About this replacement
Sony PMW-EX1 / PMW-EX3 Series — 14.8V Li-ion Replacement Battery (BP-U60)
This is a 14.8V lithium-ion replacement battery rated at 5200mAh (76.96Wh), built to the BP-U60 specification. It fits the Sony PMW-EX1, PMW-EX1r, PMW-EX3, PMW-F3, and seventeen additional PMW-series camcorders that use the BP-U mount. Voltage and capacity figures match the original Sony BP-U60 cell.
- BP-U mount compatibility across PMW-EX and PMW-F3 platforms: All listed models share the same 14.8V BP-U rail, a standardised four-contact connector, and a BMS handshake protocol that reads cell voltage, temperature, and charge state. That shared architecture is why one battery spans the entire PMW lineup.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell through a full charge-discharge cycle on a PMW-EX1 body. The BMS accepted the handshake on first contact, reported charge state accurately, and the low-voltage cutoff triggered cleanly at the expected threshold — no false shutdowns under codec load.
- First-install charge cycle on PMW-EX1 and PMW-EX3: Charge this battery fully in the OEM Sony BC-U1 or BC-U2 charger before the first recording session. Some PMW-series bodies require a complete charge cycle via the OEM charger before the battery-remaining display maps correctly to this cell's discharge curve.
Why the PMW-EX1 draws harder than the rated capacity suggests
The PMW-EX1 runs simultaneous loads across its 3-CMOS sensor array, XDCAM EX codec engine, viewfinder, and onboard fans — all from the same 14.8V rail. Peak draw spikes during codec write bursts and when the camera spins up from standby. A cell rated at 5200mAh under a steady 1A test load will see a higher effective drain under this combined draw, which is normal behaviour for this camera body. That gap between bench-rated capacity and real-world result is physics, not a cell defect.
Battery percentage jumping erratically on the PMW-EX1 display
The PMW-EX1's fuel gauge maps battery percentage to a voltage-threshold curve calibrated against the original BP-U60 discharge profile. A new replacement cell may have a slightly different internal resistance, causing the display to skip percentage steps rather than count down smoothly. This is a gauge-mapping issue, not a cell fault. Run one full charge-discharge cycle inside the camera body, and the BMS recalibrates its threshold map to the new cell's actual discharge curve.