AC130: Third Party Batter

Stay away from it! Unfortunately, I have 2, and neither will work at all on my AC160. One of my HMC150's actually gives me a warning when it is attached, saying "defective battery" or something. The other can use it. They also require charging OVERNIGHT to get a full charge. The "good" one failed me half way thru a job, after being charged overnight. Ity went dead in about 45 minutes.

No, run away from this one! It's a piecew of crap.

Just get a real Panasonic battery. Much more reliable, and you won't have the feeling that you just wasted $40.
 
I have one Panasonic battery plus a spare which is a Model : SSL-VBG50 IDX has designed and manufactured a high-capacity Lithium Ion battery that integrates secured communication technology to work with specific Panasonic camcorders.

I bought both at the time I took delivery of the camera and I cycle them each time I use the camera.

Ag-AC160A has about 200 hours on it and I have not seen any great difference between the two batteries, but I do expect the Panasonic one will last longer.

The problem with comparative statistics based on too-small sample sizes is I may have been lucky with my IDX but the reason people willingly pay more for the Panasonic batteries is that the quality is more likely to be consistent.
 
Lenmar used to be good, dropped the ball with this particular model for Panasonic. SWIT S-8BG6 is great, plus it allows to power the on camera light while powering the camera.
P.S. Kwkeirstead, cycling Li-Ion batteries wears them out without any up side
 
sewolla said:
Stay away from it! Unfortunately, I have 2, and neither will work at all on my AC160. One of my HMC150's actually gives me a warning when it is attached, saying "defective battery" or something. The other can use it. They also require charging OVERNIGHT to get a full charge. The "good" one failed me half way thru a job, after being charged overnight. Ity went dead in about 45 minutes.

No, run away from this one! It's a piecew of crap.

Just get a real Panasonic battery. Much more reliable, and you won't have the feeling that you just wasted $40.
Click to expand...

^^^This 100%. All the third party batteries I've ever bought from Panasonic camcorders to Nikon DSLRs have all died while the originals keep on ticking.
 
@Alex... Oops... I need to understand " . . . .wears them out without any up side"

Say I use battery "A" today and then charge it when I finish my recording for a day.

Are you saying I should use "A" again the next day ? (never using "B" unless I record enough material on a particular day such that "A" is fully discharged}

What I have been doing is using "A" one day, recharging it, then using "B" the next day.

That is what I meant by "cycling"


I
 
Ok, you are good. Cycling usually means intentional complete discharging of a battery followed by charging. Some people think it prolongs a battery life. Not with Li-Ion batteries. Sorry, I misunderstood your post :-)
 
I would not use one for paid or critical work, as you do not know how many hours are on it, if it's been dropped, etc. It also seems to be true that batteries--even Panasonic's--wear with age and cannot hold a full charge after several years (3 to 5 yrs of pretty extensive use). Most of mine can only go up to 200+ minutes now, where they used to go to about 320.
 
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