canon battery

[annie]

why would a canon battery suddenly stop working, it's only a year and a half old. It shows fully charged in the charging unit yet when I put it in the camera..nothing.

 

this is the battery that came with the camera, the cheap Jessop one I purchased at the same time is still going strong...!

[DaveS]

No real reason Annie, another than that particular battery has developed fault, in which case there's now't you can do with it.

 

You could check that the contacts are ok, and clean, but that's about all really.

 

I have always found that genuine Canon batteries, last for years, at least the LR6 as used in the DSLRs do.

 

Not so with the Sony batteries, as used in my Sony Cybershot compact, they only seem to last a couple of years at most. Albeit they still work, but don't run for long.

 

Dave

Edited September 17, 2013 by DaveS

[annie]

gutted I am...

 

clean the contacts, on the battery..how do I do that?

[NannyFerret]

I use a pencil or ink rubber, Annie or even a rough cloth if I can't find a rubber.

[bugmeister]

I use a pencil or ink rubber, Annie or even a rough cloth if I can't find a rubber.

It may seem obvious, but whatever you do, don't use steel wool!!!

[DaveS]

IPA, no not the beer (lol), but Iso-propyl Alcohol is great for cleaning greasy finger marks etc from both electrical contacts and lenses.

 

Undiluted for electrical contacts, and diluted to about 25% strength with de-ionised water for optics.

 

I use this to clean the optics on my telescopes.

 

Never have to clean my camera lenses, as they are all fitted with a UV filter from new, but I do clean the filter glass with it.

 

You should be able to get it from your local chemist, and if not stocked, they can get it for you.

 

Dave

Edited September 17, 2013 by DaveS

[annie]

thanks for the tips..

 

I just had another try with the said battery, it came to life for a second or two then the camera shut down...grrrr

 

I shall try and clean the contacts, noting to lose now I suppose.

[Guest DaveW]

What type of battery is it Annie? If Lithium ion (Li-ion) unlike some other types of batteries they start to deteriorate as soon as manufactured, used or not, which is why you should never buy spares for when one fails unless you normally use more than the charge of one battery for a shooting session, because as soon as the first one has failed the unused one will probably have failed or be near failure too, even if never used. 

 

For instance if your camera was on a dealers shelf for a while before being sold the battery could have been aging all that time and you have lost that much battery life already.  Also you need to buy replacement Li-ion batteries from a dealer who has a rapid stock turnover, not one who has the same batteries on the shelf deteriorating for an extended period.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/02/ask-ars-what-is-the-best-way-to-use-an-li-ion-battery/

 

You could try this though:-

 

"Current lithium-ion batteries are very different from the Ni-cad or Ni-MH batteries used in cameras from 5 or 10 years ago. Previously, it was often a good idea to drain a battery fully before recharging it, to insure good battery performance. This is not needed with higher-performing lithium-ion batteries. You should not need to – and should not – recondition batteries “just to be safe”. The reason for recalibrating the battery pack after 20 or so recharge cycles? It’s to calibrate the information display, so that the percentage of remaining battery power indicator remains accurate

 

The new LP-E4 and LP-E6 packs can also be refreshed, which although not to fix any memory effect, does help maximise battery performance.

 

If your charger doesn't have a refresh option then you can safely fully discharge a battery pack by turning off the auto shutdown feature of your camera and leaving it switched on until it shuts down."

 

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/hardware/canon_battery.html

Edited September 17, 2013 by DaveW

[annie]

it is an LP-E5 dave....

 

I think it probably is because it is the one that came with the camera...

[geodar]

in my instruction manual it says the battery will degrade after repeated use.

if you just have the two batteries then you will use the same batteries more often.

I bought some copies from 7 dayshop when I got the camera (around 3-4 years ago) all still going strong but I do alternate their use and charging. I reckon that I can get over 500+ photos out of a charge on the replacement batteries.

geoff

[bugmeister]

it is an LP-E5 dave....

 

I think it probably is because it is the one that came with the camera...

It shouldn't fail that quickly, even if it's been on the shelf for a while as Dave suggests. I'm still using three batteries from when I bought the camera and grip over four years ago, and 40k frames and a few hours video, all get rotated each charging sequence.

 

It sounds more like a fault and there's not much you can do about that, it's almost certainly out of warranty.

[fuzzyedges]

My canon battery just slowed down to it being flat after a moderate days shooting then it became annoying and then I bought a duracell and the worlds alright again

I also bought two cheapies and they do about 30 shots each guess which are the reserve

The canon will shoot the most before going flat but how many is too many The duracell will last me a day and a half so its charged after a day and costs a quarter of the canon price

[DaveS]

Annie, I've not used them myself, but have read a number of good reports for Hahnel batteries.

 

The LP-E5 equivalent is the Hahnel HL-E5. £15 from WEX, and probably cheaper elswhere.

 

Dave

[Leon]

I bought a Duracell ones quarter of the price and from experience no difference on performance