timmillea (188 ) View Listings | Report 05-09-09 07:02 BST
I could not find anything about this elsewhere so I thought I would post here.

Some Samsung camcorders made since 2008 including the HMX10C, HMX20C and the HMX100 series do not work with 3rd party batteries. The original Samsung battery (IA-BP85ST) apparently contains a chip which not only authenticates the battery to the camcorder but also prevents the use of 3rd party chargers (which do not communicate via the middle of the three contacts on the battery).

While Samsung would needless say this is to protect us from potentially dangerous fakes rather than to protect their revenue, the big issue here is that there are literally thousands of IA-BP85ST 'replacement' batteries for sale on eBay which claim full compatibility with the original but which are absolutley no use in any of the above camcorders, and probably all future Samsung camcorders using this battery. Likewise there are hundreds of external chargers for this battery for sale on eBay which are useless - yes even with the original battery.

I bought three batteries and two chargers all on eBay, each from a different source and all guaranteed to be 100% compatible. It is little comfort when the guarantee just means that you get a refund less the cost of international postage and packing when you find they do not work.

Specifically, trying to power up from a non-original battery, the camcorder will display the message "Check the authenticity of the battery." then automatically power down. It is not possible to operate any controls or access the menu, or keep the camcorder switched on. If the original battery is charged in an external charger (Samsung do not sell an external charger), the camcorder will not accept that it has been charged and again power down with a "low battery" warning displayed. These chargers do actually charge the batteries (as can be measured by a voltmeter across the outer two contacts) but they obviously do not tell the chip inside the battery that it has been charged.

There must be dozens of these sold everyday on eBay to unsuspecting buyers. I have reported back to each of my sellers but they continue selling these as being 100% compatible. Elsewhere on the web many 3rd-party battery sellers are starting to list these camcorders as not been compatible with their IA-BP85ST replacements. I hope that eBay sellers will eventually follow suit.

For now, owners of these Samsung camcorders will have to stick to original Samsung batteries and to in-camcorder charging only.

If anyone knows any differently, e.g. has experience of a 3rd party battery working in of the above, or has any suggestions for workarounds, then please share your thoughts here.

Tim.

This is a coincidence that I have just received delivery of my 3rd party eBay battery and it too isn't working with my Samsung HMX10!

I had no idea that there would be a prevention of any sort in the camcorders as the 3rd party batts are so widely available. This really is annoying and now i have to try source some low priced originals!

I am off to Peru in a month and need at least 2 extra batts and was banking on these compatibles working! Damn!

Thanks for your info, I'll contact the seller i purchased off and see what can be done.

GeekStars

p.s I just seen this battery from a UK seller claiming 100% compatibility and double the power! what you think?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Batttery-...#ht_3371wt_1165

The list of camcorders given is those compatible with the original. I very much doubt that the seller is aware of the battery authentication of the newer camcorders - email my original post and see what they say.

The cheapest original I have found is £18.99 with £2 off each extra battery and "usually no VAT" to pay. This is steep comapred to the clones but less than half of the originals here in the UK. I just bought one and it works fine in my HMX20C.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....em=330341348991

I recently got a HMX-104BP and I have been looking for a spare battery - they seem very hard to get hold of - in fact Samsung's own website doesn't acknowledge their existance.

So I also started looking at the possible replacements - eBay of course had a load of sellers stating that the IA-BP85ST is 100% compatible.

But having been stung when previously buying a spare battery for a Sony HandyCam (who also 'chipped' their batteries) - the type of battery with a power lead that feeds back into the DC input, which had no chance of working (a complete con), I am now more cautious.

So having done a bit of research I have found out the following:

This review:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2QTQC...=cm_cr_rdp_perm
states the following:
* The battery model that this camera came with is IA-BP85NF; however, this battery may be more difficult to track down and purchase. The IA-BP85ST (came with the SC-HMX20C) actually works with this camera also. The IA-BP85NF battery doesn't work with the older brother, though (it seems to be more strict and gives an error "Check the authenticity of this battery.")

However, this is for the US SC version of the camcorder so I contacted the following eBay seller whose listing states his battery is 100% compatible with the HMX-H104:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....#ht_3136wt_1165
He told me that it is compatible with the HMX-H104 but not the HMX-H104BP???

However in another article (I'm afraid I've lost the link) I read that the HMX-104 can be powered from a IA-BP85ST, but it cannot be charged through it, and it will not show a battery life indicator. This would of course be fine as a spare in many instances (just do not let the battery run out whilst recording)

Now, having read Tim's initial thread in this post I was even more confused, so I did an experiment:
- I covered the centre contact of the original IA-BP85NF battery and put it back in the camcorder.
- The camcorder operated correctly without an error message, but also without a battery life indicator (as expected)

From this I would guess that a IA-BP85ST would work in the HMX-104BP as it can supply power on the outer contacts, but it may (or may not) need it's centre contact covered (using tape?). It would seem that a separate charger would also be needed (eBay).

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has tried this before I go to the expense of trying it myself.

Finally, I just wish Samsung would get their act together and make replacement batteries easily available, and explain concisely which battery is suitable for which camcorder - their website is next to useless.

@stealthsculler

Covering the middle terminal is not something I tried with the 3rd party batteries that I had (now all returned). I assumed that those had a middle terminal that was not connected to anything as the two 3rd party chargers I bought for this battery did not even have a middle connector.

I have just repeated your experiment with two original Samsung IA-BP85ST batteries in my VP-HMX20C (i.e. UK model). I can categorically state that covering the middle terminal or either of the of the outer terminals produces identical results - as if there were NO battery there at all. I could not power on.

Curiouser and curiouser …

It does make sound business sense to make every battery unique to a particular device with chips that are not easily reverse-engineered. I would have said _short-term_ business sense but Microsoft is the empire it is because of the 'incompatibility' business model. The most annoying aspect is that there are thousands of eBay sellers who mis-sell 3rd party batteries and there is no adequate recourse. I wrote an eBay guide based on my original post above. It was more measured, formal and referenced. It was published and then removed around 2 days later I can only assume on the request of of one or more of their big sellers.

Best of luck and keep the community informed, as will I.

Tim.