Camcorder Battery question

[George]

I have a Lithium-Ion 7.2V battery for a SONY camcorder, that although brand
new and fully charged, it does not show any voltage at the output teminals.
I suspect that this is the work of some kind of internal protection circuit
to prevent accidental shorting of the output terminals. Does anyone know
how I could activate the circuit to be able to use the battery without
plugging it in the camcorder?
Thanks,
GT

 

[Al]

In article <6O%Vg.783$zy2.331@tornado.socal.rr.com>,
"George" <george@tziviskos.info> wrote:

I have a Lithium-Ion 7.2V battery for a SONY camcorder, that although brand
new and fully charged, it does not show any voltage at the output teminals.
I suspect that this is the work of some kind of internal protection circuit
to prevent accidental shorting of the output terminals. Does anyone know
how I could activate the circuit to be able to use the battery without
plugging it in the camcorder?
Thanks,
GT

I once saw a design where a magnet was used to activate a relay in the
battery pack. This would in turn supply power to the terminals. These
would keep children from shorting out the terminals in order to make a
little (or big) firecracker out of the battery pack.

Al

 

[webpa@aol.com]

George wrote:

I have a Lithium-Ion 7.2V battery for a SONY camcorder, that although brand
new and fully charged, it does not show any voltage at the output teminals.
I suspect that this is the work of some kind of internal protection circuit
to prevent accidental shorting of the output terminals. Does anyone know
how I could activate the circuit to be able to use the battery without
plugging it in the camcorder?
Thanks,
GT

My first guess is that this is a Sony "InfoLithium" battery. If so, it
has a microprocessor inside designed to answer a series of "who am I"
questions from the camcorder via a serial comm link through a 3rd
terminal on the battery, or through the primary "+" and "-" terminals.
If the conversation doesn't go well, the camcorder will shut down and
the battery will turn itself off.

My second guess is that the battery's internal microprocessor has
decided you aren't trying to power a proper Sony device, and has
permanently disabled itself. If this is the case, the battery is for
all practical purposes "dead." I have a small pile of these. After
opening them, all the Li-Ion cells are in perfect condition, but the
output is still 0.0.

Thank you Sony, for saving us from all those nasty 3rd party battery
suppliers. Many of whom would pervert our Sony devices with off-color
electrons and imbalanced Volts.

God save the Emperor.