The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Generic Sony NP-FS11 Lithium-Ion Packs: FAIL

    Somewhat to my surprise, the eBay vendor responsible for those curves sent three replacement NP-FS11 batteries, commenting:

    We’ve sent all your comments to the factory and ask them for a total quality inspection in this batch of batteries.

    Here are the capacity curves for an initial charge, a test, recharge, and another test on each pack. The curves match up reasonably well (the top & bottom traces are nearly exact overlays), so I believe the results are accurate.

    MaxPower NP-FS11 - Packs JKL
    MaxPower NP-FS11 – Packs JKL

    One pack is the best I’ve seen yet. The other two are junk, pure and simple.

    So, to summarize:

    • One of three batteries DOA in first batch, others weak
    • Two of three batteries DOA in replacement

    Overall, that’s a 50% failure rate even if you have relaxed standards…

    I decided that, despite their “customer service”, this level of quality deserves the dreaded Negative Feedback checkbox.

    Now, to saw the cases open and replace the cells. I cannot imagine any way to justify this on an economic basis, but we’ll certainly have enough batteries for that camera when I’m done.

    If I had any confidence that spending more on the batteries would get a higher quality product, I’d do it. The question is, would another order of magnitude make any difference?