Cheap chinese batteries fault or my charger ?!

[JoseD]

Hi, I bought a CGP-D320 battery replacement from eBay. Turns out that they don't work well with my charger, allways stops halfway with an error. I have have to take them off and reinsert them but the error appears in less and less time, I've never been able to get it to display full charge. The original battery, with much less capacity of course, work fine.

Any one has any experience on this ? Could it be the charger ? The camera manual says you can use CGP-D320 batteries so I don't know.
I'm also now afraid to get an high capacity replacement since the store I get them from might not tell me at all if they're original or not (as has already happened).

Needless to say I'm f*** pissed with all this. They'll only taking my money and losing my time, even if it was cheap..

Thanks for your help
José

[redwudz]

There are a lot of cheap 'knockoff' battery replacements out there. The old adage, 'If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,' still holds. I bought two fairly cheap batteries for my digital camera. One works and the other died in less than a year. The company I dealt with replaced the failed battery, but many won't. Check the guarantee or warranty before ordering.

And I would also run the name of the company that you are contemplating ordering from through a internet search to see if others have reported problems.

But some companies make very good replacement batteries for a decent price. Just not that easy to find them sometimes. Some of our European members may be able to give you some more reliable sources for battery replacements in your locale.

[MJA]

Hi, I bought a CGP-D320 battery replacement from eBay. Turns out that they don't work well with my charger, allways stops halfway with an error. I have have to take them off and reinsert them but the error appears in less and less time, I've never been able to get it to display full charge. The original battery, with much less capacity of course, work fine.

Any one has any experience on this ? Could it be the charger ? The camera manual says you can use CGP-D320 batteries so I don't know.
I'm also now afraid to get an high capacity replacement since the store I get them from might not tell me at all if they're original or not (as has already happened).

Needless to say I'm f*** pissed with all this. They'll only taking my money and losing my time, even if it was cheap..

Thanks for your help
José

you are lucky it didn't burn your carpet like the one I bought from ebay few years ago (sanyo cellphone battery) freak'n thing exploded like a granade during charging

[hech54]

Cheap chinese batteries fault or my charger ?!
Hi, I bought a CGP-D320 battery replacement from eBay.

Now I'm NOT one to defend China....far from it...but
since Panasonic has 70,000 employees working in China...what
makes you think the original batteries or charger that came with your camera
were not made in "cheap" China?

[JoseD]

Well, I bought it from a german eBay store not knowing it was made in China, BUT, not everything made in China is bad quality (though I wonder how much their employees earn a month to make it so cheap), in this case the store offers a 2 year warranty and is a reputted store with more than 88000 sales and 99% feedback. Warranty excludes what they call the "normal decline in capacity" or something...
They'll probably blame the charger and offer me to buy one of their 5€ chargers, or, offer me a replacement which has the same result so probably not worth the effort.

Maybe I should get another charger ? If I get an original I might get something similar again...

@MJA
Exploded ugh ? Guess I should consider myself lucky then..

@hech54
Cause my camera is one of the 1st generations in DV made in Japan. The build quality is excelent, as well as the transport mechanism.

[mpack]

I have have to take them off and reinsert them but the error appears in less and less time, I've never been able to get it to display full charge.

I'm afraid you are describing a common symptom of a cheap battery. A battery is typically made up of a gang of cells, but in a good battery those cells have to be carefully matched so that their charge and discharge (under load) characteristics are as close as possible. This of course involves a lengthy testing process, which is what makes the battery expensive; it doesn't actually have much to do with the manufacturing quality of the individual cells.

The effect of mismatched cells is that their charge/discharged state gets quickly out of whack with each other. This means that some cells will be undercharged (delivering less power in use), while others will be overcharged when you try to bring the battery as a whole up to charge. The mismatch quickly gets worse with time.


You can sometimes rescue the battery (a bit) by first discharging it completely: eg. switch on the device and then leave it for a day or so. If all the cells are now completely discharged then you've kind of got them back into sync, and you can try charging the battery again.

[hech54]

@hech54
Cause my camera is one of the 1st generations in DV made in Japan. The build quality is excelent, as well as the transport mechanism.

And you still cannot prove each and every piece in that camera was made in Japan....especially
since Japan(like America)....imports most of it's basic component-making materials like wire and
components that get placed on to circuit boards.

[JoseD]

@mpack
Thanks for that info, I'll try to leave them in the camera for 2 days and then see what happens.

@hech54
Fair enouph, I guess the problem with chinese made stuff is that the good quality stuff suffers from the bad one that's widespread...

@ALL
So I need advice on a good source for batteries, preferably in Europe. Don't mind importing from US but that'll probably cost. Does that "send as gift" trick still works ?

[hech54]

Heck....I'm old enough to remember when "Made In Japan" implied it was CRAP...at least in the USA anyway.

[MJA]

just buy one from any authorize dealer in your area

[JoseD]

In the 80's Made in Japan used to mean good build quality, at least trusted brands. I still have an old mitsubishi vhs machine that works, built like a tank

My nearest authorized dealer wants a fortune for one, around 100€!! All or nothing I guess...

[JoseD]

Anyone tried www.bestbatt.com ? Seem to have good replacements but I'm not risking again without checking they're reliable.

[MJA]

Anyone tried www.bestbatt.com ? Seem to have good replacements but I'm not risking again without checking they're reliable.

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/BestBatt

I think this one is made by duracel.not %100 sure

http://www.duracelldirect.com/panasonic_0_oem-battery_camcorder_b-9557.aspx?GCID=S17226x015&KEYWORD=CGR-D320&equiv=(%20CGR-D320%20)&gclid=CMTZ99nSk5YCFR-uQAodk1YQFQ