borrowed a friends z5 - hadn't been used for 'quite' awhile. everything was at factory settings (eg. date, etc.,).

a. how long does the internal battery hold a charge?

b. how long does it take to charge it up again?

thanks....

ok, answered myself -

3 months unused will flatten internal battery

5 hours will recharge

Is it repalacable? (lithium coin type?)

or is it internal and it recharges while using the camera?

think it's tech job

recharges whenever there's power, eg. just having a battery in the camera.

Right. It's a service center job to replace the internal batt.

As much as I love the Z5, I still hate the batt arrangement which requires you choose either AC power or the external batt. You can't have both the way you can on the civilian sibling, the FX1000. Drives me crazy and makes no sense. It was so nice to be able to have a batt on the cam and have it plugged in, recharging all the time.

Plus, the way the Z5 power adapter attaches to the cam is very secure, so if someone trips over the cord, you lose the cam as it crashes to the floor, instead of the power cord simply pulling out and the batt instantaneously taking over, as on the FX.

I keep batts on all the cams but check them regularly and swap out dying batts for fully charged ones.

+1 adam yet again....

Thanks Les ;-)

We should note that this power/batt arrangement isn't unique to the Z5; there's been this differentiation between the prosumer and pro versions going back to at least the Z1 (but curiously not the A1 or V1)... Basically if the cam comes with an external charger/PSU, you can't charge the batt on the cam or use both simultaneously.

Do we know where the internal battery is located? I cannot find anything on this!

My Z5 started to reset every time i change the battery....

no idea sorry. i think it's a tech job.

try leaving a fully charged battery in for a couple of days - might not work if the internals dead, but worth a try....

The PI-029 board is actually in the top handle, under the control panel after you flip open the LCD, believe it or not. You must replace both the battery BT7001 and the holder BH7001. It's page 5-8 of the Z5 repair and service manual, downloadable from the Frank's Thoughts on HDV website, as is practically every Sony manual ever. Link is in the sticky at the top of this forum.

It is definitely an Authorized Sony Repair tech center job.

The battery is a ML621. I haven't been able to identify the holder yet though, but they are both available in Italy. Anyone going there anytime some?