Fast charging NP-Fxxx batteries?

P

Pgale

Well-known member
Can anyone tell me what the difference in charging time is between using original Sony batteries on one of the Sony chargers that supports fast charging and a 3rd party battery on the same charger?

I believe from what I've read that 3rd party batteries will not fast charge on a Sony charger - is that also correct?

Thanks.
 
Sony AC-VQ1050 + Genuine Sony NP-F970 = 250 minutes nominal charge, 310 minutes full charge

Sony AC-VQ1051D + Genuine Sony NP-F970 = 285 minutes nominal charge, 345 minutes full charge

Yep, that's right, the NEW charger is SLOWER than the old one. The old one has a LED indicator for quick mode to help you identify counterfit batteries. Do note that both these chargers are NOT dual simultaneous, they are dual SEQUENTIAL. The new one has a bunch of confusing recharge statistics available by pressing the Log/Display button. Grab the older AC-VQ1050 if you can find one anywhere!!!

Non-genuine batteries, or other chargers, all bets are off... overnight (8-10 hours) is a typical recharge time that I've experienced.

Also note that the Pearstone / Watson DUAL (simultaneous) charger (from B&H in the USA) tends to burn up if you attempt to charge two NP-F970 batteries at the same time. I see that it is no longer currently being offered with 2x NP-F series plates, which is a good thing... it does work quite well for dual charging smaller camera batteries, just not the huge 6300mAh NP-F970 batteries.
 
Thanks for the info :)

I've got a Hawk-Woods 4x simultaneous charger that claims charge in under 5 hours. Not tested times yet - probably need to film it charging as I always forget to check to see it it's done! The problem it does have is that third party batteries are never 100% charged - normally anywhere between 90-95% it seems. Maybe it has fast and then trickle charge - must check that out. Of course that could be the 3rd party battery's fault. Might do some more detailed testing.
 
For reference, the Sony AC-VL1 charger supplied with all recent Sony camcorders requiring NP-F series batteries has the following spec:
Genuine Sony NP-F970 = 365 minutes nominal charge, 425 minutes full charge

It apparently does not support the "quick mode", which is quite poorly done on Sony's part... the Z5U came with the AC-VQ1050, but the $8000 FS700 gets a chintzy slow charger... hmmmmm.


I experienced a similar situation with various "branded" generic NP-F970 batteries (the ones that have some name besides Sony on them, and cost more, sometimes significantly so, than the unbranded cheapies)...

They showed as fully charged on the charger, but the FS700 reported them as being only 92% to 96% charged.

As I mentioned in a different post, I like to use the genuine Sony NP-F970 on the camera, and cheapie generic for everything else.
 
Not to take sides here, but 92% charge as reported by the camera does not mean that a battery is undercharged. The generic batteries do not use the same "fuel gauging" technology as the OEM batteries, but rather something more simplistic. As a result they are not that accurate in reporting the state of charge to the camera. A battery can be fully charged, but reporting 92%. In other words, to learn what the true capacity of a battery is one needs to fully charge it first, and then discharge under controlled condition until it is fully discharged.
 
resurrecting an old thread...what is everyone using to charge the larger NP-F970 batteries?

I have one of the twin chargers (with a LCD screen) that still has not charged two batteries in over 10hrs of charging.
 
doubledark said:
resurrecting an old thread...what is everyone using to charge the larger NP-F970 batteries?

I have one of the twin chargers (with a LCD screen) that still has not charged two batteries in over 10hrs of charging.
Click to expand...

Something's not right. Are you certain these are not counterfeit batteries?
 
Def not Sony original (one battery came supplied with the Aputure Mini-20 LED light I just purchased).

Just looking for a solution if I need fast turn around times on the batteries. Might be a case of buying a few more batteries.
 
doubledark said:
Def not Sony original (one battery came supplied with the Aputure Mini-20 LED light I just purchased).

Just looking for a solution if I need fast turn around times on the batteries. Might be a case of buying a few more batteries.
Click to expand...

Try Atomos fast charger. Charging very fast, but not using it often since I am not sure if it is good for batteries.
 
I'm not sure about "fast" charging; I think occasionally it's ok but not every charge cycle.

The charger I have is very very slow with 2 x NP-F970 size batteries; I would be happy if it charged the batteries overnight.

But, after 10 or so hours, one battery was at 90% and the other at 30% (according to LCD). It's like the charger doesn't have enough grunt to fully top up these larger batteries.

I might get the genuine Sony shipped from B&H.
 
Have the Watson Dual Charger and it seems to work fine with my off-brand NP-970s. I’m guessing here, but maybe about 5-6 hours for both. Also have the newer Atomos one and it works well too. About 3 hours per batt. Only real issues I’ve had is when the contacts and plastic on the batteries are deformed due to drops. 10 hours seems excessive.
 
Just something to add...I've had the same experience with generic F batteries and chargers, but I noticed that sometimes the charger was simply wrong. On one occasion after charging the battery 10+ hours (single battery charger), the light was still red. So I took the battery off and put it back on and it immediately turned green.

Now I make it a habit to check in this fashion if I think a battery has been on too long and it's always green when I swap off and back on. The charger didn't behave like this initially, but this one is pretty old.
 
I use a Swit dual charger which works fine but it takes a lot of time to charge up my NP-F990 batteries. On the other hand they last extremely long.
 
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