HVX Bummer

A

anothermember

Active member
I bought the HVX 6 days ago and I already have a problem.

I pulled the camera out of the box to shoot for the first time (instead of just to admire it) and it wouldn't power up. I had already set the charge on the battery by draining the battery until it was almost dead and then recharging. After it recharged I put the battery on the camera and turned it on a couple times over the course of 30hrs. Then today I tried and it won't work. I saw in the manual that if the battery is left on the camera it will drain the battery until it will no longer charge. I've left batteries on a DVX for far longer and without a complete charge and never had this problem.

Has anyone else experienced this?
 
Yes, but like David asked, have you tried using the AC adapter (battery replacement gizmo on one end, jack on other end that fits your charger)
to power the camera? If that works, and your battery shows as charged, you have a bad battery or possibly charger.

I leave my battery on constantly and it has never run down without the camera on.
 
sounds like the battery is killed, next time never let a new battery go below 50% and it will last forever.. when camera is not in use take the battery off.. when a battery gets fully depleated, it cant hold a charge anymore..
 
anothermember said:
I bought the HVX 6 days ago and I already have a problem.

I pulled the camera out of the box to shoot for the first time (instead of just to admire it) and it wouldn't power up. I had already set the charge on the battery by draining the battery until it was almost dead and then recharging. After it recharged I put the battery on the camera and turned it on a couple times over the course of 30hrs. Then today I tried and it won't work. I saw in the manual that if the battery is left on the camera it will drain the battery until it will no longer charge. I've left batteries on a DVX for far longer and without a complete charge and never had this problem.

Has anyone else experienced this?
Click to expand...
It sounds like the battery went south. There is no benefit to discharging a Li-Ion battery, just opposite, it is being worn out. Did you use your camera to discharge it, or some other way?
 
"sounds like the battery is killed, next time never let a new battery go below 50% and it will last forever.. when camera is not in use take the battery off.. when a battery gets fully depleated, it cant hold a charge anymore.."



No memory problems in this new breed of batteries? I remember with the late 90's camcorders, conventional wisdom was to run the battery to near "empty"
or the memory effect would cut the battery life to a fraction of normal.
 
I just ran over to my HVX and unhooked my battery as soon as I read the post. I didn't know about power loss on batteries in the situation that they are left on the camera for an extended period of time.
 
Are we sure that leaving the battery in the camera is bad for it?
Is this like the leave the computer on/off debate?

I ask because I always leave one of our 3 batteries in the camera mostly for storage space in the Pelican case.
I have never found the battery in the camera to be near dead after doing this???
But hey, there is always something new to learn.
 
I leave the battery out of the camera at the end of the day only because I've accidentally left the camera on in the bag a couple of times.

As for storage, some reccomend not leaving Li Ion batteries fully charged for extended periods of time. A half-charge is generally preferred.

Unlike NiMH or NiCads, a full discharge isn't needed.
 
"Yes, but like David asked, have you tried using the AC adapter (battery replacement gizmo on one end, jack on other end that fits your charger)
to power the camera?"

I used the AC charger to power up the camera so I could do a simple filter test, so the charger works. The battery is definitely the problem. I thought that the HVX battery was like a cell phone battery, but it looks like I was completely wrong.

"Did you use your camera to discharge it, or some other way?"

I used the camera to discharge it because I couldn't think of any other way.

I'm going to Pansonic today to see if I can get it swapped out or if they'll have to mail it to me.
 
Sounds like "infant mortality" case. You did not do anything wrong by discharging the battery in the camera. The camera shuts off at around 6V-6.5V to make sure the battery is not over discharged below its recommended voltage. Also, just leaving a battery plugged in, in "Off" state can not kill it as when the camera is off, it uses very small amount of power if any, enough for the battery to last for months...
 
adolgin said:
Also, just leaving a battery plugged in, in "Off" state can not kill it as when the camera is off, it uses very small amount of power if any, enough for the battery to last for months...
Click to expand...

