Bluefin Z1 issues...please help

Guys:

I'm onlocation in Puerto Rico and it finally happened: 6 months of hard shooting finally caught up with the electronics in my Bluefin.

Everything has been performing flawlessly until this morning's diving at Mona Island (amazing, by the way) at which point I jumped in and at about 20' I turned it on. About 5 seconds later I got blue screen with the message "Use Infolithium Battery", and then the camera promptly shuts off. Now, I know the battery is fully charged, and it displays that information whenever I keep trying to turn it on.

An investigation back on the boat found this - when the housing is completely dried off, I can successfully engage the camera from the back button and it stays on. As soon as I enter the water and the housing gets wet, about 60 seconds later the problem starts again and from then on, every time I try to turn it on it only stays on for a few seconds and that same "Use Infolithium Battery" message comes up.

This is not a problem with the camera - by itself it gives me no problems. Something in the housing is screwed royally.

Any thoughts, guys? I'm freaking a bit because I have at least three more assignemts thsi year and they're almost back-to-back and not exactly 'round the corner from a L&M dealer.

Tough news.

First thing i would always try with L&M housings is changing out the batteries on the handles. Although that doesn't sound like the problem it never hurts to try (hopefully you brought extras...)

Other than that.. not really sure. Try rubbing alcohol on the contacts of the camera to housing connections? Could be humidity

Hopefully one of the L&M guys sees your thread and knows about this error.

New one to me. But I have seen that message when I used non-Sony batteries on my Z1, even though the same batteries always worked well on my VX2000.

Just as a test you could try switching the camera on, even start recording if you like, but with the Lanc cable not plugged in and see if it still happens. That will really confirm whether it's something electronic with the housing or something "environmental" (pressure, humidity).

Have you got a 2nd battery or can you borrow one? I would get one because it might just be a battery issue after all and it can't harm to have a spare. I alternate 2 of the biggest ones they make.

For this housing I recommend keeping the full service kit from L&M that contains the main PCBs. It's a few hundred dollars but good insurance. I also have the handle PCBs that (as I remember it) aren't included in the full service kit.

When you're not diving keep some big refreshed silica gel sachets in the housing or in the Pelican case to minimise humidity for as long as possible.

This message belongs to using non-Sony batteries with my Z1... Unfortunately this thing can come up anytime, anywhere. The other insteresting phenomenon is using non-sony batteries, the shortened battery life even with a "young" non- sony battery :-(

I've got a pair of non-Sony batteries that I've used on my VX2000 for 3 years and they've been wonderful. I ordered them online from some company in Malaysia. But the Z1 won't accept them.

I guess it depends on which ones you use. The non-Sony ones from somewhere like B&H are probably pretty good.

I've seen that before, also: some non-Sony batts seem to work fine and others don't.

I've had the same problem too, the non sony battery worked fine for about 6 months then that message now comes up intermittently. Suppose that's the difference of a $40 battery as opposed to a $200 one.

I suppose if you have non sony's just make sure that you have a fair few spares.

Update:

As it turns out, it is in fact a battery issue and seems like nothing to do with the LANC or electronics of the camera. Today's shooting went flawless, but it was with a different battery.

I assumed it was just intense prayer and good luck that everything worked well today, but when I put the other battery in to use it for some land shooting this evening, the error message came up. So basically the battery is toast.

What is very interesting is that the battery in question actually IS a Sony battery; it's not a generic.

Hmmmm......

I don't remember which non-Sony brand I bought but I haven't had a bitg of trouble with them. Others bought a diff. off-brand and got that message from the get-go. Since even Sony batts can go on the fritz I think your idea of having spares is really the best answer.

pablo - when you figure out which brands of non-Sonys you use, please let me know. I head back to the States tomorrow and a trip to Best Buy is high on the list before I leave for Dominica in July.

Peacedog, it really is best if you stick with the Sony battery for the camcorder. Sony was brilliant when it decided to design its cams to be functional only with their batteries. That wasn't always the case but when they left the hi 8 market and brought out the Sony 1000 it greatly increased their sales. Why bother with another brand that may or may not function right and cause you a ton of frustration. Your mental health is worth more than a few bucks.

Steve B)

Steve,

Do you really believe that Sony's batteries really are that much better? I would be happy to spend the $$$ if they definately lasted longer, performed better etc. But are they made in the same factory and you are just paying for a Sony badge on the outside?

Maybe I have just been lucky with cheapy china specials, but they do start to loose their performance after 6 months of hard use.

Jon

Well, I am using Sony and non-Sony batteries. My big non-Sony battery (np-970 clone) lost its 30% capacity within a few months, and the smaller batteries did as well. The Sony batteries not...

I agree as well.

Non Sony bats last longer for sure.

I had one big SONY $$$ bat that lasted just one year. The big no brand one for my FX1 has been going for years, use to use it on the TRV900 before.

None genuine batteries tend to cause more issues ( often very intermittent ) with the cameras than the genuine units. Certainly my Z1 runs like a charm with Sony batteries and has conflicts / powers down with some third party batteries.

Sony keeps changing the Info bat software in any new cameras and it takes abit of time for after market bat makers to catch up. If you buy one make sure its one from a new batch. Sony got into trouble because they were locking out the after market bat makers by not giving them the new codes. Have got some old Info Lith ones that do not work in the FX1 but work in the old trv900 still.

Well buying from Sony is certainly a "safe" way to go, but I bought my battery from New World Video Direct for $29 and it worked great. I put it on the camera after sitting around since last February, and it still showed almost 4 hours of battery time available; used it for 1/2 hour and still way over 3 hours. It's a 7.2v, 5400Mah version. The brand is Digital Concepts, and here's a link to the place where I bought it:

http://www.newworldvideodirect.com/product...p;refid=froogle

The picture is slightly different from the one I bought, but it's the same brand. For $28 I'd be willing to gamble and give it a try even if I hadn't already bought one, compared to Sony's $150 if I remember right.

I repeat that I've seen problems with other non-Sony brand batteries but this one has worked flawlessly for me.

I also bought a handy, very compact, 110/220V AC portable charger, "Merkury" brand model MI-CHFM, for $10.95 and it charges all my batteries wonderfully without having to hook them up to the camera, and does it faster than the camera's charger connection setup. Here're a couple of links to that device for anyone interested:

http://www.shorelinemarket.com/11aclimechfo.html

http://batteryjunction.com/11aclimechfo.html