Marcum Digital Battery Charge Indicator issues?

I have a Marcum LX-3 and the digital battery charge indicator does not seem to be accurate.
I will have it completely charged and within minuets of use it will tell me that I am already down to 80% within a few hours it shows 30%.
The other day I was out for several hours and it showed 0% bit the LX3 was running strong as ever.
Is this a common problem? Should I just ignore it all together?
Anyone have the same experience?
Thanks

Sounds like your battery may not be the best but, one thing about the DCS you have to consider is it is measuring draw when the unit is turned on. To get an accurate reading you need to turn the unit off. When you have the unit on it will read falsely low because of the draw of the unit.

In addition, battery life decreases when you cool down the battery. The DCS should be able to run at 0% for a couple of hours, similar to the “E” on your gas tank. You still get a few miles on “E”.

Hey Scott,
Thanks, I gues that I did not think about the fact that the reading will only be accurate if it is “off”.
That will make a large difference.
Me not so smart
Thanks

With the unit running the DCS still will give you a good idea of what is left in your battery. However, to be exact you have to shut the unit off. Don’t worry, most people dont’ realize that.

Scott, would that be the same on the VS560. ie. not showing 100% for charge with a fresh battery, because of unit having to be on for it to show power reading?

No, it is my understanding the VS560 does not measure draw with the on screen batter display, but I could be wrong. It is hard to guage the battery on the 560 because of all the features (Lights, Pan, etc) Battery life goes down considerably when you are running all the features compared to just using the camera and directional control.

The battery should charge to 100% after being plugged in. How long it stays at 100 is a result of how you are using the camera, the temperature the battery is at and the overall condition of your battery.

If you are using the 560 in a hard house and are able to plug the charger in, that is great. You should be able to run the camera all weekend plugged in with the charger. However, if you are using pan and the lights all weekend, even with it plugged in, you will drain the battery slowly. The draw from all those features is more that the charge. Hopefully that makes sense.