Panasonic Batteries

stearman65

Just received this from Panasonic UK, come to your own conclusions!!!
ear MR. *********,

Thank you for your e-mail.

In regards to your query, I would advise that we are not aware of other retailers stock on the accessories we have for our units and regrettably they do seem to be out of stock with Panasonic direct.

VW-VBT380:Panasonic VW-VBT380E-K Battery Pack for V Series Camcorder

VW-VBT190:Panasonic VW-VBT190E-K Battery Pack

I appreciate that this response will be disappointing and I apologise that Panasonic cannot be of assistance to you on this occasion. Of course, if you should have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will endeavour to assist.

Kind regards,
WHAT A COP OUT!!!

Page

Customer Service Team
Panasonic UK

arty tribe

Terfln

You have been suggesting the power pack for a number of years now and it obviously works very well for you, but I am like stearman65, I like a simple life. I film a lot of walks and weight is at a premium, I travel light, also I want to take my camera out, film a sequence and move on, I don’t want to be encumbered with wires and maybe plugging in or unplugging every time.

We all appreciate you taking the time to try to help, and I shouldn’t criticize having never tried it, but it doesn’t sound like it would work for me either.

Terfyn

This really is your choice.
But I don't think you understand what the power pack approach is all about. Power packs can recharge the camera battery as well as running the camera therefore I film with just the one battery. I am not connected to the power pack all the time, just when the battery wants boosting.
Its simple enough. I charge the battery and go filming. When the battery gets low I connect the camera to the power pack. I use the supplied DC cable from the power pack in my pocket to the camera.
I presume that you carry one or more spare batteries with you. yes? So what is the difference? You with your two or three batteries and me with one power pack.
The difference is that I have one battery, you have a few. I have paid for one power pack (£21) rather than the pricey Panasonic batteries. I don't need a mains supply or a car to charge up multiple batteries. A 20.000mAh PP will last all day plus. I then recharge overnight.

A power pack has other uses. I have run a desk fan all last night and most of today off my PP, it has hardly lost any charge. I use a power pack to support my audio recorder when I have the condenser mics running with their requirement for 48V Phantom Power (it flattens the internal AA batteries in about ten minutes!) I charge my phone and I occasionally run LED lights.

Enough of this. As I said to stearman65, I have no interest in how he wants to run his camera and I say the same to you. The idea of the forum is to discuss ideas and present solutions. When I bought my 750 there were no third party Panasonic look alike batteries and the Panasonic ones cost a fortune so other  camera users and I had to look for alternatives. Panasonic's approach of using the 5V USB based supply was a Godsend and opened up so many possibilities for power supplies. I have recharged the camera from the mains and from a 12v to 5v USB converter in the car's cigar lighter socket. The power pack was a logical next step.

JCAllison

Hey Mr. T,
Mentioned that back in the early to mid 1980s, was a TV Producer for an Off-Shore Drilling Rig Crane Company. Had a Sony Camera, and a Sony VHS Cassette Recorder that had these LONG Batteries, and took a LONG time to charge. Plus the Batteries were quite expensive.

So the President of the company was a kind of maverick genius, always willing to do something in a way that was not usually done that way. He told (not asked, TOLD) me to see if I could find a different Battery Power Source. I warned him that using any other battery than the ones that came with the VHS Cassette Deck was possibly dangerous. His comment was, "Well, electricity is electricity!"

So went on a quest for an alternate Battery. Found that a Toro Lawnmower Battery had the same Volts and Amps as the Sony Battery.

The Toro Battery was a Red Plastic Box about 5" long X 3" tall X 3" Wide. With great trepidation, we got one and gave it a try. If it failed, it would be the President's fault for insisting.

Strangely, IT WORKED! And actually quite well. Noticed right off that the Cassette recorder went into record mode with a "crispness" that it didn't have when the Sony Batteries were used. Also, the color saturation was deeper!

Ended up making up a couple of Military Web Belts, each with five Toro Batteries attached. Hours and hours of power, cheap, and even though they were pretty heavy, once strapped around the waist, they weren't uncomfortable at all.

My next concern was that the Toro Batteries MIGHT shorten the Life of the Cassette Deck, but it ran quite well between 1981, and 1987.

Like the boss said: "Electricity is electricity!"

JC

Terfyn

Ain't that the truth. One of my power packs is now in the bedroom running a fan. We have had days of perfect weather and I live close to the hottest spot in the UK. Keeping cool has been a bit of a problem.
I appreciate that other videographers have different ways of supplying power to their cameras but Panasonic's approach of expensive batteries and a 5v USB supply just begged for the use of Power Packs.

JCAllison

Hey Mr. T,
"Electricity is electricity!" ?

Oh, tell me about it!

Here in Deep East Texas, the humidity coming North from The Gulf of Mexico, combines with the respiration of the Pine Trees in the World's Largest Pineywood Forest, creating a NORMAL "relative humidity" of never less than 80%, and in many instances 100% (without precipitation).