That's what I thought, but you can bet I won't leave my new replacement battery on the HVX anytime soon.

I went to Panasonic and although they were kind, they didn't have any batteries at their Hollywood HQ (read:odd) so they recommended I go through Samy's Camera, where I purchased the cam. Samy's said to bring it in anytime and not to worry about the 10 day window on the warranty. That was good news.

When I asked the guy at Pany how long he thought it would take for them to order a battery and get it shipped to me he responded "I don't even want to guess." Hah.
 
AFAIK Li-Ion don´t have a memory effect in the way that they remember how far they were down. But they have a certain number of charging cycles in their life and after those go bad quickly.
I think cellphone batteries have about 500. So if you hop in and out of your car and everytime hook it up in teh phoneholder it will count down 1 charging cycle every time. That is a problem also for many laptop users who plug the laptop in often while working and charge up the battery every time. Do that 500 times and it will not be good anymore. I always unplug the battery of my laptop when working via the AC/DC. I only plug the battery in when it is empty or I need it full soon.

So: I tend to use my battery until the camera turns off. There is a safety-voltage left and it saves charging-cycles. My dvxuser batteries lasted 2 years, before showing decrease in performance, but now they get worse and worse. And I always have one of my 3 batteries on the camera.
 
You're braver than me!

You're braver than me!

anothermember said:
I bought the HVX 6 days ago and I already have a problem.

I pulled the camera out of the box to shoot for the first time (instead of just to admire it) and it wouldn't power up. I had already set the charge on the battery by draining the battery until it was almost dead and then recharging.
Click to expand...
After I got mine, I was afraid to attach either power source until I had read thru the complete manual. It was torture not to turn it on and start playing right away, (even my spouse was curious why I was taking so long), but it was about 3 days before I did. This would be my only camera (can't afford even a backup), so I treat it like a newborn infant. Since then, I've bought the Dolgin charger and 4 batteries sold through Specialized Communications, and they've held up well thus far.

For anyone considering an HVX in the future, recommended use and care of the battery is described on page 16 of the operating instructions. Perhaps it should have been listed earlier in the manual...like maybe page 1...and shown in large, bold type.

The more costly my mistake, the better I learn the lesson. Good news, though, that you'll likely get a replacement. Happy shooting (and hopefully soon, too).
 
alpi69 said:
...So if you hop in and out of your car and everytime hook it up in teh phoneholder it will count down 1 charging cycle every time. That is a problem also for many laptop users who plug the laptop in often while working and charge up the battery every time. Do that 500 times and it will not be good anymore. I always unplug the battery of my laptop when working via the AC/DC. I only plug the battery in when it is empty or I need it full soon.
Click to expand...
The mechanism for a battery to wear out is actually delivering charge (in mAh). If a battery is a 5400 mAh capacity, and was discharged 540 mAh, its mileage increased by 540 mAh, not by 5400 mAh. 2 half discharges approximately count as one full charge/discharge cycle. A typical life time of 500 cycles for a Li-Ion battery translates into 1000 half discharge cycles.
 
anothermember said:
I went to Panasonic and although they were kind, they didn't have any batteries at their Hollywood HQ (read:odd) so they recommended I go through Samy's Camera, where I purchased the cam. Samy's said to bring it in anytime and not to worry about the 10 day window on the warranty.
Click to expand...

Any sort of replacement would hve to be done through a dealer, especially since there is a gray market issue on this camera. The fact that the LA office does not have any stock is not surprising to me as it is not a warehouse but rather a sales and service facility. Their sales are through a dealer netwrok, of which Samy's is a part. Going back to Samy's is the right thing to do.

Best,

Jan
 
Good for Samy's. I love to hear about good customer service. It's soooo frickin rare anymore! :thumbsup:
 
i leave my battery connected all teh time and never had any problems - of course NOW i will!
 
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