Erratic M10M Battery Readings on M10M

[Alexander108]

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I have bought a preowned M10M that came with two batteries. I went for a walk with the camera to take a few pictures. Battery level was 75% which should be sufficient for 20 or 30 pics. But I ended up with a dead battery rather soon. It depleted in no time.

First thing I identified was that this very battery was built on 2016. So I would expect it would not perform well. What I don't understand is the behavior:

I did a test: left the camera on, power savings of. Nothing on the screen, no EVF mounted no live view and let it sit.

Every 15m I pressed the button to see the info screen that shows the battery level. Even after more than one hour it was still at 100%. I took out the battery after ah and measured 7.7V (max is around 8.15V). This is clearly not 100%. I did the same test with the other battery from 2021. This one dropped to 90% after 30m and then it dropped pretty steadily 5% every 15min (checked every 15m). Very predictable and as I would expect. BTW I switched on LV every time I checked and took a picture.

The battery seems to be OK. It took 4h until the battery was depleted but the readings were weird. The other battery also depleted in roughly 4 but the readings were as expected.

My questions are:

• Are others experiencing the same behavior with some batteries?
• Is there a cure?

It is not too important. More my curiosity.

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[freak seen]

This is normal behaviour for a battery that is failing due to age or meeting its charge/discharge cycle limit for normal behaviour, normally this is around 500 cycles, but temperature, physical shock and other conditions can affect that.  The only fixes are you can try to recharge on a third party charger with a conditioning cycle (not successful in my experience) or buy a new battery.

 

Marty

Edited October 2 by freak seen

[Alexander108]

Thank you. So how is the battery level determined? The easiest way would be measuring the voltage. But this seems not to be the case. 

[ramarren]

I bought my M10-M new in 2022, with a new spare battery, so I know the batteries are now likely 3-4 years old maximum. I've not spent any time evaluating just how many exposures it will make on a charge, but I know it's higher than 350 and likely nearer 500. 

That says to me that the OP's battery is likely in need of replacement if it can only do 100 exposures when starting at a 75% capacity state. I'm sure my camera does much more than that.

I'm about to go for a walk. I pulled out my M10-M and checked the battery level ... it says 35% remaining. I'll go for my walk and then see how many photos I make, and what the capacity remaining readout says when I get back.

G

[ramarren]

Test Results ... M10 Monochrom fitted with Voigtländer Heliar Classic 50mm f/1.5 SC

• Battery at start: capacity 35% remaining.
• Made 27 exposures (raw format only, used the rangefinder and peeked at captures a few times; I turn the camera off between exposures not made from the same location).
• Battery at end: capacity 30% remaining 

So 27 exposures consumed 5% of battery capacity. Extrapolated assuming that the battery level readout is linear, that indicates a full charge should net 500+ exposures leaving 5% capacity remaining. My presumption is that using the LCD or Visoflex 020 EVF for all exposures would net about half that capacity, and capturing JPEG + raw would also consume 10-20% more battery power. A 75% starting charge used as I did today should net about 380 exposures available to the same 5% remaining.  

Probably time to replace the battery that isn't performing well. 

G

 

[Alexander108]

Thank you. @ramarren.

As described in my lengthy text, the readings are wrong. The camera still  shows 100% after 120 pictures taken (did another test) 75% were indeed less than 30%.

Yes, the battery needs replacement. This was about the unusual readings and whether it could be recalibrated. That seems not do be the case. Still capacity for 260 images. Not great but maybe sufficient for a third battery.