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Hi, I recently was given my Grandad’s old Sony Handycam video Hi8 ccd-TR780E with the battery pack that plugs directly into the mains. I’m looking however for the portable battery model so I can purchase one. I’ve looked around and haven’t seen any advertisement explicitly saying it’s compatible with my camera. If anyone has any idea which model of battery I need it would be really appreciated. thanks

Hey all, Recently came across a NetMD MiniDisc player (MZ-NE410) and was having some trouble with it. While it does work and plays discs fine, it seems to have a problem staying on. Whenever even a bit of pressure is put on the lid of the player (whether there be a disc in it or not), the unit shuts off. I thought it was a problem with the battery compartment but after trying multiple batteries and different methods, this phenomenon only seems to only happen when putting pressure on the lid. Any ideas? Thanks.

Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for whatever damage or loss, physical or mental, related to attempting to repeat something described in this post. It is provided for educational purposes only. Never disassemble electronic devices, especially batteries and battery packs, especially lithium ones, unless you have necessary proficiency and qualification in electronics. Recently I’ve acquired a Sony MZ-R30 Minidisc player. It’s a kinda fun format, but the fact that I had to use a 2AA case in order to enjoy my music was quite disappointing. After fiddling around with the dead LIP-12H that came with it, I came to a conclusion that it’s definitely a somehow packaged 18650 cell. Carefully prying it apart with a hard plastic spudger and an X-acto knife, here’s what I saw inside. Note: better pry in a direction outside the pack, as not to damage or short out anything And once you get the top case off... Sure thing, it’s a 18650 with a small protection/driver module. The battery turned out to be a Sony Energytec US18650S STG ICR Li-Ion cell. The voltage measured around 0.86V, so it’s definitely going to be discharged and then handed in at a battery recycling point, along with some others undercharged ones. To remove the battery, I cut the long positive zinc terminal behind the cell by bending it a bit outward, and carefully cutting the zinc stripe in half. Then I pulled hard on the cell and it detached from the bottom negative cell tab which was soldered directly on the protection circuit. Afterwards, pulling the remaining positive tab got it free. Don’t throw them away just yet, instead make them nice and flat (and cut off the “tail” of the positive one”). For easier working, I also cut the remainder of the positive tab’s tail that was still attached to the protection board so that it would just form a soldering pad on the board itself, instead of completely desoldering it. Now I had to find a replacement cell. I’ve done a big old laptop battery teardown this summer, and even though 2 of the salvaged ones were already undervolted, and 4 more were rendered useless by lending a 18650 powerbank to a classmate who let them down to 2.05, I couldn’t get myself to buying new cells, and that’s why I kept the tabs. It would be great if I had a Li-Ion cell welding machine, but so far, I just went on and soldered a piece of wire from an ATA (IDE) cable onto the remaining square pad, and the other end onto the remaining zinc tail on the positive input of the protection circuit. Then I picked a replacement cell, my choice was a Panasonic CGR18650C, because they seemed to be somewhat good looking and are what I had at hand (I have plenty of other Sony ones, but just 2 of these after the other 4 ones died, which doesn’t even make them a viable powerbank set :P). Finding datasheets for both original and replacement cells was a hard time, but, from what I could tell, the Panasonic ones can easily survive 1428mA charging current, and the original Sony one had a 1C rating, thus, a 1350mA maximum charging current. So, since 1428mA is less than 1350mA, we should be safe Afterwards I used some electrical tape to secure the pads to the cell, because as you should know by now, one should never ever solder directly to a Li-Ion cell, and I don’t have a cell welding tool. I made sure it’s as tight as possible so that the playback would not interrupt, and then secure the cell to the original casing. The top cover, however, decided not to fit onto such a strange construction, so… you might try and do better Yeah, that’s not something you would be fine with taking out at an airport or something Sliding it in also became a bit harder than it was originally, because of the changed size, plus one has to observe the wire so that it won’t get stuck in the way somewhere along the slide and short out onto the case (should’ve used more electrical tape, yeah). The player is now back to fully working order! Now I can enjoy my music without stretching my pockets due to the overweight external AA battery compartment size. Charging the battery inside the player right now with a Sony PSP 1.5A charger and the battery doesn’t seem to even get any hot, even though the battery gauge shows weird things, so I’d call it a success. Not the best way it could be done, but clearly a success. Let me know if it's helpful - Ak.

