Battery drain without using the camera (A7mII)

[Poly]

Using the camera daily there`s no problem. But not using it the battery drains down to 28% in between one week.

This effect I never saw with my D800.

This battery drain happens with original Sony battery but also with a third party battery (Bundlestar BAXXTAR PRO).

To take off the battery is an inconveniant solution for this problem.

Anybody`s got an idea what happens or how to solve this problem.

[Guest all8]

It happens, you can't fight it, learn to accept it ... connecting the USB cable will keep the battery charged.

 

Maybe, with the next camera, Sony actually makes a proper effort.

 

 

[adwb]

Taking the battery out when not using the camera does not cause any loss of stored data , time, settings, copyright data, Memory data,for up to two weeks. Beyond that time I have not tested

[Kinder]

Use Airplane mode when not using the camera and don't activate the auto switching EVF/viewfinder, even if the camera is powered off, the proximity sensor still works and drains the battery.

 

Envoyé de mon E6633 en utilisant Tapatalk

[alasdairmac]

I have the same problem with my A55 but not with my A77ii. It was suggested that I switch GPS off as that used power even when the camera was switched off but it made no difference. Removing the battery simply drains the internal battery, which will exhaust, and you will lose all of your settings.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[tinplater]

That is why I always have extra charged batteries with me on shoots.

[VTC]

And how exactly is popping out the battery inconvenient? I leave mine in but I'm not foolish enough to expect one battery to be sufficient for photography. I use a Watson dual charger and have nine batteries at the charging station. Grab a handful on the way out to a shoot and don't care what the status of the one in the camera is because I've collected at least four to replace it.

[Poly]

"Use Airplane mode when not using the camera and don't activate the auto switching EVF/viewfinder, even if the camera is powered off, the proximity sensor still works and drains the battery."

 

Exactly this is the right answer!  I tried it now one day and the battery stay at the same percentage.

With this Sony is stupid. Off means OFF, there`s absolutely no reason for the proximity sensor to work ( to program this should be very easy for the next firmware update).-

 

Of course I`m using airplane mode (but also this should be OFF by turning the camera off) and I have 3 batteries.

Inconveniance: Putting battery in and out and cause drain of internal battery!

[Guest all8]

"Use Airplane mode when not using the camera and don't activate the auto switching EVF/viewfinder, even if the camera is powered off, the proximity sensor still works and drains the battery."

 

Exactly this is the right answer!  I tried it now one day and the battery stay at the same percentage.

With this Sony is stupid. Off means OFF, there`s absolutely no reason for the proximity sensor to work ( to program this should be very easy for the next firmware update).-

 

Of course I`m using airplane mode (but also this should be OFF by turning the camera off) and I have 3 batteries.

Inconveniance: Putting battery in and out and cause drain of internal battery!

 

 

So each time I finish using the camera I should deactivate the EVF switch .... really the camera is a joke. 

 

Normally, and keep in mind this is Sony, the "internal battery" is only used for keeping the Date and Time. Its a small watch battery, and there is no chance it can power the camera ... because it runs at a different and lower voltage.

 

Perhaps someone out there will licence the E-Mount and build a proper camera.

[Kinder]

Another question, did you update your camera to the latest firmware version? On another forum, some users have reported that the battery drain disappeared after updating to last version.

[Guest all8]

For anyone interested, the spec for the "internal battery" of the A7ii is here:

 

http://www.fdk.com/battery/lithium_e/pdf/data_sheet/coin_mrl_type/ML621_spec-sheet.pdf

 

And for the brave/foolish, disassembly instructions here:

 

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/02/the-a7ii-teardown-a-look-inside-sonys-new-camera/

[Poly]

My A7mII battery still drains. Latest firmware! I used all tips which you can find in internet.

For example: Turning off the proximity sensor (using the Monitor (less battery usage) helps a little bit.

But why Sony isn`t able to write one Line in Linux? OFF means OFF. While the camera is OFF really nothing of the camera has to work (for keeping data there is the internal battery).

"If camera = OFF then ALL functions OFF".

Advanced Member wrote: "I'm not foolish enough to expect one battery to be sufficient for photography" but he is foolish to carry kilos of batteries around the world (and Sony earns a lot of money with high priced batteries)

Of course I have 4 batteries, but it´s crazy having a long distance flight and after 50% of the flight the battery drained from full to 70%.

Or better example: Try to do a timelapse. With the A7mII you can do 200-220 pictures, then you have to change battery (absolutely crazy!!!!)

                               Take a Nikon D800 and you can do with one battery 700-800 pictures (!).

The problem is absolutely not new, but Sony is not reacting. Sony is offering the Sony community (there are a lot of articles about battery drain) but Sony`s not looking at it.

[K2Kevin]

Using the camera daily there`s no problem. But not using it the battery drains down to 28% in between one week.

This effect I never saw with my D800.

This battery drain happens with original Sony battery but also with a third party battery (Bundlestar BAXXTAR PRO).

