camera battery

[Hara]

I have the nikon coolpix 885. Lately the battery will not last very long at all, in fact, I just went to take pics, took the battery off the charger and it lasted less than 5 minutes. Does anyone know of a good place to order a replacement? Also, how long should one of these batteries last?
TIA

 

[reefrunner69]

The battery could have developed a memory, to recondition the battery, you should use it until it is completely dead, several times and keep charging it inbetween, not sure how this will work without a battery discharge feature on your cam, that is one thing I hate about propretory batteries.

For the best price...plug in the name and model of your battery into pricegrabber.com

 

[Hara]

thanks kevin, i wasnt sure if aftermarket batteries would be as good as the ones from nikon...

as far as the battery developing a memory, I always use it until I see battery exhausted, then it may sit on the charger for a week until I pick the camera up again. So then, from what you are saying, they normally do not do this?

 

[reefrunner69]

If that is your experience, then the battery has probably just used up it's life. They are not rated in time, but in the number of charges they will accept.

 

[Hara]

thanks for the explanation! I feel just a tad smarter today than yesterday

 

[chasgood]

If the battery is a AA or AAA rechargable replace with the newer type NI-MH instead of NI-CAD. NI-MH doesnt get the memory effect. Look at the ma rating (milli amp). The higher the number the longer it should go on a charge. Some are out there with a 2400ma rating. Just a few years ago 1600ma was the highest.
Batterys still have power even if the camera will not work. Cameras are energy hogs and shutdown at a set level. The batterys will still run a walkman or other low power device for a few hours or even longer. Running down NI-CADs like this before charging will increase the life.
Some cameras have special batterys that only work in there brand stuff. They may be NI-MH or Lithium Ion. Not much you can do then but buy another of THERE batterys. Most cell phones are Lithium Ion type.