1src Forums - how bad are the batteries?

07-26-2003, 10:43 AM	#1
zohaer21 Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: qatar Posts: 152	how bad are the batteries? hi i would like to know just how bad the batteries are for nz90 having read alot of posts i just wasnt able to believe some of them saying that it lasts just 30 mins or so? im thinking of getting a nz90 ..so please help me here also: offtopics but equally impt how is the flash with the camera is it on any use? thansk

07-26-2003, 07:50 PM	#2
YTTAN Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,253	Its depend on which application you use the most. For MP3 player you can play it for more than 6 hours and left 35%. You can record voice for more than 3 hours and left 80%. So you can imagine how long you use for normal palm applications. Battery life can use up really fast when use the 2mb cam with flash. Range from 15 - 50 shots with flash. If without flash, you may shoot up to 150-200 shots. __________________ TH55 + WIFI*NX80 + WIFI + Bluetooth +T630NZ90 + BlueTooth + T610 NX70 + Infra-red + T68i T615 + Infra-red + T68 N760 + Infra-red + T39 Palm Vx + Infra-red + T39**T1, F828, F717, F707, E995, IXUS I.

07-26-2003, 07:56 PM	#3
n2ifp Retired Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Manchester, NJ Posts: 12,444	The flash is the biggest killer of the battery, any kind of strobe flash, not just the NZ90. WiFi is the next big power hog __________________ Cheers! Larry Winward T\|T3 + SE T610 + SE HBH-65 = BT Heaven!

07-26-2003, 08:07 PM	#4
YTTAN Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,253	If battery issue is a concern, choose NX80 as the battery might last longer. For wifi, I got no chance to test it yet as I still can't bear to buy it. It's too expensive when compare to 3rd parties WIFI CF card. __________________ TH55 + WIFI*NX80 + WIFI + Bluetooth +T630NZ90 + BlueTooth + T610 NX70 + Infra-red + T68i T615 + Infra-red + T68 N760 + Infra-red + T39 Palm Vx + Infra-red + T39**T1, F828, F717, F707, E995, IXUS I.

07-26-2003, 10:30 PM	#5
fidodido Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Caribbean Posts: 164	One thing I noted about my NZ90 the other day was that, If you are about to me out of battery for the flash (near 35% left) and you hit the 'capture' button when the Clie is closed, then you give it a litle of time to the cammera app to start, when you open it again, you have all the battery again to shot again with Flash, so you can take more pictures. The biggest power hungry is the cammera application, that somehow when you launch it, it takes about 5% of the battery (for the Flash, maybe?).

07-26-2003, 11:06 PM	#6
oneeyesquare One kiss away Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 741	The battery issue is way overhyped. Presumably the flash takes a lot to charge up prior to use. I charge ti in the cradle overnight andnever have problems making it through the day taking 5-10 pics. Of course, you have the option to carry a spare battery as well... There's been a lot of whiny posters. Most of the happy campers gave up trying to reply to 'em... __________________ Single file line please,ladies...

07-28-2003, 10:59 AM	#7
tonyreynolds Sr. Industrial Designer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Seattle, WA USA Posts: 1,121	Most camera flashes don't fire directly off the battery, but from a capacitor or 'thyristor'. Most batteries will show a big drain after a large load has been placed on them, and then recover somewhat when allowed to rest... Ya know, that 4 AA add-on pack just seems like the perfect solution, and give n that for me anyway, I rarely use flash, I'm not expecting the battery to really be that much of an issue with the NZ90... Tony __________________ Current PDA: Apple iPod Touch, 8GB Past PDA's: Palm Personal, Palm Pro, Palm IIIx; HandEra 330; HP Jornada 525, 548, 565; Treo 90; Sony Clie NZ90, TG50, Toshiba Genio e550G, Sony Clie TH55, iPAQ hx4700 _____________________ the perfect PDA has not yet been invented - TR

07-28-2003, 11:33 AM	#8
Rosenkrantz Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Texas, USA! Posts: 211	I had horrible luck w/ the NZ's battery. People will say you shouldn't expect it to be a good as a regular digital camera but for $700-$800 I say IT DAMN WELL BETTER be as good. Sadly, my NZ got to the point where I could take 2-3 flash pictures before the battery was drained. I wouldn't go near one with a ten foot pole. Much happier with the NX80. Camera not qute as good (picture quality wise) but close enough.

07-28-2003, 11:44 AM

lostether

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Location: Washington

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Quote:

Originally posted by Rosenkrantz
I had horrible luck w/ the NZ's battery. People will say you shouldn't expect it to be a good as a regular digital camera but for $700-$800 I say IT DAMN WELL BETTER be as good. Sadly, my NZ got to the point where I could take 2-3 flash pictures before the battery was drained. I wouldn't go near one with a ten foot pole. Much happier with the NX80. Camera not qute as good (picture quality wise) but close enough.

