Batteries & temperature

[scubajackrat]

I've had battery problems in the past but thought I'd got them sorted when i got 2700mAH batteries. I have an Olympus SP-350 and when diving in Sharm in June i was able to do two 60min dives and not worry about the batteries, last weekend in stoney the camera was dead after 2-3 shots, 2nd dive was the same. what i want to know is does temperature have that much effect on battery life, or could there be other problems, the batteries are rechargeable and were all fully charged. I travel out to the maldives in 2 weeks and dont want to worry about how long batteries are going to last.

[Ian]

Nope, you have other problems. Temperature will have a big effect, but above degrees you might see battery life halved or even quartered, but not that much difference. I had an Oly SP-560 for a while and my 2700mAh rechargeables had no problem doing 2 UK dives.

[air-guzzler]

have you tried compelety discharging the batteries most rechargable batteries have memories

[scubajackrat]

(29-11-2008 06:31 PM)air-guzzler Wrote:  have you tried compelety discharging the batteries most rechargable batteries have memories

Got back home disgusted, recharged them and shot of 100 plus shots over 10 hours no problem, so that could be the answer, but i was sure they were fully charged hence the question.

[jb2cool]

(29-11-2008 06:31 PM)air-guzzler Wrote:  have you tried compelety discharging the batteries most rechargable batteries have memories

I was under the impression it was only the NiCad batteries that suffered from this. AFAIK most rechargables now are NiMH

[Mike Ward]

Like others have said, temperature has an effect, but not that much of an effect.

I had a similar experience with NiMHs but in the Red Sea. I used the same batteries regularly for a two year period - say 200 charge and use cycles per year, if not more - then didn't use them for a period of a year and when I first charged them up they powered my flashguns for a few minutes then died. They seemed to recover after a couple of charge/discharge cycles, except for one set of four that simply don't hold a charge at all, if I fully charge them and stick them in a strobe it will power up and discharge once and that's the lot....

Bottom line - your batteries could be fine and you simply hadn't charged them, they could be fine now you've cycled them a few times, or the batteries or the charger could be faulty.

For what it's going to cost against the cost of your Maldives trip I think I'd replace the lot.

These people will do you 4 2500mAh NiMHs and a 4 hour charger for £11.48 (http://www.battery-force.co.uk/detail_UR...rger.html) or 4 x 2700mAh NiMHs and a two hour charger for £36.20 (http://www.battery-force.co.uk/detail_AM...ger.html). I've used them in the past and found them very good.

Another good retailer are Maplins (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Family.aspx?Menu...rldid=-6), and they also do excellent deals.