How To Fix The Sony “for use with compatible battery only” Error

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I bought 4 extra batteries for my Sony DSC-HX5. After a while when I would power on the camera with of the batteries the camera would give me an error “for use with compatible battery only” and then the camera would shut down. I didn’t think this was a problem with the camera since 4 of the 5 batteries (including the one that came with the battery) would work without error.

I did a google search for the error “for use with compatible battery only” and found lots of people with the problem but not very many solutions. It took some searching through the pages and I found that if the center pin is shorted by the other two pins it would reset the battery.

for use with compatible battery only

First I fully charged the battery. Then pressed a piece of aluminum foil over all three contacts at the same time to short the center contact. It took a few tries but I knew the reset took when I put the battery into the camera and it wouldn’t start up. I put the battery back into the charger. The camera charged for about 5 minutes, I then put the battery back into the camera and it started up without error.

Find Sony Camera Parts

Evaporative Cooler Thermostat Fail

I woke up early this morning mainly because the swamp cooler had been running an extra long time (it blows right on me). I knew something was wrong because it felt cold yet I knew I set the super fancy digital thermostat to 78 degrees before I went to bed. The house temp was 68 degrees and the darn thermostat wouldn’t turn off. Even setting it to “off” wouldn’t turn it off.

I sent a email off to Dial Manufacturing of Phoenix, Az but I suspect it’s going to be easier to just replace the darned thing.