Hello,

I'm new to the forum and have really enjoyed all the useful information. My last camcorder was an 8mm Sony Handycam (~15yrs old) and it has gone to camcorder heaven. I just purchased a DVD403 and am looking forward to using it.

I'm looking for a longer duty battery for the DVD403. I've seen a battery made by CTA that is a replacement for the Sony NP-FP90. The rating is 7.2V, Lithium-ion, 2600mAh. I've attached a pic of the battery for reference.

Has anyone used this battery on the DVD403? Is it compatible with the infoLithium capability on the camera? Just wondering since it's a lot less expensive than the Sony branded FP90.

Rick

I've got the CTA 90... Seems pretty good.. Only had it a couple weeks now

I was starting to wonder if anyone had used this alternative to the Sony brand. I'd looked for a website for CTA and didn't find anything. Then I was at an online resellers site and saw that they provided CTA's web address. Here it is if anyone else is interested:
http://www.ctadigital.com/

I found some of the CTA branded NP-FP90's at OverStock.com for ~$55, so I ordered one and will try it. After I ordered that one, I found another thread (here) where someone said they had success with the NP-FP90 from Power101.com and they cost ~$10 + $9 shipping. Sounded like a "too good to be true" kind of thing, but in my heart I feel that the prices/profits on these camcorder batteries are well...robbery. I pay less for a quality 7yr automobile battery than just one of these batteries from Sony. Rant off...

Thanks for the reply,

Rick

Just thought I'd report back after purchasing/using one of the CTA and two of the Power101 versions of the NP-FP90 battery. Basically, they work in the DVD403 and charge up in my external charger. I have noted some differences comparing these two aftermarket batteries vs the Sony battery that came with the camera (the NP-FP70).

When you test the batteries in the camera using the "Disp Battery Info" button, the Sony battery is the only one that comes up right away with battery information on screen. The other batteries (CTA and Power101) go through a scanning routine "Calculating Battery Info" that lasts about 10 secs before the battery data is displayed (percentage remaining, LCD Screen (mins), and Viewfinder (mins).

I fully charged all 4 batteries and only the Sony and the CTA batteries shows 100% charge availability in the Battery Info screen. Both of the Power101 batteries show 80% (after several uses/recharges). Guess for roughly $17 each (incl shipping), there's some tradeoff in charged capacity.

The stats on the batteries in the "Disp Battery Info" screen are as follows after a full charge:

Battery, LCD Screen (mins), Viewfinder (mins)
Sony FP70, 130, 145
CTA FP90, 257, 284
Power101 FP90, 195, 216

IMO, the CTA battery is the closest thing to the Sony (performance wise), but the price of the Power101 is hard to ignore. What I don't know is how these lesser cost batteries will hold up over time versus their Sony counterpart. Hope this helps some of you who are pondering these lesser cost alternatives to Sony branded batteries.

Rick

batteries and the original ones are the difference of their life span.
The capacity difference, in my opinion, is minor.

I once bought 4 aftermarket batteries for my Canon 300D camera
and my Canon ZR40 camcorder. All of them work well. The aftermarket
batteries actually have bigger capacity. However, one of them
stopped working after one-year use. So, I guess quality of aftermarket
batteries varies greatly.

I do not believe aftermarket batteries will hurt your equipment as
far as they provide correct voltage and do not leak.

Regarding some of your batteries do not show fully charged in your
Sony camcorder, I think those batteries simply provide lower voltage
when fully charged. It should not matter.

I plan to buy a couple of cheap aftermarket batteries for my
to-buy Sony camcorder to take into account of the batteries'
big quality variation.

SZ

Here's at least one case where that was not true...

Oh, I never heard something like that. It is probably very rare.

You can search a well known photo forum --dpreview for info
of aftermarket batteries:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1031

That forum is lot lot more active. Lots people are using aftermarket
batteries and no one, as far as I know, reported problem like that.
But I guess anything is possible.

SZ

I got my extra battery as part of a package with the camera from dbuys.com. I knew it would not be Sony, but was anxious to see what it would be and if it would work both in the camera and with the external charger I also purchased.

Happy to say that they both work, the extra charger which is AC/DC and the battery and the brand listed is Merkury Innovations and the battery is listed as a 7.2V 2200mAH.

The infolith takes the same amount of time to calculate once this battery is put on as the OEM Sony version and although it is listed as a higher current capacity of 2200mAH, it shows about 3 mins shorter time which could be innaccurate until I go thru a full discharge.

Both are in the 120m range w/LCD on.

Bought two FP70s and a charger from power101 for total of $40 shipped.
I want a separate charger since I do not like to use my 403 to charger batteries.

I just charged one of the batteries to full with the bought charger and it
took about two hours (the battery might not be fully discharged when
arrived though).

I put the battery on the cam and it showed 194 min with lcd and 215 with
viewfinder. The cam also indicates it is fully charged in recording mode.

By the way, someone mentioned that getting battery info is slower for
these batteries other than Sony. I actually found that the timing is the same
for both Sony and aftermarket batteries. It is just that when you swap
battery on cam, the first battery info click takes a bit long to get info. This
is the same for both Sony and others. The second or thereafter
click will be much quicker to get info. I get the info might be cached somehow.


I like the charger. It is small with red charging and green stop-charging
indicator. It comes with an adaptor for cars as well.

Will see how long the battery will really operate for each charging cycle.

-SZ

shanzhu1,

So after about a month of use, do you still like the batteries and charger from power101.com?

Yes, I am now purposely using the aftermarket battery most of the time.
So far so good. But the total time that I am using my 403 is not that much.
So, I am still on the first charge of the battery.

I will update you guys as it goes along.

SZ