posted on August 23, 2001 03:42:16 PM
Sony Mavica FD-73, battery and charger have worked great for 18 months. Last couple of days when I engage the battery into the charger the green light comes on but stays only only a few seconds -- indicating that it is no longer charging. The indicator on the camera says "125 minutes" on the charge, but when it gets down to 90 or so, it goes blank. I suppose the batteries give out after awhile and have to be replaced, but this may be a charger problem, rather than a
battery problem. Anybody had anything similar happen? I'd appreciate any insight in how to proceed. Thanks!
posted on August 23, 2001 03:53:24 PM
There used to be a problem with re-chargeable batteries called a charging "memory" problem.
If you re-charged the battery all the time when it wasn't completely discharged, the battery would only re-charge to that same margin of discharge.
As example, if the battery is only 15% discharged and you re-charge a lot when it is only down 15%, the batery begins to only re-charge 15% no matter how discharged it is.
Supposedly, newer re-chargeable batteries won't do this.
It seems to also happen with age. My 2 year old cell phone battery doesn't stay charged as much when new.
posted on August 23, 2001 04:03:36 PM
Yes, it happened to me and I just bought a new battery. What a difference! The time I could take pictures kept getting shorter and shorter and then it would just go black, like you said. Mine was going blank when the time on the camera said I still had 40 minutes left. Anyway, I called around and found a new battery. You cannot buy just a NP-F330 battery. The Mavica website sells them as part of a kit. The new number is NP-F550. It is a much better battery. The guy at Wolf Camera said to come out with my battery to be sure. It was the same and on the package it said that it replaces the 330. I have not had to recharge it yet and that was last week. I had to pay 90.00 for it though. Maybe you can find it cheaper. I wanted it that day. He also told me that Sony may have a way to recharge the rechargeable batteries. Does anyone know about that? Also, I read on here one time that the amt. of time you recharge has something to do with the time it is charged for and you shouldn't leave the battery on the charger for very long after it is charged. Hope this helps!!
posted on August 23, 2001 07:57:23 PM
I had the same thing happen to my batteries and then I found on ebay a I ion battery (I think). It's a battery that can be recharged without affecting the life span. I believe the price was about 35 to 40 dollars. It can be recharged whenever you feel like it and doesn't run down the battery.
posted on August 23, 2001 08:10:03 PM
i have 2 batteries and one is always with the charger.once it is charged,the lite went off.
so i always leave it there until i need it
