Time date batteries in Cameras

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of the Sony Digital Camera Battery   First post by: www.itsbattery.com

On another site - a punter was complaining that the Time/date function had ceased to work

I and others were advising him to - look at manual/contact maker etc.,etc. and getting nowhere fast.

Much later I was dismantling a dead camera - more out of curiosity than anything else and noticed right in the centre of the main board - a tiny button battery like sony NP-F550 battery, sony NP-FR1 battery, sony NP-FM50 battery, sony NP-FM51 battery, sony NP-F10 battery, sony NP-FE1 battery, sony DSC-T7 battery
Panasonic CGA-S101A Battery, Olympus Li-10B Battery, Olympus BLM1 Battery, panasonic NV-GS10 battery, panasonic VHS-C Battery, canon EOS 400D Battery

-This I imagined was the cause of the above complaint- the battery had 'timed out'

Now- As far as I can see- replacing the battery is not for the average user, even if they were aware.

And sending it back to the maker is seems an expensive exercise - to the extent of being near replacement camera cost.

So the user will have to live without time and date, is seemingly the only option.

I personally don't bother with that setting so it is not one I worry about

But it did seem to me that these items costing several hundred pounds have a deliberately built in obsolescence

What you all think

I recently replaced a central heating programmer.

The old one had a replaceable large button cell used to retain timing imformation in the event of a power failure.

The new programmer still employs a battery, but soldered direct to the circuit board and not user replaceable.

The old programmer lasted over 20 years with a few changes of the button cell. I reckon I'll be lucky to get more than 5 years from the new one before the entire programmer needs replacing again. (not quite the case because I will solder a new battery in when the time comes)

The manufacturer has saved pennies in production costs, but to the detriment of the consumer in the long term.

Is this facility dying out. Previous cameras I have owned have had a small battery that remembers all time/date details etc. But of the the four that I now have three do not. If the batteries are removed all data is lost after a short period of time. Only my D200 has a (rechargeable) battery which is not user changeable. However this is kept charged by the main battery. So remove this, the other battery loses its charge, and the data goes.

As we are always advised to remove batteries if we are not going to use something for a while this can prove to be a nuisance.