D80 Battery Query

[Geoff Marland]

I have not been able to post very much lately, Ive been rather busy at home and certain people at work think I should be doing what I'm paid to do not play with camera sites

After much thought I finally decided to upgrade my D70 to a D80 plus an 18-200VR lens. I do'nt have enough posts up to use the members purchasing rights and a D200 was outside my budget.

I'm very pleased with the D80 on the whole but not happy at all with the battery. When the battery is fully drained I recharge it completely but the indicator shows "battery capacity 53%". This has happened 4 times now.

Does this mean the battery is faulty or does it take time to bed down?

Any thoughts please.

[Marvin]

Is it a genuine battery? I don't know much about batteries but I bought a non genuine one for my old G2 that did something similar.

[Geoff Marland]

Yes it was a genuine battery.

Brand new, came in the box with the camera body.

Had to charge it before I could even play with my new toy.

[fishafotos]

The problem is that you are running the battery flat. That is the worst thing you an do. Unlike old batterys, lithium ion batteries should be charged at about 30-50% to full and never left on charge for a long time after they are full.

Even when you do that, the D80 battery life is still not too flash when shooting RAW. Bloody decent in JPEG though.

[Geoff Marland]

Thanks for your replies.

I've finally solved the problem.

Took the camera back to the dealer and complained, the reply was - either a defective battery or a defective charger. Gave me a replacement battery to try and problem solved. Obviously it was a defective battery.

Thanks for the tips on charging, I'll follow them in future now that I know that I have a decent battery in the first place.

Also I didnt realise that VR uses battery power, should have thought about it. So the obvious answer is you only use when necessary and not have it on all the time. Something else to be aware of.

[jberth1]

Yep - the D80 battery life, especially with the 18-200, is a real shock after the D70. This is the first time I've ever had the need for a spare battery. They're so cheap now it's easy to keep a spare in the bag, and just swap them every time you go out for a day. Much better for lithium-ion batteries as well - don't be tempted to just buy a spare battery and leave it in your bag - it must be used on a regular basis.

Cheers

Justin

[Yi-P]

I have 3 batteries with my D70, never have to charge them over for a long while as being swapping between them. It is a real plus to have a spare battery in the bag, specially when you go out and shoot for a few days, no need to worry to bring a charger or not.

[methd]

I have found that my 2 batteries' life performance matches the number of shots i can take on the 4 gig (2 x 2gig) cards i have, shooting in jpg. it's really handy, and if i was to buy another battery, I'd need more memory (unless i can find a place to dump the pictures).

[Geoff Marland]

Thanks for the comments and tips.

Looks like my next purchase has to be another battery.

My wife and I are heading off to the UK for 6 weeks Sept/Oct so I'd better look into it before then.

[obzelite]

you will find most things that use lipo or lion batteries will have circuitry built in to stop working once they reach a cut off voltage, that battery isn't flat, but according to the device it is, its just stopped you using it to stop the voltage going below a preset amount that does damage to Lithium type batteries.
on 7.2 lipo batteries for RC that cut off is 6.25 volts. They still have more than enough power to keep running, but when you do the batteries life is severely shortened. like 98% shorter. I've seen cases of over use and the battery is dead there and then.
that's why cameras like the d200 u can select different battery types, just don't leave it set to alkaline and use Lithium.

[obzelite]

also the d80, d200 have some healthy appetites for juice compared to a d70.

i prob get 500-1000 shots per charge and i'm using the mbd200 grip with dual batteries.
My d70 when i went around the world was getting at least 2000 to a charge of a single battery, i was gone for 6 weeks, filled 2 cards a day and only charged is 4 times. So take a spare battery and the charger if u go on a trip.