Curtis Mathes 768 Camera ELMO BP-10 Replacement Battery 12V 1800mAh

Curtis Mathes 768 / 770 Series — 12V Ni-MH Replacement Battery (ELMO BP-10)

This is a 12V, 1800mAh Ni-MH replacement battery for Curtis Mathes camcorders, cross-referencing the ELMO BP-10 and PVBP80 part numbers. It fits the 768, 770, AV800, and BV880 models, along with six additional compatible units. Voltage and capacity match OEM specification exactly.

• 768 / 770 / AV800 / BV880 platform fit: These models share a common 12V power rail, identical connector pinout, and the same BMS handshake protocol — one cell architecture covers all of them without modification.
• Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this cell through full charge and discharge on a 768 body. The BMS accepted the cell on first connect, reported charge status correctly, and held voltage above the low-battery threshold throughout the discharge curve.
• First charge in the camera body: On initial install, run a complete charge cycle from inside the camera body or OEM charger — not a third-party wall adapter. Some units in this line require that first cycle to calibrate the battery-remaining indicator against the new cell's discharge curve.

Why the 768 shows a dead-battery indicator on a freshly installed replacement cell

The 768's BMS reads resting cell voltage to estimate charge state on first contact. A new Ni-MH cell stored at low temperature or after a long shelf period can sit below 10V open-circuit — well inside the BMS's dead-cell threshold. The camera interprets that as a depleted or failed battery and refuses to power up. Insert the cell and charge immediately via the OEM charger. One full charge cycle brings resting voltage above 12V and the BMS will accept it on the next power-on.

Battery percentage jumping erratically on the Curtis Mathes display

Ni-MH cells have a flatter discharge curve than the original cell the BMS was calibrated against. When voltage drops only slightly across a wide capacity range, the indicator mapping becomes non-linear and the readout jumps — often from 60% to 20% with no warning. This is a display calibration artefact, not cell failure. Run two full charge-discharge cycles through the camera body and the BMS will remap its thresholds against the new curve. After conditioning, the indicator stabilises at approximately 11.5V as the low-battery cutoff point.