EASY TO DO, LONG LASTING, EXTERNAL POWER SOURCE FOR YOUR MD Thought I'd share my little invention, if you've had the same frustrating problem with a reliable long lasting power source for MD: Just take two large D-batteries (1,5V) and place them together on top of each other (in an own made toilet paper cardboard tube with correct diameter for example). Remember the lower battery's + pole must be in contact with the upper battery's - pole. So 1,5V + 1,5V = 3V, exactly what my MD recorder/player needs. Then, find a cable that fits to your MD's DC input jack (you can test it works), cut this cable and you'll find two small cables inside. Cut away a bit of the plastic coating on the end of both and fix the first cable firmly to the upper battery's uppermost surface, the second cable firmly to the lower battery's bottom (glue or other method). Of course you can also buy this stuff (D-battery holders for example) from stores. It is very important that all the cables and the two batteries have secure contact! I was blown away by the results of my test period with this power supply: outdoors, indoors, for hours, without changing batteries! Try it! Hope it works for you too, Best regards, MDHenry

I thought this would be a really cool thread. I want everyone to post photos or explanations of any DIY mods you have done to your equipment. This includes any changes that you made to render a device different from factory stock. Example adding things to the circuits, modifying the body, battery mods...etc...

Edit**** I started a new post about the LIP-8 batteries because they are specific to the MZ-R50 (LIP-8 battery) and impossible to find in the UK at least, the LIP-12 for the MZ-R30 is a different matter, these readily available at present. Hi guys, I know these batteries are now getting almost impossible to find in the UK - most certainly the whole unit LIP-8. The actual replacement 14650 battery (inside the LIP-8) is easy enough to find, however it is difficult to mount into the LIP-8 as they do not have tabs or tails to solder to (WARNING:- never ever solder Li-ion batteries - it takes specialised equipment). Places like www.powerexpert.co.uk used to supply the whole unit, but these places all seem to be out of stock these days - I ordered from a few but had refunds because of no stock (even though they showed the item as In Stock). So after many hours searching I could not find a single tabbed or tailed 14650 in the UK! But strangely I could find lots of 14500 with tabs. After a little research I discovered that the 14650's dimensions are 14mm OD x 65mm length and the 14500's dimensions are 14mm OD x 50mm. The 14500 will fit, but just be a little shoerter inside the casing of the LIP-8. Also as a bonus (probably due to batteries improving over the years) the 14500 are 800mah. This is perfect for the MZ-R50 application. So I ordered a 14500 with tabs and as a last grasp asked the vendor if he knew where I could get a 14650 with tabs and surprisingly he said he could supply them! @ £4.89. So I ordered one of those as well - I will try and get hold of a worn out LIP-8 battery casing so I can try them both out as I only have the original at present. Basically I am going to do the same as in this great post LIP-12 MZ-R30 battery Mod, however I have tabbed batteries that will make it so much easier! Questions: 1) The 14500 is 800mah and as such seems perfect fo the MZ-R50, but are there any other considerations when selecting the battery replacement? 2) The 14650 is 1100mah - will this be OK for the MZ-R50 application? Will the extra 300mah cause charging problems etc? Thanks - Steve Link to tabbed 14500 800mah -------> 14500 800mah data for the battery is in the listing Link to tabbed 14650 1100mah --------> 14650 1100mah the link is actually for a 18650, but he told me to order it and put in the paypal notes (or send him an ebay message) stating that I require a 14650 1100mah.

I have an Mz-M100, that works with when plugged in, or with an external battery, I bought anew rechargeable battery that used to charge, but I'm not sure if it's an issue with the battery door not making good contact or what. The battery is brand new,I only used it a few times. It's when you hold the cancel button to start charging, I see the charge symbol briefly , then it goes away. The charger obviously works, because I can run off that. When I 1st got it i had some issues where I would have to open and close the battery door several times before it would charge, but now nothing. Has anyone had this issue before, or any ideas on how to fix it? Nothing in the battery door, or contacts appear to be missing, or broken. Feel free to hit me up on my email or here, nakedlunch02 @yahoo.com Thanks

I started a post asking why extremely dead batteries on the RH-10 would not start charging. I read on a post that if you attach a charged AA via the piggyback battery holder and use the unit until the AA is drained, then the AA will charge the NIMH battery enough to allow the RH-10 to recognize it and charge it fully. In regards to these instructions....THEY WORK FLAWLESSLY!!!!!!! Thank you soooooooooooooo much whoever suggested that!!! Sean

