Bought some used REDVOLTS...

[Brian Wicens]

Ended up grabbing a quad pack from eBay. Seller said that they were barely used, two months, or so.

They were dead when I received them, and after charging all four on travel chargers, they're averaging 60%.

I'm now doubting the sellers statement of "barely used", I've had some Volts for a year, and still manage to get 80-90% charges on some of them.

Any advice? I've read of VOLTS being somewhat spotty on charge percentages, is this normal?

 

[Nick Gardner]

Barely used is a good way till kill batteries. Always buy new. Ask me how I know ;-)

Nick

 

[Wil Wong]

Red Volts are not the best batteries. I'm not defending the seller or justifying the crappy situation you're in, but there is a possibility that they were barely used but if they sat for a while (charged or uncharged), they can stop holding their charge.

In other words, Red Volts are kind of crappy. They really don't have strong power retention. I'm hoping Red comes out with newer and better battery stuff for NAB. I love the small form factor but wish they lasted longer and had better retention technology in them.

Either, sorry to hear about your situation.

 

[Brian Wicens]

How do you know, Nick? Haha.

Wil, I'm trying to give the seller benefit of the doubt, as my personal experiences are limited to the four Volts I purchased. I've also read through our forums, which is akin to what you're saying, they're not exactly great, and have performance issues.

Guess what I'm trying to figure out is, if it's entirely possible that all four Volts could end up like this over the course of two months - if that's the case, I'd rather get my money back.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

 

[M.Halsell]

Money back.

 

[Andy Roberts]

Even when mine were new, the percentage indicator was never trustworthy. They would never say 100%, they'd get to below 50% very quickly and yet they still consistently ran for 25-30 min. If you have any inclination toward keeping them, I'd find out how long they actually run and not trust the % indicator.

 

[Ian D]

I had the same issue, was told they were in great condition and when put them in the camera 50 - 70 % was as good as i got. I was pissed off and the seller said suck it up, so I drained them completely, then wrapped them and put them in the freezer for 24hrs. Recharged them and to be fair they went up to about 80% or some abit more. Overall I got 8 for the price of 4 so kind of worked out. Really only use them as a hot swap aid for vlock or on a ronin / jib. Bit of a pain to use other wise. The camera is thirsty for power.

Cheers
Ian

 

[Bob Gundu]

Even brand new redvolts are a crapshoot. Just like going to Vegas.

 

[M.Halsell]

This is one of the few scenarios, where allowing third parties to produce an aftermarket version that could possibly best RED's offering. It's hard to be down on RED, because they try really hard, but RED batteries have been a sour note. Particularly when camera's become EOL, having a reliable aftermarket battery source would be great.

 

[Tom Greenberg]

Does anyone know of a source that re-cells REDVolts? I have some that won't charge properly (they show fault mode on the charger). Hate to just pitch them out...