Impact Lithium Ion battery instead of Sony? at DVinfo.net

Mike Donovan · June 1st, 2007, 03:42 PM

I received this battery for my FX7:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...n_Battery.html

Has anyone used this? I'm not seeing a read out on my screen that tells me how much juice is left in the battery...although in the specs it says it should, just like the Sony brand battery.

Anyone had this problem? I'm hoping it's okay b/c we're shooting something tomorrow morning and I can't get anyone at BH to talk to!
Can someone put my mind at ease?!

Bob Grant · June 1st, 2007, 03:59 PM

Sony keep changing the way the camera communicates with their batteries. 3rd party batteries that talk to the PD170 don't talk to later cameras etc. Also most of these 3rd party cameras need to be cycled several times to achieve full capacity. You may find that after some cycling of the battery the camera's status monitoring starts to work.

Robert Young · June 1st, 2007, 06:10 PM

I have a couple of these exact batteries and use them with Z1 and V1 without problem. I do get the on screen readout for remaining power.
I have had other non Sony batteries that worked with the PD 170, but not the Z1, etc.

Piotr Wozniacki · June 2nd, 2007, 05:17 AM

I have an even more strange situation. For years have been using cheap, Chinese batteries with Sony cameras without a glitch (including the V1). However, the new Sony HVL-LBP lamp won't communicate with either of them!

Has anyone succeded to make it work with a non-Sony battery, and which one?

Piotr Wozniacki · June 3rd, 2007, 04:01 AM

Again on this issue (in a new post rather that edit, as I'd like to kick the thread up as well): did the specification of the L-series batteries (NP-F970 in particular) change since they first arrived? The reason I'm asking is this:

Having problems with my HVL-LBP lamp not communicating with the cheap non-Sony's, I asked a friend to try it with his original Sony 970 which works just fine with his and my cameras, and - to my surprise - the lamp couldn't "see it", either! Suspecting the lamp was out of order, I visited a Sony retailer and tried it with a brand new Sony NP-F970; it works!

So, it seems like the specs of the Sony NP-F970 have changed over time, and the cheaper replacements are still not up to date with the newest Sony's specs, hence they don't work with the lamp in question just like older, original Sony batteries. The newest Sony battery does work, which means it's not the lamp's fault.

Can anyone confirm this?

June 1st, 2007, 03:42 PM	#1
Mike Donovan Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 52	Impact Lithium Ion battery instead of Sony? I received this battery for my FX7: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...n_Battery.html Has anyone used this? I'm not seeing a read out on my screen that tells me how much juice is left in the battery...although in the specs it says it should, just like the Sony brand battery. Anyone had this problem? I'm hoping it's okay b/c we're shooting something tomorrow morning and I can't get anyone at BH to talk to! Can someone put my mind at ease?!

June 2nd, 2007, 05:17 AM	#4
Piotr Wozniacki Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Poland Posts: 4,086	I have an even more strange situation. For years have been using cheap, Chinese batteries with Sony cameras without a glitch (including the V1). However, the new Sony HVL-LBP lamp won't communicate with either of them! Has anyone succeded to make it work with a non-Sony battery, and which one? __________________ Sony PXW-FS7 \| DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive Last edited by Piotr Wozniacki; June 2nd, 2007 at 06:09 AM.

June 3rd, 2007, 04:01 AM	#5
Piotr Wozniacki Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Poland Posts: 4,086	Again on this issue (in a new post rather that edit, as I'd like to kick the thread up as well): did the specification of the L-series batteries (NP-F970 in particular) change since they first arrived? The reason I'm asking is this: Having problems with my HVL-LBP lamp not communicating with the cheap non-Sony's, I asked a friend to try it with his original Sony 970 which works just fine with his and my cameras, and - to my surprise - the lamp couldn't "see it", either! Suspecting the lamp was out of order, I visited a Sony retailer and tried it with a brand new Sony NP-F970; it works! So, it seems like the specs of the Sony NP-F970 have changed over time, and the cheaper replacements are still not up to date with the newest Sony's specs, hence they don't work with the lamp in question just like older, original Sony batteries. The newest Sony battery does work, which means it's not the lamp's fault. Can anyone confirm this? __________________ Sony PXW-FS7 \| DaVinci Resolve Studio; Magix Vegas Pro; i7-5960X CPU; 64 GB RAM; 2x GTX 1080 8GB GPU; Decklink 4K Extreme 12G; 4x 3TB WD Black in RAID 0; 1TB M.2 NVMe cache drive

June 1st, 2007, 03:59 PM	#2
Bob Grant Trustee Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 1,570	Sony keep changing the way the camera communicates with their batteries. 3rd party batteries that talk to the PD170 don't talk to later cameras etc. Also most of these 3rd party cameras need to be cycled several times to achieve full capacity. You may find that after some cycling of the battery the camera's status monitoring starts to work.

June 1st, 2007, 06:10 PM	#3
Robert Young Trustee Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Coronado Island Posts: 1,472	I have a couple of these exact batteries and use them with Z1 and V1 without problem. I do get the on screen readout for remaining power. I have had other non Sony batteries that worked with the PD 170, but not the Z1, etc.