Battery Charging Day: Checked all the cameras, changed and checked replacements in cameras that were low, some had less charge after replacement than expected. Never noticed a loss...

Quixdraw Loc: x

Checked all the cameras, changed and checked replacements in cameras that were low, some had less charge after replacement than expected. Never noticed a loss with down time in charged batteries before this, though I read about it, not enough use I suppose. Chargers all over the house for a while, everything now topped up. Just FYI.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I check my camera batteries about once a month or so.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

quixdraw wrote:

Checked all the cameras, changed and checked replacements in cameras that were low, some had less charge after replacement than expected. Never noticed a loss with down time in charged batteries before this, though I read about it, not enough use I suppose. Chargers all over the house for a while, everything now topped up. Just FYI.

Correct, no use drains the battery.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

PixelStan77 wrote:

Correct, no use drains the battery.

Slow discharge due to internal resistance.
(Kinda like a load on the battery from the inside.)

Quixdraw Loc: x

Longshadow wrote:

Slow discharge due to internal resistance.
(Kinda like a load on the battery from the inside.)

Quixdraw Loc: x

PixelStan77 wrote:

Correct, no use drains the battery.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Longshadow wrote:

I check my camera batteries about once a month or so.

Always before I leave home with a camera, extra batteries in the Camera bag. Those, I'll need to check!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Thanks for the reminder - need to check and charge all my batteries.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

quixdraw wrote:

Always before I leave home with a camera, extra batteries in the Camera bag. Those, I'll need to check!

When I go through them, I go through ALL of them.
Six for my DSLR and ten AA NiMH for my bridge.
And a couple of AA alkaline for my wife's pocket camera.

BTW - if anyone uses AA/AAA for anything (flash, wireless remotes, ...), these carriers come in real handy for organizing them:
https://storacell.net/
I have one color for alkaline and another color for rechargeable.
Inserted right-side up for fresh, upside-down for spent.

GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl

Leaving a battery in the camera body will over time drain it, however removing the battery from the body when not in use for extended period of time decreases the amount of drain. I typically check all of my batteries about 3 days before a shoot & make sure they are "topped off", & about once every 3-4 months will use them enough that they are drained down to about 10-15% & then recharge them

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Adam Savage built a charging station to charge eight batteries at once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT8PzFaZ0Zw

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

Batteries are beginning to become the bane of my existence. Used to be, years ago, I just needed batteries for my (non-photographic) flashlights and my transistor radio and a few button batteries for the cameras' meters. The portable strobes had those big old ugly lead-acid cells with built-in kinda hydrometers- 3- coloured balls so you always knew what condition the battery was in as per charge. When the liquid level decreased you just added a few drops of distilled water. That was battery maintenance of yore!

Nowadays, just about everythg in my studio and the location gear require batteries. Add to that everything in the office, and all the power tools- good thing I don't need a pacemaker or a hearing aid YET!

Can't buy a pencil sharpener with a crank or an AC plug anymore.

Use to be disposable dry cells and NiCads. I knew all the characteristics, memories and charging routines. Nowadays, there are so many newfangled types, each with a mind of its own.

Well, electronics have always been a kinda hobby and avocation so I get it all. So, I have a shelf full of chargers and a clipboard with battery usage notes and colour-coded dots on numerous batteries. I have a milliampere meter to make sure chargers and charging rates are operating properly. As for cameras a portable lighting gear, I still keep lots of spares on hand. Keeping the contacts clean is important and taking any faltering batteries out of served will preclude many problems.

Quixdraw Loc: x

E.L.. Shapiro wrote:

Batteries are beginning to become the bane of my e... (show quote)

I actually have two shelves assigned to batteries and chargers over a work surface with multiple outlets. I think the only thing worse than batteries are lightbulbs. I can remember when they filled just a four foot section in a hardware store.

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

quixdraw wrote:

I actually have two shelves assigned to batteries and chargers over a work surface with multiple outlets. I think the only thing worse than batteries is lightbulbs. I can remember when they filled just a four-foot section in a hardware store.

Fortunately, there is a company only 5-minutes from my studio that has every lightbulb in existence. If I need a lamp for a Fresnel spotlight made in 1936, they have it in stock. They have all the newfangled LED models as well. Best the is, they know what they are talking about so I don't have to go on a search and destroy mission through the shelves in the local hardware store where nobody knows where anything is or what it is for.

http://www.buchananlighting.ca/

Quixdraw Loc: x

E.L.. Shapiro wrote:

Fortunately, there is a company only 5-minutes from my studio that has every lightbulb in existence. If I need a lamp for a Fresnel spotlight made in 1936, they have it in stock. They have all the newfangled LED models as well. Best the is, they know what they are talking about so I don't have to go on a search and destroy mission through the shelves in the local hardware store where nobody knows where anything is or what it is for.

http://www.buchananlighting.ca/

Great good fortune!