About this replacement
Panasonic HC-W570 / HC-W580 Series — 3.6V Li-ion Replacement Battery (VW-VBT380)
This is a 3.6V, 4040mAh Li-ion replacement battery for the Panasonic HC-W570, HC-W580, HC-W850EB, VXF-999, and over 24 additional Panasonic camcorder models. It uses the OEM part number VW-VBT380 and fits the same slot as the original cell. Match your model to the compatibility list before ordering.
- HC-W and VXF series compatibility: These camcorders share the same 3.6V battery bay, connector pinout, and BMS communication protocol across the lineup. One cell covers the full series because Panasonic standardised the pack format for this generation of HD camcorders.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell through charge and discharge cycles on the HC-W580 body. The BMS accepted the pack on first insertion, reported charge state accurately, and held voltage within expected range across the full discharge curve without tripping any protection cutoff.
- First-use charge cycle on HC-W series: Insert the new battery and charge it fully inside the camcorder body or the original Panasonic charger before your first recording session. The HC-W BMS maps its battery-remaining display to a calibration cycle — skipping this step often causes the indicator to read inaccurately from the start.
Why the HC-W570 shows a dead battery icon on a partially charged replacement cell
The HC-W570 uses a voltage-threshold system to estimate remaining charge. A new third-party cell has a slightly different discharge curve than the original Panasonic pack, so the camera body can misread the threshold and display an empty indicator even when the cell holds a usable charge. This is a calibration mismatch, not a fault with the cell. Run one complete charge-to-full cycle inside the camera body, then discharge normally through recording — the indicator typically stabilises after that conditioning cycle.
Battery percentage jumping erratically on the HC-W580 display
If the on-screen battery percentage jumps — say from 60% to 20% without warning — the BMS is mapping voltage readings to the wrong point on the discharge curve. This happens when the camera body has not completed a full reference cycle with the new cell. Charge the pack to 100% in the camera body, record until the camera warns of low battery, then recharge fully. After one complete cycle, the percentage display should track the actual cell state within a few percent across the 3.6V discharge range.