Quick Camera Battery Question

[Bozo Galora]

I have had the Sony W170 for a while now, and am quite happy with it.

However, after letting it sit in case for a month or two (with freshly charged battery), went to take a few pics yesterday and after about five, battery was dead. So I recharged and everything O.K.

So, my questions are:
Do lithium ion batts discharge with no use over time?
Would leaving it out of camera help?
(Sony NP-BG1)

Thnx in advance

 

[bobdole369]

Yes, all Li-ion's self discharge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery

I think thats too much too fast. Perhaps your battery is bad?

Leaving it out of the camera is a good troubleshooting step - it will tell you if the battery is going or the camera is pulling current while off.

 

[Bozo Galora]

thnx
Oh, I forgot, sucked out about thirty 1.5 MB pics using USB
Is that a big current draw?

 

[corkyg]

Really depends on how long it took. I find rechargeable Li-ION batteries will discharge to zero, especially when they are a few months old. An exception to that are the Eneloops batts. They seem to hang in there a long time.

BTW - there is a constant drain on the batteries even when the camera is OFF just to maintain the settings.

 

[shocksyde]

Originally posted by: corkyg
Really depends on how long it took. I find rechargeable Li-ION batteries will discharge to zero, especially when they are a few months old. An exception to that are the Eneloops batts. They seem to hang in there a long time.

BTW - there is a constant drain on the batteries even when the camera is OFF just to maintain the settings.

Isn't there an internal battery that maintains settings and time/date? Maybe not on all cameras, but on my DSLR I take the battery out all the time.

 

[soydios]

Originally posted by: shocksyde

Originally posted by: corkyg
Really depends on how long it took. I find rechargeable Li-ION batteries will discharge to zero, especially when they are a few months old. An exception to that are the Eneloops batts. They seem to hang in there a long time.

BTW - there is a constant drain on the batteries even when the camera is OFF just to maintain the settings.

Isn't there an internal battery that maintains settings and time/date? Maybe not on all cameras, but on my DSLR I take the battery out all the time.

Yes. But DSLRs are always on standby when there's a battery in them.

Lithium-Ion batteries in cameras maintain the clock and settings while it's powered off. The internal battery is only used when there is no main battery in the camera.

Lithium-Ion batteries also have internal monitoring circuitry which also draws power.

Example: I would guess that my Nikon EN-EL3e batteries lose 10-15% of their charge per month.

Eneloops are hybrid NiMH and have no internal monitoring circuitry.