Eneloop and Pentax

2021-05-07

I used to use eneloop a lot, but nowadays I almost stop using it. Even so, I sometimes use it. 
I think I bought it more than 10 years ago, but I have a nostalgic SANYO brand charger.

The green lamp at the bottom of the charger lights up when it is charging, and turns off when it is finished.
Recently, however, when I tried to charge the battery, the light just kept blinking. The situation was the same even if I replaced it with another battery.

When I checked the manual, it said that “batteries that cannot be recharged (i.e. have reached the end of their life) are mixed in." There was only one lamp, so I couldn’t check which one was in bad condition.

I tried to charge only one battery at once. Some of the batteries didn’t show any errors and some did, but I think that all the batteries were not fully charged because they were charged in a short time.

I have an DSLR camera that runs on AA batteries, so I tried putting some batteries in it.

I used to use a Pentax K-x, which was released in 2009, ( I  bought it maybe in 2010). 12 megapixels.

AA batteries were put in like this. At the time I bought the camera, I was also using another compact digital camera with AA batteries, so it was convenient to have a common power source.

The camera starts, but the battery display is low from the beginning. After all it seems that the battery is not properly charged. Focusing also moves strangely slowly.

I think the batteries are the end of the life, so I thought to throw it away.

However, before throwing it away, I looked at Panasonic’s site and found that recent chargers have a pre-charge function and a smart charge function. Pre-charging seems to improve the condition of the battery by charging with a weak current. Smart charging is said to charge according to the voltage and temperature of the battery.

What should I do?
Let’s try it. …I bought a charger.

I don’t need fast charging for my usage, so I chose the basic model.
This charger looks like it has a band of lamps (black line), but it lights up one for each battery separately. This is good.

I feel like it will work.

(Charging)

…It worked. It seems to have charged properly.
When I put the battery in the camera, it said that the battery was fully charged.

I haven’t used a DSLR since I bought a mirrorless camera, but I feel like using it again.
DSLR camera is heavy to take outside, but it is not bad to be used indoors. And if I use photos for my site, 12 megapixels should be fine.

But one problem arose.

The coating(?) of the shoulder strap crumbles and black powder scatters here and there. I couldn’t use it with this, so I disposed of the strap.

I will use the camera from time to time.

[Addition] (04/18)
I was planning to throw away the strap that its surface is crumbled, but I realized that I should wash it. Washing with water and rubbing with a brush, then all the black powder on the surface ran off. It seems to be usable if it dries.

Photo and camera

Posted by Sakyo K.