2-3 flash pictures drained your battery? Obviously your battery was defective. The other day I fired up my NZ and took 3 quick photos with flash, starting with a full charge. I turned the NZ off and went back to work, and when I next used it I checked the meter and I had 95 % left.

I have seen comparative 4 X 6 prints fron an NZ80 and a NZ90 and there is no comparison, a HUGE difference. I like the NX80, but it is not meant to compete with the NZ. If you bought the NZ for its capabilities the NX80 is not a replacement option.

Last edited by lostether : 07-28-2003 at 11:47 AM.

07-28-2003, 08:58 PM	#10
YTTAN Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,253	I totally agree with lostether. With the update software for the clie cam which from Sony, I able to shoot a lot more high quality / more natural color photos without fear of battery low. __________________ TH55 + WIFI*NX80 + WIFI + Bluetooth +T630NZ90 + BlueTooth + T610 NX70 + Infra-red + T68i T615 + Infra-red + T68 N760 + Infra-red + T39 Palm Vx + Infra-red + T39**T1, F828, F717, F707, E995, IXUS I.

07-28-2003, 09:08 PM	#11
n2ifp Retired Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Manchester, NJ Posts: 12,444	I believe there was a rash of battery problems with some. True the flash doesn't directly feed the battery, but it's stepped up by high voltage switching power supply to charge a large value capacitor inside the Clie and then is triggered by a thyristor when the flash goes off. The problem is that it takes quite a bit of current to charge the flash. The same as any flash unit. I found that ni-cads work best in external flash units over alkalines in flash ready time. The reason is the ni-cads can deliver more amperage than alkaline batteries. This is not meant to be finding fault with the NZ90, just an explaination as to why it's the way it is. __________________ Cheers! Larry Winward T\|T3 + SE T610 + SE HBH-65 = BT Heaven!

07-28-2003, 09:11 PM	#12
greg elmassian Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Diego Posts: 932	yes, and lithiums are not as good in high drain applications as nicads are... i had a defective battery early on, 2-3 flash shots would take the battery to 50% from a full charge... traded it with the demo model at compusa... greg hmm.... did i remember to tell them? nevermind

07-28-2003, 09:23 PM

#13

YTTAN

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Quote:

Originally posted by n2ifp
I believe there was a rash of battery problems with some.

True the flash doesn't directly feed the battery, but it's stepped up by high voltage switching power supply to charge a large value capacitor inside the Clie and then is triggered by a thyristor when the flash goes off. The problem is that it takes quite a bit of current to charge the flash. The same as any flash unit. I found that ni-cads work best in external flash units over alkalines in flash ready time. The reason is the ni-cads can deliver more amperage than alkaline batteries. This is not meant to be finding fault with the NZ90, just an explaination as to why it's the way it is.

well documentation on battery. Well done. Thanks.

__________________
TH55 + WIFI***NX80 + WIFI + Bluetooth +T630***NZ90 + BlueTooth + T610 ***NX70 + Infra-red + T68i ***T615 + Infra-red + T68 ***N760 + Infra-red + T39 ***Palm Vx + Infra-red + T39***T1, F828, F717, F707, E995, IXUS I.

08-27-2003, 09:54 AM

#14

tonyreynolds

Sr. Industrial Designer

Join Date: Jun 2003

Location: Seattle, WA USA

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Quote:

Originally posted by greg elmassian
yes, and lithiums are not as good in high drain applications as nicads are...

i had a defective battery early on, 2-3 flash shots would take the battery to 50% from a full charge... traded it with the demo model at compusa...

greg

hmm.... did i remember to tell them? nevermind

Greg:

I'm having the same problem.

Even with the flash turned off, I sat last night and WATCHED the power level tick away to blow 50% (in about 5 minutes...), WITHOUT FIRING A SHOT, from a nearly full charge...

When I got out of the camera app, the power returned to nearly where it had been.

Did the new battery solve your problem, or is it an internal circuit problem?

I get easily 4-6 hours of run time with backlight set to minimum doing reading, etc.

Just curious...

Tony

__________________
Current PDA: Apple iPod Touch, 8GB

Past PDA's: Palm Personal, Palm Pro, Palm IIIx; HandEra 330; HP Jornada 525, 548, 565; Treo 90; Sony Clie NZ90, TG50, Toshiba Genio e550G, Sony Clie TH55, iPAQ hx4700

_____________________

the perfect PDA has not yet been invented - TR

Last edited by tonyreynolds : 08-27-2003 at 09:57 AM.

08-27-2003, 09:59 AM	#15
greg elmassian Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Diego Posts: 932	new battery solved problem, bought mine early, within a few weeks of release.. have had 2 batteries go bad, will charge to full, but discharge rapidly.... traded them for new ones in the compusa demo and am fine now... there was a time when many people had bad batteries, but that seems to be pretty much history now... greg