On 16/09/06, Shel Belinkoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Gang, > > Maybe I missed it, but can someone explain why Pentax went from AA's to the > rechargeable LithIons? I've read that the LithIons produce more power than > the AA's and that the camera needs more power, but I also read that such is > not the case, and that AA's can work just as well depending on circuitry > (?) or other factors.
The design engineers obviously had their reasons for selecting a proprietary L-ion battery pack as the power source for the camera however their reasons could be many, the primary being circuit design cost savings. It's pointless to go into technicalities without inside knowledge but basically from an engineering standpoint voltage is no real issue. The current generation of AA rechargeable cells have both excellent power density (lower than L-ion granted but neither do we know the absolute capacity of the L-ion system selected) and very high continuous current capabilities. However it's near impossible to build an accurate power meter on a system that can accommodate so many different battery types. My guess is that the buzz on the forums regarding the "power" of L-ion stems from the fact that because of the designs of the existing bodies most show a perceptible increase in AF performance when using primary (non-rechargeable) or high voltage cells like the CRV3. That's a design issue that could have been addressed but to the lay person it's proof that the rechargeable AA cells don't have enough "power". -- Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~distudio//publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
