Customer Reviews

Sony NPFS11 Digital Camera Battery

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Apparently a lot of users have problems with this battery.
I own a Sony DSC-P1 digital camera, and always use the simple power connector to reload the camera. A friend also owns a DSC-P1 and has exactly the same problems: the display will say the battery is full (>90 minutes left), but when you start using it, it will stop after < 10 minutes of use. This really sucks.
I've searched the Internet all over for solutions for this problem, and there seems to be none. Apart from Sony denying there's anything wrong with the batteries (or the camera!), I've found some 'workarounds' (including advice from Sony) that don't really work.
- Fully discharge the battery. Keep turning your camera on 'till the battery is completely empty. (Doesn't work).
- Check the connections (Sony advice) Clean the connectors of the AC powercord (Doesn't work).
The only thing I didn't test, is a very expensive Sony quickcharger. I've used them occasionaly, and they seemed to recharge the battery very well (giving cause for a camera malfunction/flaw scenario). Does anyone have experience with the -far too expensive- quickcharger?
I used to be a real Sony fan (2 VAIO's, VCR, LCD-monitor, digital camera, Digital Video camera) but now I really hate their attitude.
They charge WAY too much for accesoires and spare parts. I paid 40 euro for a simple I-link cable; my video LCD broke down (cat-chase fly-drop camera) and it will cost me about 400 euro to repair it; a quickcharger will cost you about 200 euro.
This really insults my intelligence! I hope they'll switch to a different marketing strategy very soon, or they'll lose me forever.

I signed on looking for this battery and noticed everyone had the same problem. I also have the Sony DSC-P1. Taking "Canada's " advice I killed the battery. You should set the flash to on. After you turn on the camera and the flash is charged take a picture right away and continue doing this as soon as the charge light is steady. I took 150 pictures this way(2 64 meg cards) on a socalled dead battery. Don't give the battery indicater a chance to come on. This battery used to charge in 4 minutes and die in 3.:). After I killed the battery to the point it didn't have the energy to pull the lens back in, it took 2 hours to charge and hasn't died yet! I don't think the battery itself has memory, I think it has a problem with the info part that tells the camera how much powers left and it fools the camera into shuting off. Hope this helps all. It helped both my batteries.

I've had exactly the same problems as everyone else... I have two InfoLithium NPFS11 batteries which have been apparently less and less able to hold a charge as time goes on. I reached the point where I wouldn't even bother to take my Sony DSC-P1 out with me anymore! The batteries would last for two or three pictures then the camera would shut itself off. Thank goodness I found these reviews! I was about to buy two new replacements, having no idea that EVERYONE has the same problem with these batteries. I followed the prevailing advice and sure enough the results are a spectacular reversal of fortunes - a saving of almost $100! I killed one battery by taking picture after picture with the flash . I eventually got to 114 pictures at 640 pixel resolution, having to switch the camera on again (probably 8 or 9 times) when the "battery life" indicator came on and powered down the camera. Ignoring what the camera's telling you will mean that you will continue taking pictures for a long time. The camera actually gets HOT it's being used so much! Eventually the camera goes REALLY dead and the lens won't retract. Now I'm recharging the battery, pretty confident that the old battery will be rejuvinated to it's formerly effective self. This is exactly the advice given in the other reviews. HOWEVER... for the second battery, rather than trying to quickly start taking photos BEFORE the battery life is calculated by the camera/battery, I let the calculation go ahead first. The camera indicated that the battery life was 80 minutes. I immediately started taking pictures and got up to 190 pictures (using the flash). Again, the camera got quite hot in the time it took to take all those pictures. And even after all that time and all those pictures the camera showed that this second battery STILL had 45 minutes left in it! Odd. What I'm thinking is that it MIGHT not be entirely necessary to "kill" your battery in order to make it work properly. Maybe what you need to do - to kick your battery in the pants - is just take picture after picture for a few minutes as soon as you turn the camera on and it'll reset the INFO part of the battery! Worth a try. Obviously, you might need to do this every 6-8 months or when you notice the performance dropping off. Already this second battery is behaving like it used to - even without killing it.