Dear All, I've just rediscovered my MZ-RH10 as I needed to do some more recording. I also remembered why I hadn't been using it recently. The battery life appears to have gone down the pan. I bought a new Sony battery from the Sony shop here about six months ago, thinking it must be that the batteries I had were dead, but that still seems to have the same problem. I have no issue with getting the little 'charging' graphic and text on direct plugging in, or using the cradle. Sometimes it vanishes after a few minutes, other times it stays on. Either way, when it goes off and I try to play something, the display says I have full charge. This then visibly decreases over a few minutes and then the battery's discharged! Something else peculiar that may be related is that AA batteries seem to have a shorter lifespan as well. I've had a look through the forum but can't find someone with the same problem. It has worked, as I've taken the unit all over Europe when I was sleeping rough and recorded a lot and been impressed by the length of the battery life, What can have changed? Something in the unit? Thank you for any suggestions!

Hello Ev1, I have about 4 batteries (all bought within the last year brand new) They all arrived dead and I could only get two to charge, one I had to play with for a bit to get it to start charging. It seems on VERYDEAD batteries that the RH-10 has a very tough time charging them. Any suggestions on how to get the other two to start charging? I have managed to get one of them to make the RH-10 display the charging screen for about 1 minute, then it goes blank and stops. I am currently sitting here and pressing the "stop/charge" button every minute hoping that it will start charging on its own. I will let you know if I have any success. I would be much appreciative if someone would have any tips on how to get the other battery to even begin charging. Please help and Thank You!!! Sean

Hello I'm having a problem with my Sony VAIO model: vpcsc1afm. The issue is my battery has spotty performance. The computer runs perfect for when the battery is working but other times I will be using it and the battery light will start blinking and my computer will tell me that the battery isn't recognized (0% not charging). After the computer shuts down I can't turn it back on without taking out the battery and putting it back in. It's also happened when I was just charging it with the computer off. It will be charging and the battery light will start blinking and won't be able to turn on till I take out the battery and put it back in. I bought a brand new battery and it does the exact same thing as the original. I also completely re-installed windows and started fresh and it still is doing it. I'm thinking that maybe re-installing the BIOS will fix the problem. The bios is already updated so when I try to use the bios upgrade from Sony's website it just says the bios is up to date and won't install it. Does anyone know of a way to re-install the BIOS if there isn't an update for it?

can you use the mz-rh1 without the battery only with usb power? i just bought one and the battery is on the way from HK I was just wondering thanks for the help.

Ok, I'm a bit of a tinkerer by nature which is fortunate since it's helped me resurrect some old Sony/Sharp portable MD recorders. I've also recently been working on some custom Li-Po battery/charger projects. While looking at parts, and listening to one of my Sharp MS-702 recorders, the battery died..well that sucks. I guess I could plug it in, but I had it in my cargo pocket with headphones so I can just get up and go. I've only got a couple of the batteries left that actually worked so I looked on E-Bay and it seems they are getting harder to find (i.e. few listings). The battery is a Li-Ion 800mAh single cell. I wondered if I could somehow rig up a external larger Li-Po battery for very long run time (i.e. more mAh's) I have one unit I received non-working, but rebuilt it into a good player, just never got the record feature working properly. I decided this would be a good test unit. So I set out with the following objectives: * As little modification to the unit housing as possible * Retain ability to just run off internal battery or factory charger i have a bunch of mini JST connectors laying around and thought this would be the best option since it's very small and makes tight secure connections. They are also typically found on Li-Po cells or you can connect your own. I removed the bottom half of the MS-702 shell to find a spot for the connector. Most places had circuits or other ports in the way, or required further disassembly. The best place I found was directly above the existing charging connector. I ran the JST connector leads to the +/- terminals for the factory battery and then super-glued the connector in place. I took a dremel with a small drill bit and bore out a opening for the connector in the bottom shell piece, put it back together and voila!! This thing runs great. I'm thinking about gluing a battery strap to the bottom of the unit (velcro) so I can attach a Li-Po battery whenever I want but not have to leave it there permanently. Maybe this sort of thing might help others out there too, maybe even with different model units. I've attached photos below showing the setup as it is so far. The test battery is a single cell 1800mAh Li-Po battery. With more than twice the mAh's, it should give me more than twice the run-time...we shall see.