Short AA Battery Life in K-r

[jhuichd]

Hi,

just wondering what went wrong:
I got AA Battery holder for my K-r. but, the life seems to be very short. Eneloop could support only 100-150 shoots. and 2700 NiMH rechargeable battery could support slight more.. according the manual and comments in Internet. I should get 800-1000 shoot for one charge.

Usage: no LCD, very few flash use..

Thank you!

 

[poppyer]

Most probably your charger's problem, which stops charging far before the battery got fully charged.

Try to avoid super fast charger of less than 2hours.
In fact 12-16 hours dumb charger is the most reliable, but surely damn slow
2-4 hours charger is a reasonable choice.

 

[jhuichd]

thank you poppyer.

for eneloop battery, the original charger took more than 15 hours to complete the charge.. and the GP charger complete the cycle for about 4-6 hours...

 

[Castor Troy]

Try a specialised charger like the La-crosse BC-900 or the MAHA C9000 programmable. Program them to charge at 200mA/Hr. Or Powergenix NiZns (but this is not proven, the higher nominal voltage may fry your circuits so there's a risk). Or use a slow charger, and remember to discharge your Eneloops by using them in flashlights, etc for a full discharge. Very ma huan. At least it's Earth hour every day!
I personally have used Eneloops in my old K100D along with NiZns. I still use the BC-900 with Eneloops for my flashgun and battery grip. Now to just find some time for shooting in between all that battery charging!

 

[MarineX]

weird, my K-r can shoot close to 650 shots with Eneloops (or am i counting it wrongly) argh.

 

[Moonlightsg]

for me i am using quick charger 1hour type... yes it will not fully charge i guess, but it should be at least 600 shoot per charge.
did you get the wrong verion of eneloop? there is a eneloop "lite" version which is not for camera one...

 

[jie88]

i think the catch here might be that you have to change the AA battery type option in the menu accordingly so that the camera knows what type of AA u will be using .

 

[edutilos-]

Have you updated your firmware?

 

[edutilos-]

Btw, 800-1000 likely to be AA Lithiums, not AA NiMH rechargeables. Alkaline will be even worse.

How old are your batteries as well?

 

[jhuichd]

Thank guys for the replies.

1. the eneloop is brand new.. but how can I tell whether it is so called "lite" one? the model is HR-3UTGA 1.2 v .. 1900mAh
2. firmware updated
3. set battery to Nimh in the k-r.. not much improvement..

There was no problem when I use standard battery. 400-600 range, I believe.

No sure whether it is problem in camera itself or battery holder..

 

[edutilos-]

Thank guys for the replies.

1. the eneloop is brand new.. but how can I tell whether it is so called "lite" one? the model is HR-3UTGA 1.2 v .. 1900mAh
2. firmware updated
3. set battery to Nimh in the k-r.. not much improvement..

There was no problem when I use standard battery. 400-600 range, I believe.

No sure whether it is problem in camera itself or battery holder..

Model number seems correct: http://www.eneloop.info/products/batteries.html

By standard, you're talking about alkaline? That's quite amazing, I thought alkalines would have poor battery life in the region of 200-300 at best.

If you're talking about lithiums, then that's still consuming too much power if you ask me. Are you using a lot of flash? Do note that the CIPA standard assumes 50% of your shots are taken with flash. Things such as use of Live View, the amount of time you look at your photos in Playback, use of LCD screen; all these would also contribute to a shortened battery life.

You can read up more about the CIPA standards and see if they fit your usage as well, and then go from there. Sometimes, user habits do play a part.

http://www.cipa.jp/english/hyoujunka/kikaku/pdf/DC-002_e.pdf

Alternatively, try another set of Eneloops and see if you still get poor battery life. If you do, then suggest to let Emjay take a look, no harm done, especially if under warranty. Cheers.

 

[edutilos-]

Another question - 150 shots in one sitting? Or spread out over few days? Do note that Eneloops are slow-discharge, but they still discharge. If you're taking 150 shots over 2 weeks, it's understandable in some sense.

In any case, people are reporting 700 or so on Lithiums - suspect the ones who are reporting 1,000+ with NiMHs are over-estimating the battery life.. I'd be conservative and expect about 300-400, max 500 with normal use.

 

[detritus]

Thank guys for the replies.

1. the eneloop is brand new.. but how can I tell whether it is so called "lite" one? the model is HR-3UTGA 1.2 v .. 1900mAh
2. firmware updated
3. set battery to Nimh in the k-r.. not much improvement..

There was no problem when I use standard battery. 400-600 range, I believe.

No sure whether it is problem in camera itself or battery holder..

HR-3UTGA is correct.

http://www.eneloop.info/products/batteries.html

did you set the correct battery type in your menu? the "Auto" might be a little cranky. best to set to ni-mh is you're using eneloops.

 

[jie88]

i know it is not related to this thread . But i found that my k-r`s green illuminator turning on a lot lesser than the time when it was still running with the original firmware ..

 

[edutilos-]

My bad, I thought you were talking about K-x.

It's K-r, just to let you know, I'm using it too with rechargeable lithium ions, 1 original, 2 chiong one... The battery life is just not fantastic.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-r-forum/136927-k-r-battary-life.html

Personally, with rather heavy live view usage, the battery will last about 180 or so shots, sometimes less. That said, I'd expect the NiMHs to last longer.

That said, just to highlight, there are fake Eneloops present in the market. Some links discussing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28752140@N06/4154226789/
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/threads/849470-Is-my-eneloop-HR-3UTGA-real-or-fake

 

[evolutioner]

TS, are u using Liveview full time?

 

[PixelHero]

Most probably is charger problem.
I'm having the same issue with eneloop batteries on my Kx too. I bought a second set of batteries but still the same result.. battery dry very fast.
But my other set of batteries (other brand) which my charger is meant for, can last very long.. close to 800 shots with no flash, no live view.

 

[jhuichd]

thank guys again.

eneloop was really disappointment. I got them from Challengers.. Now, I was trying GP rechargeable now. the 1st two rounds chargings did not bring much improvement (slightly better than eneloop). And the battery indicator went to red quite fast. I had to turned it off for a moment in order to get more power..(at least, it could be yellow when I turned it on.)

I did not use live view and most of the time, no flash

 

[edutilos-]

What charger are you using?

Suggest you get one of these models, Maha Powerex makes excellent NiMH chargers, and is a worthy investment if you don't already use a good charger.

http://www.eastgear.com/maha-mh-c204w-w-4-aa-2700mah-blister-w-holder.html
http://www.eastgear.com/maha-c808m-ultimate-professional-charger-for-eight-aa-aaa-c-d-nimh-nicd.html
http://www.eastgear.com/maha-mh-c800s-eight-cell-smart-charger-bundle-8-pcs-of-aa-imedion.html
http://www.eastgear.com/maha-mh-c401fs-charger-with-4-aa-imedion.html

They come with Imedions or Maha 2700. Can check out the Eastgear website. Cheers.

 

[Moonlightsg]

i don't have any good exp with rechargeable for so many years(all GP)...
until try out the Eneloop and Energizer rechargable... it is really a different...

not sure now the GP technology got improve or not... but i will advice you like the bro up stair... stop using GP charger...