Battery charge status indicator

[Bert N]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I used the battery until it was about 1 bar from empty then completed the recharging process using a compact charger until the 80% is on, and the charge led no longer flashes. However, when I insert the battery into the camera, the battery charge status still shows the same 1 bar level. I found a post in the forum that says that the status won't change unless the battery is fully discharged before being recharged. Is this correct? Not that this makes any sense to me...

 

Never mind... According to the manual: "A new battery only reaches its full capacity after it has been fully charged and – by use in the camera – discharged 2 or 3 times. This discharge process should be repeated every 25 cycles.

 

This is exactly what I have, a new battery, so I'll just have to follow the instructions.

[farnz]

Bert,

 

I think the full discharge cycle referred to third party ("after market") batteries because they need to be re-initialised so that the cameras circuitry detects the battery correctly as it will have slightly different parameters to a Leica proprietary battery. You didn't mention whether your battery is a Leica battery.

 

You said the battery only charged your battery to 80% but you need to be aware that battery capacity meters are notoriously inaccurate, including the one in your charger. It calculates the amount of charge it thinks the battery is holding based on the internal resistance of the battery. The lower the resistance, the more current the battery pulls, and the less charge it thinks the battery is holding until the resistance is high enough that the current flowing out of the charger is low enough that it triggers a pre-set level and the charger thinks the battery is fully charged and switches the charging circuit off.

 

But the M8's battery indicator uses points of a Volt to decide how much charge it thinks the battery is holding. So if the voltage at the batteries terminals is out by a couple of points (because that battery has a slightly high internal resistance and the charging circuit switched off early) then the M8's battery indicator will be fooled.

 

It is (or used to be:o) collective wisdom on this forum to change a battery after the indicator drops down to 2 bars because the battery's charge deteriorates very quickly after this.

 

Pete.

[Bert N]

Thank you Pete for your detailed answer. The battery I have is one that is sold by B&H under the 'Pearstone' brand name, and according to the users' feedback, it supposedly works as well as a Leica battery which at the time was not available for purchase. About the 80% indicator on the charger, is it supposed to turn off when the battery is fully charged? I assumed that the battery was fully charged when the charge indicator stopped flashing, and the 80% stayed on (as logically it should). Thanks again.

[farnz]

Bert,

 

Sorry but I only have the original charger so I can't tell you whether the indicator's supposed to turn off when the battery's fully charged - but it sounds reasonable.

 

Pete.

[zombii]

I had two of those Pearstone batteries and they either wouldn't charge or hold a charge after the first discharge/recharge cycle. I returned both to B&H. They didn't offer any wisdom about how to get them to work correctly.

[Bert N]

Thank you for your helpful feedback, I see that a couple of users have also reported the same issue with this product on B&H. I guess it's best to return or get rid of it then...

 

 

I had two of those Pearstone batteries and they either wouldn't charge or hold a charge after the first discharge/recharge cycle. I returned both to B&H. They didn't offer any wisdom about how to get them to work correctly.