This creates a condition called "Clammy", where when one perspires, the perspiration won't evaporate, causing one's clothing to get soaking wet, with the moisture being at body temperature (98.6 degrees). This is a completely miserable feeling!

Combine that with the temperatures in the Summer (during the day) being between 90 and 100 degrees (and sometimes even higher than the "century" mark), and "keeping cool" is, as you termed it "a bit of a problem".

The NORMAL solution, used by "almost" EVERYONE is Air Conditioning, which not only cools the air, but dehumidifies is.

The KEY word in the previous paragraph is "almost", as I personally eschew the use of air conditioning, in the house, and in both the automobile here.

MS. AMERICAN 3.14159

and

MS. AMERICAN 3.14159

"So (you might ask), both why do you do this, and how do you survive it?"

Why is because: 1) a Summer WITH A/C costs nearly $700.00. 2) It isn't good for one's lungs.

The How is by 1) Becoming conditioned so that 100 Degrees at 100% Humidity is quite comfy. And 2) Having air moving wherever one is.

And to achieve that condition, have Box Fans that are turned on wherever I happen to be in the house. Much less expensive than A/C, promotes evaporation of perspiration making it quite cool and comfortable.

And about A/C in the vehicles, we have what is called 4/60 AC! Open four windows and drive 60 MPH!

One does what one has to do. Fortunately, here the Panasonic AG DVC10P wasn't intended to be used for anything other than recording The Crystalume, which is done in The Light/Vusic Studio and so it can ALWAYS be connected to its Charger which is connected to the AC Electrical Outlet. Easy peasy.

Anyway, am apprehensive about highjacking Stearman65's thread, and hope that he will forgive this bit of an aside. Hope this finds HIM, and YOU doing well.

JC

PS: To Mr. Stearman65: There is at the bottom of YOUR posts, a hyperlink to YouTube that when clicked on takes one to the SENSATIATION play list. Is that intentional? If it is, thanks for exposure.

stearman65

The link should take you to my YouTube channel, however I've had problems with other forums where the links don't do what the are supposed to do, I think it may be to do with the country you are in. Some of my YouTube stuff isn't available in some countries, maybe for copyright reasons. if you want to view my YT channel. search YT for stearman65, that is my channel name.

Getting back to the Panasonic batteries, just had a very late reply from Jessops where I bought the camcorder, this is it below-
Dear Eric
Thank you for your below email.
Unfortunately, we would be unable to advise as to why this situation does exist as it may be down to Panasonic not making the batteries but I can confirm that we do not stock anything that would be suitable for this camcorder.
Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience caused.
Is this grounds for a refund???????

arty tribe

Thanks as always for your reply. My impression of the PP is that it weighs considerably more than my two spare batteries. Is this not the case?

MarkE19

331g - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-PowerCore-20100-Capacity-Technology-Black/dp/B00VJSGT2A
68g - https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BCYJV44/ref=psdc_1330674031_t3_B00BCYMJHU?tag=av0c-21
130g - https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-VW-VBT380E-K-Double-Lithium-Battery/dp/B00BCYMJHU/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1530209521&sr=1-2&keywords=panasonic VW-VBT380&tag=av0c-21

So yes the batteries are lighter than a power bank, but not considerably lighter. 3 of the high capacity batteries will weight more than the pb (390g vs 331g) but the pb will last considerably longer (3800mAh/1900mAh vs 20100mAh), ie about 5x longer than the higher powered battery.

So if you believe this is too heavy or just not convenient to use then I have no issues with you buying more batteries - I use a combination of both.
The pb I have linked to is about the same capacity as the one used by Terfyn, but there is a good chance it is not exactly the one he uses so weight may differ slightly.

Mark.

Terfyn

Depends on the size, the 20,000mAh unit weighs exactly 1lb but as you go down in capacity the weight decreases, I have a 5,000mAh unit for my audio recorder which is around 4oz. The difference is the shape as they look like slim wallets. They slip easily into pockets. I suppose the same can be said for a couple of 190 batteries.
The difference is that a 190 will last about 1hr 40min and a 20,000 power pack at least 12hr continuous use. I accept that no one runs their camera for 12 hours continuous so the power pack will continue to supply over a number of days.
Please remember that when we went power pack mad, there were no cheap third party batteries available and the Panasonic 190 & 380 were the best part of £80 each. We were forced to be inventive.
I have run my desk fan continuously overnight for a couple of nights and the PP still has 3/4 charge left so I could probably get a week of fan running out of it.
The downside is the length of time needed to recharge. I normally leave the recharge to overnight as it will take about 8-10 hours.

I will just add again that I use my pps for uses other than powering my cameras (incidentally it will recharge my 700 and 750 at the same time)I use it for powering  a fan and my phone, plus camping lights.