MAh batteries failed early on. Not too long ago
a second failed. In the last week I had one fail in each of the other
two batches.

They were heavily used at first, but since the D-70 have received only
occasional use. They have been conditioned twice in the last year.

I didn't name any brands as the failures seem to be pretty well
distributed between on and off brands.

About two years with moderate to high use has been my experience with
Li-ion batteries for Canon's D60 and 10D.

Bob Shomler
www.shomler.com
Considering the cost of NiMH batteries, I think I ended up with
reasonable life out of them.

Likewise the rechargeable Lithiums are rated with both a cycle life
and calendar life. The proprietary battery with the D-70 seems to
have tremendous capacity, or longevity, but it's life is still rated
in the neighborhood of two years.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
.

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 07:16:48 -0000, "David J Taylor"
wrote:

Roger wrote:
I cross posted this to the 4 digital groups as it pertains to all.

What rec.photo.digital?
It has dispappeared from both servers I use.

[cross-posting trimmed]

That was the reason for the cross posting.


I would have thought that rec.photo.digital was the better group until a
.batteries group was created!

:-))


[]
One of the early 2000 MAh batteries failed early on. Not too long ago
a second failed. In the last week I had one fail in each of the other
two batches.

I think you have simply been unfortunate. We mus have bought a dozen or

Actually, I thought I was doing quite well. 2 to 2 1/2 years is about
the time I figure I'm going to pitch the rechargeable and replace
them.

more sets of 4 and only had two fail. There were DOA and replaced by the
shop. NiMH cells don't have the same limited shelf-life that Li-ion cells
do.

Having used NiMH batteries for some years in Hand Held radios (244 and
440 MHz ham rigs) I've found that the ultimate life of the NiMH in
years runs pretty close to, or only slightly better than that of
NiCads that in turn seems to be about what they advertise for Li-ion
rechargeable. All three "from my limited experience" run two to three
years.

With either I figure I'm going to be doing a major replacement every
couple of years.

When it comes to the number of shots per battery/batter pack they all
seem to work out about the same cost.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Cheers,
David

On 18 Nov 2004 07:21:21 GMT, Woodchuck Bill
wrote:

"David J Taylor" wrote in
:

I cross posted this to the 4 digital groups as it pertains to all.

[cross-posting trimmed]

I would have thought that rec.photo.digital was the better group until a
.batteries group was created!

LOL. Actually, he mentioned batteries for both a ZLR (E20) and an SLR (D70)
so his post falls within the on-topic bounds of the ZLR and SLR-Systems
groups, but was totally off-topic for the rangefinder and p&s groups.

Actually he/me/I is talking about AA cell lifetime in cameras which
would also include many of the 35 mm cameras as well. :-))

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

On 18 Nov 2004 08:08:43 GMT, Woodchuck Bill
wrote:

"David J Taylor" wrote in
:

LOL, indeed! I do think a single posting in rpd would have been more
appropriate, rather than creating a fragmented discussion, though.

Agreed, but I can understand the initial confusion until the chips finish
falling. When in doubt..post to rec.photo.digital, or at least set follow-
ups there if you feel the need to crosspost.

To the OP..we're not netcopping you. Stick around!
Nope , I'm gonna take my marbles home and go play:-))

Actually, can any of you still get RPD? It is no longer on either
server I use.

OTOH, I think this thread has already developed more traffic than I've
seen in a week on the 4 digital groups. OK, not quite, but I'm not
seeing much.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com