Flirting With Disaster

on July 05, 2017
And we'll show you how to do it so that you get real results... Remember the HINDENBURG?...that was us... No, sorry. The lawyers got to this column before I could post it and pushed the panic button. I'm not allowed to tell you what you can do with 14 AA batteries, the elements of a Summicron lens, and a roll of alfoil. I think the world has become a little soft in the last few years... But I can tell you the tale told to me by Ernest of a very clever design by a very clever manufacturer. SONY are not new to working with electricity. I had one of their amplifiers in the 60's and one of their televisions, in the 70's. Both were ground-breakers as far as consumer electronics. Their Alpha series of DSLR cameras had some very good features and their mirror-less cameras have captured a very sophisticated part of the market. So not surprisingly, they have special batteries for some of their cameras. Oh, they look just about like everyone else's - D-shaped profiles in little lozenges that look like plastic bars of toffee. A few more sockets on them and a set of deep slots that connect the cells to the cameras...and in these lies the secret. Now - step away from SONY batteries for a moment - pick up anyone else's lithium-ion rechargeable camera battery. Put it on the workbench and run a sophisticated multimeter into the +ve and -ve pads and you'll get a voltage reading. It'll tell you whether there is a charge in the battery. Do that through the thin slots of the SONY battery and you'll get nothing. It just won't tell you anything. It's not being mean or secretive, but it is doing what SONY want it to do. You see, when you slot it into the correct section of the correct SONY camera it will wake up. The SONY trick is that the cameras tells the battery to wake up, which then tells the camera to work. I there's no coded signal, no raw electricity is available to short over in the camera bag and set fire to the dirigible. Is it the same with other makers who also shield their contacts? I will ask Dr. Ernest and report back.
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