"Dying" M8 Comes Back to Life

<p>Last August I wrote in about how one of my M8 batteries was not recharging fully. If you’re interested, look here: http://www.photo.net/leica-rangefinders-forum/00QbEa . Well, suddenly it recharged fully. For the last year I assumed this was a dying battery and only used it at home while recharging one my good batteries. Occasionally, I’d recharge it, always with the same result: only three-fourths recharged. I do not know what happened. I do not know how long my good fortune will last.</p>

That is pretty weird. I have only two, the original and an extra, and I've had good luck with them so far, not having taken quite 5,000 shots yet.

<p>Electronics have their own rules. A couple of months ago I dropped my cell phone once too often and both LCD panels died. I put the SIM card in a spare phone my kid had abandoned and it worked fine. Last week, for no particular reason I recharged the one I'd put aside and and reinserted the SIM card. It's working perfectly.</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /> <strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

<p>Was it an off brand battery or a genuine Leica battery? I only use the Leica batteries. I have two off brand that I bought off ebay and they didn't last. Both of them died while in the camera. I pulled the camera from my bag and it was very warm to the touch. The camera wouldn't turn on. Dead battery. I put in a freshly charged Leica brand battery and it was fine. The off brands will not hold a charge anymore. Not worth the trouble.</p>

<p>Your last charge was what is referred to as the breaking charge. Due to the chemical conditions within the battery and on the electrodes, only a limited charge becomes possible. Normaly due to their age or charge level and conditions which were such that it induced a memory. The breaking charge is the one that removes this condition and allows the battery to fully charge. For example if a Lead acid battery were allowed to fully discharge and then stay flat it may prove almost impossible to recharge. A common remedy is to briefly pump it will high voltage and as much current as possible. LiIon batteries are nigh on impossible to resurrect so you are very fortunate.</p>

<p>It will be interesting to see how long it will last now.</p>

<p>Whoever Ms De Havilland is, she is a delight to present solid engineering facts in this forum. Oh how delightful the truth is.</p>

<p>Interesting responses to what I thought would be a dull topic. All my batteries a Leica, no off-brands. In the eight months that the battery in question was not fully recharging it was not actually dying or even slowly withering away like Lenin's post-revolutionary state. In would recharge up to a point and then stop. Now it is acting normally for the time being. I too appreciate Ms De Havbilland's explanation. But I also think Henry Posner is right. Electronic do have their own rules.</p>

<p>I'm glad Mercedes intervened before I got a chance to claim it was due to antimatter. I thought maybe we were passing through a positron region in space that was cancelling your electrons before you could get a full charge. I would have said it was dark energy, but after reading my issue of <em>Scientific American,</em> it seems dark energy is "out" this month. Mercedes' explanation is more aligned with Occam's razor, so I am going with the breaking charge.<br>

Alex, isn't it about time for some of your excellent photos?</p>

<p>I often blame a rift in the space-time continuum as the source of all my electronic glitches. Either that or it's Flux Capacitor has failed.</p>

<p>Thanks Rob F. for the kind thought. </p>

<p>Had a shock today. Camera seemed off but was hot and the battery was totally depleted. Put in spare. Was it THAT battery that was doing something funny? I'll see what is what when I recharge tonight.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Alex, Was it the camera that was dying or one of the batteries that was malfunctioning?</p>

<p>Vivek, fortunately it was the battery and not the camera :-)</p>

<p>If a small mushroom cloud appears on the western horizon we'll know Alex's battery charge didn't go well.</p>

<p>Put away your sunglasses and sun screen. The recharge ended a few minutes ago. A-Okay. </p>

<p>But now I'm recharging a second battery. Just in case, brace for tidal waves on the West Coast.</p>

<p>I use a Sharpie permanent marker to label all of my rechargeable camera batteries. Makes it easier to keep track of 1) which ones are charged and which are depleted, and 2) which are wearing out/functioning strangely. </p>

<p>My understanding is that most if not all rechargeable batteries will eventually develop a memory. I have certainly found this to be the case with AAs, though cell phones and cameras are going OK so far. The effect is they take longer to reach a full charge and don't last as long. </p>

<p>That's why I use a M3, M4-P, IIIf, 500C, Rolleiflex 4x4, Contax IIa, and a Cambo 23SF.</p>

<p>All I need is a AA for my Sekonic meter. When the AA dies, I just toss it and buy a new one.</p>

<p>(OK I keep extra PX28 batteries for my 1000s & 2000FC/M as well!)</p>