A6300 and Excessive Battery Drain
May 6, 2018 11:49:46 #
There's a setting on Sony ILCEs that makes the autofocus run continually. The purpose, presumably, is that the viewfinder is clear before you touch the shutter. It's a huge battery hog, not surprisingly. It's off by default, but if you've turned it on, that could be problematic.
May 6, 2018 12:21:56 #
Do you have Airplane Mode on or off. If camera senses a bluetooth signal, it might be trying to transmit.
May 6, 2018 13:20:57 #
May 6, 2018 13:35:23 #
If you suspect the battery, try this experiment. Charge battery, measure level in-camera, remove from camera, re-insert and measure level every 12 or 24 hours. Per Wikipedia the self-discharge rate should be about 2% per month, but as there are several chemistrys this could be variable.
Wingpilot wrote:
Well, there's a certain amountof egg on face here ... (show quote)
May 6, 2018 13:41:38 #
My battery life experiment in the a6000 with Airplane mode 'off' yielded the following. Note the stair-step characteristic of the Sony battery.
May 6, 2018 14:30:13 #
jerryc41 wrote:
Surprisingly, EVF uses more power than the LCD. I have quite a few batteries for my A6000, and I also have a double charger.
I need to stock up.
May 6, 2018 17:14:32 #
Wingpilot wrote:
Well, there's a certain amountof egg on face here ... (show quote)
I just threw an old Wasabi out too. Same exact problem
Took a while to figure out
May 6, 2018 17:25:18 #
Neilhunt wrote:
There's a setting on Sony ILCEs that makes the autofocus run continually. The purpose, presumably, is that the viewfinder is clear before you touch the shutter. It's a huge battery hog, not surprisingly. It's off by default, but if you've turned it on, that could be problematic.
It's off.
May 6, 2018 17:25:49 #
John_F wrote:
Do you have Airplane Mode on or off. If camera senses a bluetooth signal, it might be trying to transmit.
Airplane mode is on. As of yesterday. Hadn't thought of that until it was mentioned yesterday.
May 6, 2018 17:26:34 #
May 6, 2018 17:27:56 #
John_F wrote:
My battery life experiment in the a6000 with Airplane mode 'off' yielded the following. Note the stair-step characteristic of the Sony battery.
I'll check out the Promaster brand. Looks like it has a bit better battery life and capacity. Thanks.
May 6, 2018 17:29:15 #
John_F wrote:
My battery life experiment in the a6000 with Airplane mode 'off' yielded the following. Note the stair-step characteristic of the Sony battery.
I did a similar test a little over a year ago, also with airplane mode 'on' to minimize camera usage. The view finder/monitor switch was in 'auto.'
May 6, 2018 17:34:25 #
sirlensalot
Loc: Arizona
There is no way to know for sure if it is your camera or your battery. My first guess is a battery issue. I have 2 batteries for my a6000. One OEM, one aftermarket Wasabi. While I have experienced some drain when camera not in use, this is normal for Li-Ion batteries, but not to the extent you have stated. I have used one battery for an entire night of MMA bouts (8). I checked my battery at 640 shots and still had plenty of battery. I was using it with the EVF the majority of the shots, but did switch to using the LCD at times. I was in Continuous focus mode, no flash. The little a6000 performed very well in that particular setting. I think the complaints against short battery life are in most cases from users comparing the small e-mounts to DSLRs which are capable of larger batteries with less demand on the electronics. I do agree you have a problem that is in excess of any drainage issue I have seen to date.
May 6, 2018 17:47:55 #
So, I checked the battery level with the Sony battery in the camera, with the camera turned off, overnight, and so far, it still shows 100% battery charge. In light of that, I suspect that the one Wasabi battery is just a bad one. I don't think it's a camera issue as it's never done this before, but then again, I've not (knowingly) put either of the Wasabi batteries in the camera.
May 6, 2018 18:21:27 #
Wingpilot wrote:
So, I checked the battery level with the Sony battery in the camera, with the camera turned off, overnight, and so far, it still shows 100% battery charge. In light of that, I suspect that the one Wasabi battery is just a bad one. I don't think it's a camera issue as it's never done this before, but then again, I've not (knowingly) put either of the Wasabi batteries in the camera.
You might take a look at my Sony OEM battery test and the one before from another. The Sony held full charge for 5 days then starting dropping. Three weeks into my by no means scientific test, it was down to 28%.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.