Lithium Replacement for Pentax 645 Batteries

[markw99]

Has anyone had experience with this product?

Pentax 645 Lithium Ion Rechargeable Battery Tray Holder - USB C Chargi

A drop in new manufacture replacement for the battery holder of the Pentax 645 medium format film camera. Uses built in lithium ion cells and charges via usb. Gone are the worries over changing out half a dozen AA batteries - now simply plug in to a usb - c phone charger before your shoot and...

www.coastalfilmlab.com

It's a reachable replacement for the 645 batteries. My battery pack is causing me issues. At I understand it, this is the achilles heel of the 645.

Thank you in advance.

 

[yurihuta]

I have thought of picking up one of these fro Coastal Films Lab for my original 645 bodies, but have not purchased one yet as I have a few back up battery holders for the original 645 grip.

However, I do have experience with a similar item for the Pentax 645N / 645NII.

It uses a Nikon EN-EL15 lithium battery - these batteries fit into various Nikon DSLR models - and a nicely 3D printed insert with a pretty good locking mechanism - not as good as the OEM 645N battery insert locking mechanism, but it seems good enough.

The lithium powered battery insert powers my 645N bodies fine even though the voltage from the adapter is around 7.5 volts (multi meter measured this output from the terminals on the adapter). I have always thought that the body needed 9 volts (six AA batteries at 1.5 volts each). But it seems to work fine. The battery itself is rated at 7.4 volts, 2800 mAh.

 

[markw99]

Thank you! Curious, in your 645 experience, are electrical issues always gettin the battery holder? or have you had internal electrical issues as well. i'm suffering from intermittent power failures so film will not advance. Reinserting pack sometimes helps, so i suspect a bad connection between pack and body.

 

[yurihuta]

Thank you! Curious, in your 645 experience, are electrical issues always gettin the battery holder? or have you had internal electrical issues as well. i'm suffering from intermittent power failures so film will not advance. Reinserting pack sometimes helps, so i suspect a bad connection between pack and body.

I have owned the same Pentax 645N body for 15+ years now. It has been with me to the Amazon, up into the Andes, it has experienced Canadian and many Catskill winters and just keeps working.

I believe the battery holder issue has a lot A LOT to do with the user. Taking a few more seconds per battery to insert them slowly and carefully and also to remove them slowly and carefully seems to have prevented me from experiencing any battery holder issues with the 645N bodies and the original 645 bodies. Having worked in camera stores (many years ago) as well as working with others teaching them photography I have seen a lot of instances of people being really rough with their equipment - in part due to not understanding how much force is needed to have things fit together properly as opposed to forcing them to fit. So, I think a lot of this is just how people handle their gear.

Some of this also may have to do with how things are stored. When storing my bodies, I remove the battery holders as inside the hand grips there are metal tabs that extend out helping to provide a good contact with the respective metal tabs on the battery holder. Keeping the battery holder constantly inserted keeps the pressure on the metal tabs full time, compressing them and perhaps leading to a smaller extension of the tab, making contact not as strong as originally designed. Have a look at the two, parallel tabs in the bottom of your grip (with battery insert removed) [not the long, single tab] to see they are extended up enough to make good contact with the two circular tabs on the bottom of the battery holder. Similarly, the tabs on the battery holder should secure the individual AA batteries so that good contact is made on both + and - ends.

 

[markw99]

Points taken on camera care, though in my case, having owned the camera only a few months, I believe I may have inherited some of the issues I'm facing. I've started pulling the battery compartment out between uses, as you do. And I've just given an exhaustive alcohol cleaning to the contact points. In a few hours I'll see if my diligence pays off. I appreciate your deep reply very much. You've taken time on my query. That means a lot. Cheers.

 

[Hassasin]

Thank you! Curious, in your 645 experience, are electrical issues always gettin the battery holder? or have you had internal electrical issues as well. i'm suffering from intermittent power failures so film will not advance. Reinserting pack sometimes helps, so i suspect a bad connection between pack and body.

power issues are NOT always in the battery holder, this I can attest to 100%. They can be located inside the body, or from power socket in. I have now 2 bodies not fully working but if their grips are mounted on a fully working body everything works.

 

[markw99]

I will soon find out where my 645's problem is. Thank you!

 

[ant!]

For the 645, you can also get a new holder out of the remote battery pack, it uses the same holder as the 645 (not the 645n, but the external battery pack can be used as intended with the wire to the 645n...). Somewhere here I had already measured the output pins for another user...