Pete,
Yesterday I picked up the Dps-8000 from Ritz and charged it for
8-hrs as the instructions specify. I also bought the Rayovac
1-hour charger from Best Buy and charged 4 Monster 1800mah NIMH
batteries for 1-hour. This evening I got about 30 shots from the
Dps-8000 and over 100 from the Monster's before I got tired pushing
the release button. Power level was still on full. This was
shooting one after the other. No flash. I am going to try the
Digipower charged for 12+ hours tomorrow. The Digipower charges
itself by connecting to its own power supply.
Incidently, I never got more than 30 shots from 4+ hours charging
with the Monster charger or 16+ from the Quest. I don't what the
breakin there might me for the Dps-8000, if any.
Marty
Hi Marty,
Your not the first person to post these results. It makes me think
that maybe the DPS-8000 is not what it's claimed to be - five NiMH
2700 ma-H cells in series. The only thing I found on them so far
was some add copy that was pasted on e-bay - and the following from
some store copy:
Features & Specifications
(
http://www.d-store.com/d-store/DigiPower/index.htm ):
Designed to work with most popular Digital Cameras when used with
the correct camera connector cable. (connector sold seperatley)
Powerful 6 volt nickel metal hydride battery pack - Designed with
five 5/4 "AA" Size - 2700 mAH Batteries..
Memory Free - Capable of providing power for over 1200 pictures in
most cameras.
Lightweight - 5.5 oz. - Ergonomically designed. - Size : 2"w x 3"h
x 3/4"d (with Carrying Case)
Built -In over-Charge Protection
Comes with 8-12 Hour AC Charger-, Genuine Leather Case, and a 360
degree Secured Swivel Belt Clip.
Complete pack is also small enough to fit in your shirt pocket
DPS 8000 $39.95
Cable Connector $9.95
---
First problem I see is that even 7/5 AA Gold Peak High Capacity
Series* NiMH cells are not 2700 ma-H - they are more like 1900
ma-H. The second is that they recommend an 8-12 hour charge. But
these should still do a lot better then the four 1800 ma-H cells
you can put into the camera - when used under the same conditions.
My guess is that there are two possibilities: The cells may need
conditioning, and the charger may be a little on the cheap in terms
of capacity. Here's the scoop on voltage. With the charger
connected and the cells fully charged, you should be seeing about
1.5 volts per cell or 7.5 volts at the pack terminals. When you
disconnect the charger, the pack terminal voltage should decline to
the vicinity of 1.4 volts per cell or about 7 volts after ten
minutes to a half hour. At the beginning of use with the D7 after
about 20 minutes, with the LCD off - EVF on, the per cell voltage
will be about 1.3 volts or 6.5 volts across the pack. The voltage
will steadily decline with use and the cells will be near the end
of charge at about 1.1 volts per cell or 5.5 volts for the pack. At
1 volt per cell, things are crashing fast. All below the 1.4 volts
per cell are with the pack loaded by the camera - not sure if there
is a way to read this with the pack plugged in to the camera.
Bottom line is that, by the numbers and considering the higher
voltage from the fifth cell and assuming working cells and charger
and conditioned cells, you should be seeing significantly better
results then with four internal 1800 ma-H NiMH cells - under the
same kind of operating conditions.
Pete
*
http://www.gpbatteries.com.hk/industrial/NiMH/CY9VPR/Cylindrical/CYTeData.asp
