a7ii Date/Time/Memory glitch

[Rupp2015]

I have an a7r and now, and a7ii as well. Every time I change my battery in the a7ii, I need to reset the date and time. Does anyone know why this is happening?

[Guest all8]

Yes, I have had a similar problem, but I took the battery out overnight to charge and then the next day the date and time was gone. I would expect it to remain for longer, perhaps a month. My expectation might be wrong?

 

In your case, there is a small battery inside the camera that exists to retain date and time when the main battery is removed.  It could be that this battery is faulty if you are changing the battery relatively quickly and the time is still lost. It should be maintained for at least 15 minutes and really several days/months. Perhaps it is specified exactly somewhere?

[Rupp2015]

I am changing batteries within 30 seconds. I have just put a freshly charged battery in the camera, checked to see that the camera is set to off, and will let it sit for 24 hours (as per Sony). If this fails, I will assume that I have a defective battery (although I already suspect it).

[Guest all8]

Just changed my battery, old one was at ca 15%, new one 100%. Took all of 5 seconds and lost all date and time settings. Great - lets see when it happens again.

[Sony Guy]

I just checked my a7 II since reading this. I kept the battery out for about 3 minutes, replaced it and the time & date were still there and correct. Devices such as this have a little internal capacitor or back-up battery that dies occasionally resulting in this situation. I'd say that is what has happened here. It would be interesting to see how Sony deals with this. Although a minor annoyance, it is very aggravating and they should fix it for you under warranty.

[Guest all8]

Just changed my battery, old one was at ca 15%, new one 100%. Took all of 5 seconds and lost all date and time settings. Great - lets see when it happens again.

 

 

It seems that if I leave the camera switch "On" and the camera goes into "Power Save Mode", then somehow the battery used for the clock is slowly discharged (as too is the main battery, and "slowly" is being nice about how fast it discharges). Switching the camera to "Off" and waiting an hour allows the clock battery to recover enough that I can change the battery.

 

At least only the Time and Date is lost. All the settings and button assignments remain intact.

[Sony Guy]

It seems that if I leave the camera switch "On" and the camera goes into "Power Save Mode", then somehow the battery used for the clock is slowly discharged (as too is the main battery, and "slowly" is being nice about how fast it discharges). Switching the camera to "Off" and waiting an hour allows the clock battery to recover enough that I can change the battery.

 

At least only the Time and Date is lost. All the settings and button assignments remain intact.

I've wondered about just leaving the power switch on, but maybe this answers my question that that is NOT the thing to do if this situation results from it then!

[Cojo]

Any fixes for this? Has sony addressed this?

 

Sounds like I might have this issue as well.

[Sony Guy]

"The bottom side of the board is nearly as densely etched as the top, and contains the date-time battery, so changing that is not going to be something you can do at home."

All images Roger Cicala, Lensrentals.com, 2015

 

There's your "backup" battery that is apparently now dead!

[pvdiamon]

I have an a6000. It seems to hold date/time when battery is removed even for a month.  Is the internal date/time battery replaceable? If not, is it preferable to keep main battery in the camera then to minimize discharge of the non replaceable one? 

[Guest all8]

Eventually the date-time battery will discharge, if you want to avoid that it helps to keep the main battery in the camera (and somewhat charged). Otherwise it does not really matter ... other than you might have to set the date/time every once in a while.

[pvdiamon]

Thanks.  Is it correct to assume that AFTER warranty period, if that date-time battery is dead, you will be setting the date yourself every battery change?

[Guest all8]

I've been paying a little attention to my battery changes, I have two, lets call them battery A and battery B. Its seems that I only loose the Date/Time when changing from battery A to battery B, and not the other way around. Still a little more experimenting to do, but I really hope that its somehow a problem with the battery.

[Roger7]

I took the battery out to charge over night and did not lose time/date setting. I always turn camera off before changing battery. A7R ll.

[Guest all8]

I've been paying a little attention to my battery changes, I have two, lets call them battery A and battery B. Its seems that I only loose the Date/Time when changing from battery A to battery B, and not the other way around. Still a little more experimenting to do, but I really hope that its somehow a problem with the battery.

 

 

Right now I'm fairly certain that one of my two batteries is causing the Internal Clock to reset, and that the Internal Battery is not discharging or defective.

 

Although the exact conditions are hard to pin down, today I confirmed that the problem is only occurring when one particular battery is inserted and the camera powered on (not every time, about 50%). Hard to really know whats happening without a scope, which I don't have access to at the moment, but I would guess that when the battery and camera body first communicate and exchange calibration info, that the voltage is momentarily too low, which causes the Clock circuit to reset.

 

Nice.

[QDF]

I noticed the date on all my photos was incorrect after returning from a recent trip during which I used 3 different batteries.  Not sure which one is causing  the problem but will check it out.

[QDF]

I should have mentioned that the file format also changed. On the first series of photos that I shot with the camera they were in the DSC format. The latest images are in a _dsc format !!

[Rupp2015]

Interesting. On the last firmware update, my A7II died. I don't know why, but I consider myself to be experienced with both computers and digital cameras. After arguing with Sony for a day as to whether this was covered by warranty (Canon wouldn't have done this), Sony agreed that it was covered and gave me a service order. Three weeks later, the camera came back having been repaired. 

 

Still, yesterday, after having spent a couple of days using the camera, always with a charged battery, the time-date settings required re-setting after a battery change. Is the little battery inside dead? I dread having to send the camera in for repairs again. 

[hsbmjk]

My Sony A7ii loses the date/time almost every time I change the battery.  I'm on firmware 4.0 but its been happening for the last few firmwares.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has sent the camera for repair and had the internal battery replaced.  If so, did it fix the problem?