2AA do not equal 1 CRV3, how many shots do you get w/ CRV3?

[DesertEagle]

Lithium rechargeable CR-V3 batters are far better than AA. I bought a charge plus two batteries on eBay for $18 including shipping. Each battery easily lasts two dives, during which I take about 250 photos on each dive. My SP-310's flash is set to slave mode, vol 1. The flash recycles almost instantly.

 

[margeka]

This is exactly the problem I had last month on Bonaire. Low battery light on every dive. Really made me mad. Firmware update was completed and I purchased 4 sets of brand new AA's. Will, I finally went for it and bought CR-V3 with the Moby brand charger from thomas distributing
Rechargeable Batteries Battery Chargers Rechargeable Lithium Digital Camera Batteries Maha Ansmann Energizer Sanyo ZTS The best thing I ever did. No more low battery light.

 

[CheddarChick]

Ditto on the rechargable CR-V3. Got mine at Raido Shack. 2 gig card and a fresh battery would last 2 dives at 200+ pics and all the viewing I wanted afterward. Got the tip from Larry, he is the SP350 God!!!

 

[margeka]

200 plus shots per charge with the CR-Vc. I also have the Moby brand.

 

[DesertEagle]

My CR-V3 batteries have some Chinese lettering. It must be Chinese because they are made in China.

The firmware upgrade made the cameras a little less picky about voltage. Since lithium batteries have a slightly higher voltage than NiMH, the upgrade probably won't make any difference.

 

[Jock_023]

Hi all,

I would like to buy RECHARGEABLE batteries for my wife's SP 350.

Alashas, you wrote that you had problems with Eneloop batteries. Did you CHARGE them before use? Because when delivered they are charged only to appr.75%!

Did you or anyone else try fully charged ENELOOPs in the SP 350 underwater? How many shots can one expect? Situation u/w is different to topside, because you almost always use flashlight, and temperature might be lower (depending on where you dive).

The problem with standard NiMHs is that they have a capacity of 2,500mAh or more, but they drop voltage after a very short time, and this lets the camera shut down or give it a low battery warning (even with firmware 1.4). So it is either Eneloops (or similar) or Li-Ion.

From what I have read here (and elsewher) Li-Ion rechargeables seem to be okay. But what I dislike: Another charger to carry with me, and there seems to be no way to find out if you get quality batteries or crap. Most of them seem to be re-labeled. And there seem to be problems, too: I have read that sometimes the inner fuse shuts them off,and it is very difficult to reanimate them.

Are the high capacity Li-Ion ones (up to 2,000mAh) really that strong? Any experience with reliability?

Confused,

Joerg

 

[alashas]

Jock, yes I CHARGED the Eneloops before using them. The low battery light came on after no more than 10 shots or so. I turned the camera off and only turned it on when I saw a photo I wanted to take. I managed to get about 40 shots per 2 batteries before I swapped them out, but I do not know what the maximum # shots I could have taken. After the first day, I purchased regular CRV 3s and eliminated the low battery problem completely.

Thanks to everyone's reply about rechargeable batteries. I ordered the Mobys from http://www.thomasdistributing.com/mpc-c301.htm and they were shipped the same afternoon. I got 'em today and can't wait to try 'em in Curacao in 2 weeks!

safe diving, alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

 

[ewong]

I have an SP-350 and YS-110 as well. I've been using Targus 1300 mAh CRV3 rechargeables and Lenmar AA 2700 mAh. They last about 2.5 dives with about 80+ pictures. I do have a Heinrichs TTL connector, so that saves juice by not using the internal flash.

I also have a ZTS Mini Multi-Battery and test my batteries before a dive. Since I know they last about 2.5 dives, I change them every 2 dives, at lunch time and at dinner time.

You can get these batteries and tester on Amazon:

Store - Underwater Photography


Eddy.

 

[paperdesk]

I haven't found a lot of difference between various crv-3 chargers and batteries. Although the SP-350 does accept AA's it is only optimized for crv-3's due to their higher voltage output.

If, however, you really want to us AA's, you will need a good set of batteries AND a good charger.
Batteries and chargers are not at all created equel! You need to pay as much attention to the charger as the battery. Many chargers do undercharger or overcharge the batteries. You need a "smart" charger that detects how much to fill the battery instead of a cheap timer charger. All crv-3 chargers that I know of are timer chargers, but the lithium batteries seem to handle it better than AA's.
Amondotech.com (now aquired by batteryjunction) used to have what I feel is the best portable world (110-220v) Smart charger available. It's the Titanium t-2800, I don't see it right now, but expect it will come back soon.

As far as batteries go the Eneloops are the best IMHO. The reason isn't because they are charged when you buy them (I'm only going to take them home and top them off anyway). The reason is because they have a very low self-discharge rate, in other words you can leave them in your camera for a LONG time and they don't loose their charge like most other NIMH batteries.

I realize the OP already got a replacement crv-3 system, but some other posters had questions I hope I answered. If you have questions or want more info candlepowerforums is a fantastic resource. Whew, that was way more than I intended to write. Have fun!

Ted

 

[Torcatdog]

Looks like this may be an older thread - But as I understand it - the SP-350 wants 3.0 volts to run properly. The AA batteries are typically rated at 1.2 volts each = 2.4 volts total. The low battery indicator light is prompting attention because of the percieved low voltage. The update is designed to tolerate the low voltage and be more accepting of the AA batteries. I have purchased, and highly recommend a rechargeable CRV-3 battery - better yet two. I have taken over 400 pictures on a full charge with a CRV-3 and that includes a few video clips!

All the best
T