FAQ Best option for Sony BP U60/U90 Batteries?

R

ReelFilmGeek

Well-known member
Recently picked up an F3 and its great but sadly the one battery I got with it wont hold a full charge, only about 60% (Plus 1 battery really isn't enough with how long it takes to charge). So I would love to know what everyone uses to power their cameras and what chargers they use for these batteries. I know I could always just go with brand new Sony brand batteries but I do like saving money if theres a cheaper alternative that offers great quality at the same time.
 
Does it really only charge 60% or is it just the green LEDs on the back? Those often burn out early on in the battery life & the battery can still have a full charge.

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On the used market,t at least in a EX1, you can check to see how many charge cycles a single battery has had. So you could go on ebay & ask sellers for the charge count on used batteries. If it is fairly low, battery should still last a good while.
 
zijital said:
Does it really only charge 60% or is it just the green LEDs on the back? Those often burn out early on in the battery life & the battery can still have a full charge.

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On the used market,t at least in a EX1, you can check to see how many charge cycles a single battery has had. So you could go on ebay & ask sellers for the charge count on used batteries. If it is fairly low, battery should still last a good while.
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It's only 60% or so a charge, fresh off the charger only shows a third of the barttery left and like 103 min time left, has a 145 charge count with an MFG Date of 09/06/03
 
I've been powering my FS7 since I got it on 2x SWIT BPU-60 equivalents, plus the one included Sony BPU-30 as a backup for long days without charging. I've been using the SWITs with zero issues, charging on a Sony BP-U single charger, full communication with camera and charger, no overheating etc.

The SWITs are nice as they have both a D-tap output, plus a standard USB socket that can be used to power/charge many different accessories. I'd recommend them highly as they're around 50% the price of the Sonys, and seem to be a lot more flexible!

Best of luck choosing,

jason
 
With the FS7 I'm using four of SWIT's S-8U63, & two of their Dual Charger S-3602U. Had the larger capacity S-8U93 batteries been available when I bought I'd have gone that route instead, but maybe only got three.

The P-Tap, & USB port, are nice to have on the battery, but not well placed when used in the FS7. SWIT offers a 'L' shaped P-Tap adapter(S-7105) that addresses this issue, but it's hard to insert the battery into the camera with the adapter attached. I imagine it might work better with the larger battery since their longer, but haven't tested. Alternatively Westside AV has a short P-Tap cable that may work better than SWIT's adapter, but again I haven't used it.

Hawk-Woods has batteries with two P-Taps on the back of them, so much better placed, but I don't know if their chipped, or not.
 
"I imagine it might work better with the larger battery since their longer" - Bern just FYI the larger capacity S-8U93 are exactly the same size and weight as the older S-8U63 63WH ones. They deliver higher capacity thanks to the newer higher rated cells inside.
 
adolgin said:
"I imagine it might work better with the larger battery since their longer" - Bern just FYI the larger capacity S-8U93 are exactly the same size and weight as the older S-8U63 63WH ones. They deliver higher capacity thanks to the newer higher rated cells inside.
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Thanks!
 
I have been using the Swit S-8U93 batteries and Dolgin TC-200 EX charger with the FS7. I get roughly 4-4.5 hrs per battery and they fully charge in roughly the same time frame on the charger.

I think the charger and the battery are pretty amazing options to the much more expensive Sony counterparts.
 
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