NEX 7 & 3rd party battery problems

Disaster_Area

Disaster_Area

Gadget Monger
Local time
11:07 AM
Joined
Dec 12, 2007
Messages
877
Location
Ottawa
View My Gallery
When I got my NEX 3 I picked up a couple third party batteries off ebay and they worked great so when I ordered my NEX 7 I ordered a few more as I heard it could be a battery pig. Out of the 5 third party batteries I have, only one of them actually works in the NEX 7 (even though they all say their a replacement for the same battery model both NEX's use). One pair of them pop a warning as soon as you put the battery in "Incompatible Battery. Please Use Correct Model". The other pair will work for anywhere between 3-20 shots before popping up the same warning.

Has anyone else had this problem? If not can you recommend a good ebay or online store to get replacement batteries (Sorry, Sony... $100+ for a battery that barely lasts 300 shots is ridiculous)
 
The biggest problem is most of these batteries are un-branded... and who knows whether two batteries with the same info sticker on the bottom are actually the same, though it seems to be the best way to identify them for now. I'm going to try to get some pics taken of the two different batteries I have that don't work. If everyone could post pics of batteries that are confirmed working or not working it might give us a half decent reference when trying to buy batteries online.
 
I would never ever buy other batterys than the originals. They are not more expensive in the long run. A couple of years, 7 years ago to be precise, I bought third party batterys to my Canon 350D. The original Canon battery still working in good shape. The third parties ain´t.
 
Hi
I buy unbranded for Backup/Spare rather than paying top bucks for another original which may stay in your bag a lot, therefore I am interested in which work ok in the Nex7 as I will be needing one.
jb
 
Strangely enough, I bought a used NEX-5 and it came with a Pearstone battery that has worked flawlessly. My one Sony battery for it, which I purchased new, will not pop out of the battery well like it's supposed to; maybe it's just a little off in one dimension or another. I have to pry it out with a small screwdriver, or paper clip, etc. every time.
 
There are some 2nd-party-batteries that work, most of them don't work in the NEX-7 nor in the NEX-5N.
I have two different ones that do work without problems.
 
I have 2 batteries, as shown. The one on the left came with the NEX 5, and the one on the right with the NEX 7. Both are marked Sony, but I think that some of cheapies on eBay are too. I wonder why they are different; I bought the NEX 5 used, and cannot be sure if it had a true Sony battery or not.
 
PKR said:
Often the off brands will leak or be of an incorrect voltage and under stress - can fry your camera.
Click to expand...
No, I don't think it happens very often. I must have bought and used close to 30 off-brand batteries for various digital cameras so far. Most of them were as good as or better than the original batteries (some probably came from the same assembly line as the originals), while a couple performed under their spec. I remember having at least one generic battery for Canon that died in a few months. Even if I take such a case into account as completely wasted money, I have easily saved several hundred euro in battery purchases.

What you get with original batteries is a promise of hassle-free operation and warranty that should cover any damage caused by the battery. That is always something to consider. The markup on original accessories is however often ridiculously high.
 
Well, those batteries aren't as simple as stone so they have to be made up to some standard. Though remember primary batteries - shops sell them at a big profit. I think manufacterers of electronics aren't such hippies to willingly share income from selling spare and higher capacity batteries.

Colleague who bought replacement batteries for his ceel phone has burned on half of them but at a cost of $5 incl. shipping he still has saved lots of money. Do your math if buying 3rd party batteries is econimical for you - of course, if they work as intended.
 
@Kent
Thanks for sharing battery info in post #13, appreciated. Thanks also to Disaster Area for the up front warning.
jb
 
I recently bought these two batteries from Amazon.com for $28. Charged them up, and both work just fine in NEX 5 and NEX 7. Zeikos brand, 2200 mAh. Standard Sony batteries are 1050 mAh, so if these Zeikos batteries are up to rating on package, they hold twice the "power" of the standard Sony version. I may have to due an endurance test this weekend to see how long each type of battery lasts.
 
My experience with third-party batteries was not very good. Bought one for my Panasonic TZ-3 (yeah, I know, a lowly p&s) from Ritz before they left town, and the first time I used it, I was afraid I would never get it out of the camera. I thought it was a bit warm when I took it out of the charger, but even after cooling off ovenight, when it was put in the camera it got hot, and swelled up. So I'm never going to repeat that experiment again.

PF
 
I've had great experiences with 3rd party batteries for years. I have almost a dozen for my Canon SLR setup and they've all worked flawlessly, even the ones I bought for my NEX 3 worked great. It wasn't until I got the NEX 7 that I had any problems.
 
I recently bought one of these locally;
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0352248

Digipower BP-FW50 Replacement Li-Ion Battery for Sony NP-FW50
and found that after 1 shot, it says the battery is incompatible.

FWIW!
I tried a Promaster one, at the store and it seemed to work fine. I may go that route, or just get those confirmed working ones mentioned above.
 
dexdog said:
I recently bought these two batteries from Amazon.com for $28. Charged them up, and both work just fine in NEX 5 and NEX 7. Zeikos brand, 2200 mAh. Standard Sony batteries are 1050 mAh, so if these Zeikos batteries are up to rating on package, they hold twice the "power" of the standard Sony version. I may have to due an endurance test this weekend to see how long each type of battery lasts.
Click to expand...

Thanks... picked up the Zeikos and it works perfectly in my NEX-7.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom