I'm shocked - and possibly very happy.

Dubious Drewski

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After buying my K10, I haven't touched my Konica Minolta Dimage A2 very much at all, naturally. But tonight I had a random hunch and opened up the tiny old camera bag, popped open the A2's battery door and let my jaw drop. The battery is shaped exactly the same as the one in my K10! My K10's battery is a D-LI50 and it's rated at 1620mAh (I have no idea what that rating affects)

My Dimage A2's two batteries are an NP-400 (1500mAh) and a spare I bought for it years ago: a BP-400(1300 mAh).

Are all of these batteries interchangeable??? What does that amperage rating really mean? Is there any risk if I pop one of these old batteries into my new, shiny K10D?

(And get this. Over the years, I also bought hundreds of dollars worth of 49mm UV, polarizer, ND, tele, and macro filters for my A2 - I NEVER thought I'd be able to use them on my K10, but my 50mm lense is 49mm! I am so lucky I am able to salvage so much from that old camera! It's just too bad the A2 uses CF cards and the K10 uses SD, or it would have been a perfect salvage!)
 
If it is an NP400, yes it will work, it is the same voltage < 7.4 > as the Pentax battery, but has a little less MAH, 1500 VS 1650 http://www.amazon.com/NP400-equivil...2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1204599723&sr=8-2

I bought one of these as a 2nd battery for my K10D, and so far, I have NO complaints at all, first charge I got almost 500 shots with it, and it seems to be almost as good as the Pentax, but at a fraction of the cost, I'll probably buy another just to have a backup of a backup ! :thumbup:

The main thing to look for is the Voltage, it HAS to be the same, the MAH can vary. The more MAH a battery has, in theory, it will last longer between charges..

Edit: Just ordered another one, at $8.99 i couldn't pass it up !!
 
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Yeah, all three are 7.4 volts. Wow! I was just about to drop $50 on a spare D-LI50 for my K10. This for me, is like finding 100 dollars in my closet! Woohoo.
 
Do you have the grip for your K10? I would recommend it if you don't. Holds another battery, which effectively doubles the amount of shots you can get before recharging, and really makes the camera feel better in your hands. Plus you can store an extra SD card, and the tiny Pentax F-Remote in there too if your so inclined.
 
and it's rated at 1620mAh (I have no idea what that rating affects)

I aways try to explain batteries this way: Imagine you are driving your vehicle. The voltage is kinda like your flow rate, or "MPG", and the mAh is the size of your gas tank. The larger the gas tank, the longer you are going to go. So a 1600mAh battery is going to give you a longer usage than, say a 1000mAh. Of course, temperature, LCD usage, vibration reduction, etc, all have an effect on your "MPG" rate.

A bit crude, but you get the idea.
 
Yeah, that makes alot of sense, actually. Thank you. But then I wonder, what does it mean when battery chargers have all these different mAh ratings printed on them?

Does a charger at 1700mAh charge....faster.... than one at 1400mAh? Is that it?
 
Does a charger at 1700mAh charge....faster.... than one at 1400mAh? Is that it?

Yes. If you are charging a 1700mAh battery with a 1700mAh charger, then it should take just over an hour to charge. Recharging a battery is not perfectly efficient, as some of that 1700mAh is required to "push" the charge into the battery. There is a resistance to the electricity going in, so you are actually charging at about 1400 to 1500 mAh. If your battery was, say, a 2000mAh, and the charger output was 500mAh, then you are looking at 4 hours to charge, in a perfect world. Accounting for resistance, you are more realistically looking at 4.5 to 5 hours.
 
Yup, fairly simple, actually. I also fly RC aircraft, and if you don't want a very expensive mid-air mishap, you had better learn your batteries...:blushing:
 

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