Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: A7III, A7RIII battery/power confusion  (Read 2622 times)

ski542002

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 57
A7III, A7RIII battery/power confusion
« on: August 18, 2018, 11:24:08 am »

My apologies in-advance, for the long-winded post…

Having weird issues with both Sony bodies; purchased new early 2018.  I’ve shot with another mirrorless system before Sony, so I’m well aware of the battery drain of mirrorless compared to DSLR’s. On my now sold Canon system, I could (not on purpose), leave a body turned on, unused and in the bag for a week, and the battery level would barely drop. Camera is on, not used, goes to sleep, and draws virtually zero power until I press the shutter.

On BOTH Sony bodies, the following has happened numerous times this year.  I turn cameras off, put in Pelican case for my shoot the next morning. The next morning, the battery on the camera is dead; not all the time, but enough to cause significant irritation.  Screen says “battery exhausted”.  I can’t see how either body would have switched power “on” while in the case.  EVEN if a body was switched on, the body should go to sleep and draw minimal power, correct? Last week, I made certain both bodies were off, in the case.  2 hours later, I got to the church to shoot a blasted wedding, opened up the case and low-and-behold, my A7III was warm to the touch and the battery was exhausted!  Put in my spare and luckily it was a Catholic service :) so I had an hour to let the dead battery charge up close to 100%.

I thought it might be an issue to send bodies back to Sony, but BOTH react intermittently the same way.  NOW, I leave all power stored out of the body, until I get to location and then load.  The frustrating thing is, when I’m using the bodies throughout the day, they do NOT exhibit excessive drain, just normal drain for the newer A7III/A7RIII batteries.

Any thoughts?
Logged

E.J. Peiker

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 891
    • http://www.ejphoto.com
Re: A7III, A7RIII battery/power confusion
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2018, 07:25:30 pm »

That is not normal behavior at all.  Sure over a week it might lose 5% but not in 2 hours and not with any heating to the body.  I would be very careful, take the battery out and not put another one in the camera until you get the camera repaired.  The risk for LiIon battery fire is way too high if you repeat this very often.  It sure sounds like your camera has some sort of internal drain issue where the body is either not turning off properly or there is an internal short that is causing the heat.

Rereading your message it says that this has happened at different times with both bodies, could they have been using the same battery?  Or could they have had the same lens attached.  Either of those could be the problem.

I have both an a7R ii and an a7R 3 and have owned the a7R, a6000, a6300 and none did that, ever!
Logged

mcbroomf

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1534
    • Mike Broomfield
Re: A7III, A7RIII battery/power confusion
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2018, 07:48:09 pm »

The body will not go to sleep if IR remote is turned on. 

I always turn my bodies off when not using, but the on/off switch is placed in such a way that I often turn it back on inadvertently when putting the camera back in my backpack.  This happens frequently so I would triple check the camera is really off and do a couple more purposeful tests, then otherwise send the bodies in for repair or user your current method if you confirm the batteries are draining when the camera is off.
Logged

Telecaster

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3686
Re: A7III, A7RIII battery/power confusion
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2018, 04:48:43 pm »

My experience with Sony Ax batteries, both the original and new series, is that they lose charge relatively fast whether idling inside a camera or just inside their pouch in my bag. But not so fast that they completely drain over the course of a day or even a month. Besides making sure IR/wifi features are turned off before powering down, are your batteries Sonys or 3rd party?

-Dave-
Logged

ski542002

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 57
Re: A7III, A7RIII battery/power confusion
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2018, 11:03:00 am »

 Hello everyone.

I appreciate your responses in sorry for my belated reply.

I am using Sony branded batteries but my infrared remote Is turned on. I will turn it off and see if that makes a difference. I am also going to mark the batteries and attempt to test during the week during a period of time when I do not have shoots to contend with.

I prefer not to send either camera bodies in right now  because the issue is consistent regardless of camera lens combinations. but I will do some further testing,  and will attempt to report back again with my findings.
Logged

ski542002

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 57
Re: A7III, A7RIII battery/power confusion
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2018, 11:13:35 am »

 Hi again. The problem could be solved. I did turn off the remote control on both bodies . I have PowerSave set to 10 seconds. Set both cameras down after 10 seconds the rear screen went black on  both bodies . Since I’ve had the cameras the screen has never gone black ever. I’ve always wondered why that was but did not realize it could have been linked to the remote control.

Damn complex cameras but I love the Sony system.

I appreciate the heads up on a solution from the group!
Logged

mcbroomf

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1534
    • Mike Broomfield
Re: A7III, A7RIII battery/power confusion
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2018, 01:31:55 pm »

 ;D
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up