I have a hypothesis about the problem and why this "treatment" of your battery might breath new life into it. We tend to use our cameras in a very specific way that may be foiling the functionality of the InfoLithium system. We turn on the camera in preparation for taking pictures but it could be several minutes before we take a single picture. And we tend not to take pictures in rapid succession once we start. I think this cycle of switching the camera on, then doing little or nothing with it makes the battery go into some kind of "info-coma" after repeating this pattern for a long time! I wonder if the way this technology was developed failed to take this real-world factor into consideration. I speculate that the laboratory testing of this device probably involved discharging the battery immediately after the battery life indication had been calculated. Maybe that process is what the battery needs to calibrate itself. After months of never receiving that treatment it's possible that the battery no longer "knows" what the hell's going on!! I'd be curious to know if other people have the same results as I have. Email me if you like at nowis@sbcglobal.net

I have a DSCF505V camera that takes this battery. I contacted sony to see if maybe they had one that would last longer after reading the many bad reviews. They said, they didn't but they dont' even make this battery anymore, you should get the NPFS12 battery instead. Here's hoping they fixed some of the problems with the battery in this newer version. I did however do as one of the other posters sucggested on 'burning' the battery completely out b4 recharging and it seems to have worked at least temporarily so we don't have to get a new one right away. We've had the camera for about 4 years. The battery started giving us trouble after about 18 months and we have been 'crippling' it along ever since. When it indicates the battery is low we just shut it off and then turn it back on and that would give us enough time to take one or two pictures b4 the low battery indicator would start again. We could do this many time before the thing would shut down completely and fail to turn back on.

So after being frustrated with both the batteries and SONY support, I set up the camera to be as battery-intensive as I could, like so: DSC505V -LCD screen: maximum brightness white balance on, flash on and on high(+) with forced flash(lightning bolt), solarize filter on, AE on with moon and + symbol and the lenscap on...(this makes the flash even brighter) (sorry for lame technical terms.

I figured this would drain the battery as much as possible... Then I fired off (get this) over 200 flash shots (of nothing) on a battery showing the low-batt indicator the whole time !!

I did this untill the battery would no longer even start the camera. It charged for about an hour and a half and now it works fine!!

I hope this works for you too!!

To me "rechargable" means "indefinite use," not "conks out after 18 months." We bought the camera and an extra battery ... For a long time everything worked well - we went on a vacation ... and took loads of pictures with only one recharge during the whole week. But sometime around Jan. 2002, the charges started being shorter and shorter. Eventually around May it got to the point where we could take 3 photos or one movie and then the battery died. I have just recently emailed Sony and they replied that "since our batteries have no Memory Effect [loss of function due to recharging], your battery is faulty and needs replacement." ...

following exchange with sony says to use NP-FS12:

user ken has entered room

analyst Marshall_ has entered room

Marshall_> Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support. I will be glad to assist you.

ken> good. i read about a bunch of problems on amazon.com with NP-FS11 and wondering if i should buy a third battery cuz my first went weird and had to be replaced.

Marshall_> It is always recommended to use the batteries supplied with the camera.

Marshall_> We have not received any complaints regarding the battery.

ken> apparently, this is a common problem and the rumor is NP-FS12 works better. i am sure sony has heard of this problem cuz the people at amazon have complained to sony.

ken> go to the amazon.com website at type in NP-FS11 and read about the complaints.

Marshall_> I am not authorized to visit third party websites and comment on that.

ken> i also went to the sony website for the DSC-P50 and they do not even list the NP-FS11 battery anymore. the only infolithium battery i could find on the sony website is NP-FS12.

Marshall_> You can use the NPFS12 battery with your camera.

Marshall_> The NPFS11 has been replaced by the NPFS12.

ken> okay, that is the answer i was looking for, but it might help other customers if you could put this info on the DSC-P50 web page.

Marshall_> I appreciate your feedback.

I too have been disappointed with this battery. My first one lasted for about 10 months, then I purchased a second one which also stopped holding a charge after about 10 months.
I followed the advice of a previous reviewer (a customer from Canada) and now both batteries work again. They just needed to be completely discharged prior to attempting to charge them which wasn't happening through their normal use.

I'm joining the list of annoyed Sony customers. I've had the problem all along and put it down to something I'd done wrong (charging to often etc)... looks like that is not the case :-( I'm going to try and send the lot back to Sony as per their suggestion on sony.com.

Anyone had luck with 3rd party batteries in the same camera (I have the DSC-P1)? I tried a durracell replacement and it just wouldn't charge at all.

i have the quick charger - doesn't help at all. i have 2 of these batteries and they both exhibit the same problem of full-charge... and then 10 minutes later, empty.

the info at the sony website says that if i ship the camera, batteries, and charger, they will evaluate the problem for free. i will take them up on this, i think.