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Important Information to Customers using Sony Camcorders and
Sony Digital Still Picture Cameras

Use of rechargeable battery packs

Dec 10, 2003

Sony has become aware that there are certain battery packs available in the European market, which look almost identical to a Sony genuine battery pack but which are not actually Sony genuine battery packs.

The above-mentioned battery packs may not comply with the Sony quality standards, specifications and requirements for long-time, high-power voltage usages of rechargeable batteries.

Such battery packs may not provide the same level of performance and functionality as a Sony genuine battery pack. As a result Sony Camcorders and Digital Still Picture Cameras may not function properly or the use in such products may cause safety dangers.

In some cases Sony Camcorders attached with this type of battery pack may show the following message on its LCD display: “FOR “InfoLITHIUM” BATTERY ONLY” or “Use the
“InfoLITHIUM” battery pack”. o In some cases Sony Digital Still Picture Cameras attached with this type of battery pack may
show the following message on its LCD display: “For “InfoLITHIUM” battery only”.

When the above message is displayed on your Sony Camcorder or Digital Still Picture Camera, or if you would like to verify that your battery pack is a genuine Sony battery pack or not, it is recommended that you contact your nearest Sony Service Station for verification.

Sony will not accept responsibility for any damages or failures caused by such type of battery packs.

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I am not sure where this came from but I have noticed some people complaining about Geniune Sony batteries they have botten from Hong Kong off ebay.

I apoligize to anyone who may have bought one of these batteries based on my recommendations. I have not really had any problems with mine other then they don't seem to last as long as they should.

Anyways, I thought I would post this to apoligize and warn any other people looking at buying one of these batteries.

Thanks

__________________
Digital ISO Productions
Sony DSR-PD170, Sony DCR-VX2000 & Sony DCR-TRV900
http://www.digitaliso.ca
http://www.pbase.com/toogy

can we have a poll in the sticky, so we could know the ratio of working batteries from ebay.

as its much cheaper than sony branded ones

thanks

Hi,

Please see my response in this thread

regards,
Vince

This is an interesting topic as I was going to ask about replacement batteries for my still-in-great-shape Sony Handycam CCD-TRV57. I love this 4-year-old baby, and all three of the batteries I bought for it at the time I bought the camcorder, have bitten the dust at the same time. Trying to find replacement batteries is just a nightmare. Every place I've asked, they said they don't stock these batteries anymore, but can order them special for me, at $100 a pop. This is completely unacceptable.

I have one 2-hour (NP-F330) and two 4-hour (NP-F550) batteries. I sure as heck didn't pay $100 each for them four years ago!! This is robbery!!

So I'm faced with the dilemma of either forking out $200 (I need at least two, because I promised to video a friend's wedding this summer) or chucking my perfectly fine camcorder and spending at least $400 on a whole new one, which really ticks me off.

Now I'm hearing about battery-rechargers. This is new to me -- I mean, I knew about battery rechargers for little batteries, sure, but not for camcorder batteries. How much do these cost, and are they readily available at places like RadioShack? And why didn't any of the retailers I talked to, mention battery re-chargers to me??

By the way, this is my first post -- I'm glad to have found this site!

I get most of my batteries from Power101. Great batteries, cheap and fast shipping. They also use the Info technology that used in my TRV38. Use this link:
http://www.power101.com/find_camcorder2.htm?cat=sony
and click on CCD-TR57 to bring up a list of batteries and a charger for your camcorder.
The NP-F550 should cost you $17.50 shipped.
He also sells on eBay as npetrov, but it may cost a few cents more there.
I've also used smartarea on eBay. His batteries are also inexpensive and good. He has a web site as well, but the cost is more there.

You can try to bring old batteries back to life by discharging them with a 10 watt, 10 ohm resistor and recharging them several times, but at 4 years old, I doubt it'll work for your batteries. Besides, the new ones are cheap enough.

__________________
Gary

Tweaks & Reviews
www.slottweak.com

Good lord, I wish I'd seen your response before I went to the local The Sony Store and paid $150 for a new 8-hour battery!!



Yeah, I was told by about 4 different places that my batteries had been pretty much sucked dry and were well past their time. That's why I decided to go ahead and get a brand new one. But maybe I should've bought a recharger at the same time.

Thanks for your advice!