rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Currently, I can only check the charge on my spare batteries by putting them in the camera and letting it read the charge.
It occurred to me that there might be such a thing as a battery charge indicator for camera batteries.
An online search found charge indicators for car/motorcycle type batteries but nothing for camera batteries.
They would need to be specific for the battery in question due to the various connectors used in cameras.
I know it is a long shot, but do any of you know of such a thing?
TIA
Rick

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Put them in a battery charger, if the red led stops blinking, it's fully charged

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Hi Rick,

Lately, there has been much discussion of battery issue, here on this form. Recently there was a lengthy thread about battery testing. Many knowledgeable members, some with expertise and degrees in electronic technology and engineering. weight in and share their knowledge. There were some arguments about the finer points and theories relating to battery theory- voltage drops, charging rates, amperage, ampere/hours, test equipment and testing methodologies. There was a conscious among the tech savvy that batters must be tested under load but there are many variables in the testing procedures.

My take on the subject, as one who uses numerous batteries each year, in cameras, flash units, meters and radios slaves. I am not qualified expert so this is simply based on long experience. I feel that the procedures and testing equipment that is needed for assessing actual battery condition at any point in a given charging cycle too time consuming and impractical for the average user and may not lead to an accurate assessment of remaining usage before the battery is completely discharged. Even if you can determine the exact voltage at any given time in a charging cycle, in may be difficult or impossible to determine the remaining usage.

If you have an external charger that is dedicated to the batteries in question then it's possible that the indicator lights may be accurate and reliable. Even a battery that tests positively, in or out of the camera, can unexpectedly fail from any number of reasons; inadequate charging time, memory issues, a defect in the charger, age, damage from overcharging or overheating, an intrinsic defect in the battery and/or temperature extremes.

The battery indicator circuitry in your camera is dedicated to it's battery's specific capacity and factor in the power consumption of the camera and will read out accordingly via indicator lights or a percentage reading in the menu. My advice is simply to carry spare batteries in the event of an unexpected battery malfunction or just as a backup on long shooting days or events.

I'm sure the experts will chime in so stay tuned!

Bill_de Loc: US

No expert here, but I agree that using the camera seems the best, simple way to make the check.

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User ID

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Maybe just maybe you're paying too high
for spare battery packs ? Which leads to
never having enuf of them. If you've got
plenty of spares, and chargers, you don't
worry about testing. Crude but effective,
and fairly cheap, too.

Check out Blue Nook for spare packs and
for extra chargers. $20 to $30 per pair of
packs ... with charger included :-)

I consider 5 packs per battery type to be
just right ... except for Sonys, which need
about a zillion. So if you ain't got 5 packs
for your primary camera I can see where
you're getting concerned about testing.
Forget testing. Go with several packs ...
unless for Sony :-(

.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Thanks for the replies.
Once the batteries are charged I keep some in my 'go' bag and some in a drawer with the chargers.
I was hoping to be able to check the charge level of those batteries from time to time.
It's not a major operation to remove the battery in the camera and put one it to check its charge and then switch back, I was just hoping for another solution.
I'm not losing any sleep over this, just always looking for ways to indulge my laziness :)
Oh, for USER ID, I currently have 4 batteries for each body :)

User ID

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For SLR bodies thaz enuf. I should have specified that my
comment about several per type is based on my live view
bodies. SLR batteries are big and SLR appetites are small.

I tend to forget that a few Neanderthals still use SLRs ....
got several of them in my "museum" at the moment !

EDIT: Disambiguation ! No hominids in my museum ;-)

.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Hmmm. Homemade is probably the best bet. Since the logical thing after checking state of charge (SOC) is to charge them if they are low, it seems logical that the SOC meter should be built into the charger. Yet my experience is that is not usually the case. I wonder why not? Maybe it would be a competitive advantage for a battery charger manuf. to offer that feature.

But technically, determining SOC is tricky. From the outside you can measure voltage, current and you can derive impedance. All are related to SOC but those same parameters also depend on other factors like, age, and temperature, and of course state of charge. So a fully charged battery at 0 C will "look" more like a partially charged battery at 25 C. That is because battery capacity is lower at lower temperatures. Same goes for age. Battery capacity is lower with age. Sometimes by a lot.

I have a charger that will cycle the batteries and determine the Amp-Hr capacity. It takes several hrs to complete a cycle so it's not useful for a quick check. However it's useful for tracking the decreasing capacity as they age.

But I think a charger that yield a quick check on voltage, and impedance would tell the tale. Those things would change over time but you could always do a spot check after a full charge to "calibrate" what fully charged looks like. Might be fun to build one of those .

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

In DC circuits impedance and resistance are always equal. Impedance is seldom used in DC circuits.

TomV Loc: Annapolis, Maryland

Not quite correct. In a steady state condition (flashlight) the inductance and capacitance components are assumed to be 'out of the circuit' and only the resistive components are in play. However, the way the battery is used in a camera/flash the energy is deployed more in a pulsed fashion and in this mode the impedance of both the circuit and the battery are important parameters to know to determine performance of the power system.

w8vln

do search on info to charge the lithium ion batteries on computer. there is all kinds of info available to know

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

The batteries in most cameras today are lithium ion. Measuring the voltage may yield misleading results. That is because the discharge curve in volts is very flat until there is a sudden drop near fully discharged, a point at which you should never see because of protective circuits. It would take a very high resolution dvm to detect small changes in capacity remaining. The camera uses such a device but reads out in bars. However, half of the bars showing does not necessarily mean half capacity remains. A bit like the gas gauge in your car. So, that is a long winded explanation of why you don't see camera battery checkers on the market.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right. Keep it simple. If the battery being used is getting down on power, charge it. If a battery has been sitting for a long time, charge it.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

Impedance is just the sum of the DC component, resistance, and the AC component, called reactance. If a circuit has only DC applied to it, then the inductive reactance is zero (short circuit) and the capacitive reactance is infinite (open circuit).