To take off the battery is an inconveniant solution for this problem.

Anybody`s got an idea what happens or how to solve this problem.

 

 

I found that Airplane mode works for this, not sure why as the camera is turned off, but its obviously some parasitic drain going on.

[K2Kevin]

My A7mII battery still drains. Latest firmware! I used all tips which you can find in internet.

For example: Turning off the proximity sensor (using the Monitor (less battery usage) helps a little bit.

But why Sony isn`t able to write one Line in Linux? OFF means OFF. While the camera is OFF really nothing of the camera has to work (for keeping data there is the internal battery).

"If camera = OFF then ALL functions OFF".

Advanced Member wrote: "I'm not foolish enough to expect one battery to be sufficient for photography" but he is foolish to carry kilos of batteries around the world (and Sony earns a lot of money with high priced batteries)

Of course I have 4 batteries, but it´s crazy having a long distance flight and after 50% of the flight the battery drained from full to 70%.

Or better example: Try to do a timelapse. With the A7mII you can do 200-220 pictures, then you have to change battery (absolutely crazy!!!!)

                               Take a Nikon D800 and you can do with one battery 700-800 pictures (!).

The problem is absolutely not new, but Sony is not reacting. Sony is offering the Sony community (there are a lot of articles about battery drain) but Sony`s not looking at it.

 

Well documented with these smaller Mirrorless cameras.  The only option for time lapses, it a battery grip.  To this day we can't USE the A7II with an external USB battery pack for charging plugged in, can we?  The A7RII you can.

 

I think I saw a "dummy" battery solution that works, its not elegant, but solves the time lapse issue.  BTW, I can get about 700 shots on a time-lapse, guess it depends on your timing and camera settings.

[Guest all8]

 

I think I saw a "dummy" battery solution

 

 

 

AC Adapter AC-PW20

[adwb]

also seen a belt mount battery with cable to dummy battery but don't have a name , could have been part of Tether tools line up ?

[Poly]

OK, it`s not the topic.

But if somebody wants to use a Sony Alpha for 24 hours continiously or more buy the RAVPower RP-PB14 Xtreme 23000mAh.

With the size of the little I-Pad you can charge your cellular while your waiting hours and hours for your timelapse.

Then you need only one of those "dummy" batteries (usually it comes with a cable of 1.5 m), now you can use your Alpha not only with a tripod, you can put the power bank in a pocket or fix it on the belt.-

There is a big advantage with this power bank: With it there several adapters for the use of cellulars, pads or Note-/Netbooks.

You can change between 9 to 19 Volts (for the Alpha use 9V, the bank is stopping it down automaticly to the 7.2 V of the camera).

This power bank is absolutely perfect (not only for Sony Alpha). I can highly recommend it because of its multi purpose (camera, cellular, Notebook, everthing which is using usb-charge).

 

But this is not a solution for my first question. OFF means OFF, but this camera is using power for nothing.

Why the proximity sensor is working while the camera is off or why it`s using WiFi (which needs to be turned off).

It`s definitely not a solution to buy some batteries or charging the camera permanently while not in use.

Some Sony-guys seem to be definitely crazy, they only need to take a look at their cellular factory. Take a Sony cellular, turn it OFF (98%), leave it somewhere one week and then turn it on.

WOW  97.8%. That`s it. Why isn`t it possible with this camera? Exactly that`s why they are crazy!!!

[Poly]

By the way.

Taking out my RAVPower bank (I didn`t used it for more than 4 month) it has 84% capacity !!!!

This is the behavior I`m waiting for with my Sony camara !!!!

[Poly]

There are two possibilities to solve the problem:

 

1. Use the Dummy-Battery with the AC-Adapter. This "Battery" stays alle the time with 100%.- Using the camera you need to put your battery in.

    Your fully charged battery stays outside the camera for months losing only a few % (that`s normal).

 

2. By searching for another solutuion I found this (many many thanks to guy who wrote it):

    A possible trick to try - Unseat/reseat the lens (just a partial rotation)
    after turning off to see if that affects things.  I can tell you that the
    body WILL keep the lens mount powered for some period of time if it does
    not detect a lens removal.  When powering on a body with a lens that has
    already been used without removal, it skips about 2/3-3/4 of the lens initialization sequence.

   

I tried it. One day after the battery stayed with 100%.

Second try: I used my new Neewer Battery-Grip: 1st battery with 89%, 2nd with 100%.

Again the trick. After exactly 24 hours 1st battery with 88%, 2nd with 100%.  WOW!!!!

 

It`s absolutely stupid that the camera permanently tries to detect a lens change (Everybody is permanantly

changing lenses while the camera is OFF (Ha Ha).

When you turn on the camera you feel no differnce (less than a second) while the camera is detecting the lens.

 

Sony should add in the settings No. 7

Battery drain: a. Lens detection - On

                      b. Lens detection - Off after   3 hours

                          Lens detection - Off after   6 hours

                          Lens detection - Off after 12 hours

                      c. Lens detection - Off