New Camera Batteries

Hi All - The recent thread about carrying spare batteries prompts me to ask some more general questions. I've done a quick search of CiC but I don't think it's been addressed before. When I bought my Canon 40D nearly two years ago, it came with a Canon Brand BP-511A battery pack (aka E160814). This is a Lithium Ion 7.4V 1390 mAh system. I bought a second Canon Brand battery, but now no longer know which is which. For general purpose work I was getting about 200-300 shots per battery before having to recharge. Now, one of the batteries is giving only about 50-60 shots per charge.

First question: is this normal battery behaviour? I assume that it is.
Second question: is there anyway to rejuvenate batteries that are worked out?
Third question: is there an easy method of testing the state of a battery other than by recharging and re-fitting in the camera? I'm thinking multimeter here.
Fourth question: what are opinions on 3rd party batteries? Duracell and Energiser both market BP-511A replacements and Amazon and other reviews give high ratings.
Fifth question: are there any good professional reviews of battery ratings?
Sixth question: why oh why is there such a huge price difference between official Canon batteries (I've seen £90 quoted) and other brands (the Duracell version is about £15)?

While I'm obviously interested in the BP-511A battery, I reckon the questions can be applied generally.

Thanks for any help.

Cheers

David

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/battery-life.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/batteries.htm
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

I have both factory and after market batteries. I've not found any difference in them but price.

This is a pretty general response, I know. It is what I am aware of without an extensive web search. This is the information I use teaching my students.

Pops

Well first of all, I've just nipped out to my workshop (shed) to try a multimeter on one of my Canon 40D batteries. Yes it gives an indication of battery power/voltage when I used the 9v battery test setting.

One of my Canon batteries came with a secondhand Powershot camera in 2002, one with a secondhand 10D and one third party battery I bought new from an internet battery supplier around 5 years ago. I don't now know which is which but they all still appear to give consistent results.

I always fully charge my batteries after use, even slight use, and keep them fully charged for periods of non use. I have noticed that sometimes my charger indicates a full charge after a short period but reinstallation of the battery into the charger will give it a substantial period of extra charge.

Some batteries work better if they are fully discharged and then receive an extra long charge, which might be worth trying; but I think these lithium batteries will accept short top up charges without any problems; that certainly works for me.

Hi David,

I'm not generally a fan of 3rd party stuff, but Stirlingtek batteries are the exception - I doubt you'll find a dissatisfied customer anywhere.

David
I go with Colin re Sterlingtek. Followed his advice on this some time back and haven't been disappointed. When shooting in Liveview, I get somewhere between 75 - 100 per battery.

I welcome the advice re 'keep topping up the battery'. I thought best practice was to run them right down before re-charging. So, have learned a new lesson with this thread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Donald

I get somewhere between 75 - 100 per battery.

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For me, one of the joys of the 1Ds# is battery life; I can basically do whatever I life and seldom do I ever even make a dent in the battery life :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Colin Southern

Hi David,

I'm not generally a fan of 3rd party stuff, but Stirlingtek batteries are the exception - I doubt you'll find a dissatisfied customer anywhere.

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After some of the answers on that other thread, I got two batteries from SterlingTek (LP-E5, so not directly applicable to your setup). As Donald says, the discussion here taught me to top them off, so I don't know about lifespan, but they work perfectly in my 500D.

Another point about batteries in general: based on other discussions in this forum, I got a Maha battery charger, and some Eneloop AA batteries from Thomas Distributing. I'm doing a regular swap on my flash batteries now, too, and I'm getting much better cycle times on my Speedlite 580. The charger has a "recondition" capability, so if/when the batteries seem to be lagging, I'll be able to use that.

Cheers,
Rick

Running the battery down usually only works with laptops and cordless drills. With digital cameras, the only I ever run them down is by accident and when I really need them to function. Luckily, the only time I really drain the batteries are when I am photographing indoors and there is a power source nearby, that is assuming I brought my charger along with me. I have heard that near the end of their life rechargeable batteries have a tendency to hold a charge for a shorter period of time than when they are new.

Thanks for the replies everyone, particularly to Pops whose references have been very helpful. I also did not know that I should have been topping up the batteries as described, although in practice I probably have been doing that. I've checked out Colin's SteringTek source. Unfortunately, I can't find a supplier in the UK. Next time I'm in the States I'll try yo run them down. Meanwhile, I'm off to snowy Scotland for a few days.

Thanks again.

David

Quote:

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Originally Posted by David

I've checked out Colin's SteringTek source. Unfortunately, I can't find a supplier in the UK. Next time I'm in the States I'll try yo run them down. Meanwhile, I'm off to snowy Scotland for a few days.

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David

The sun is shining gloriously in Dundee as I write. Look forward to you stepping over the border!

I ordered directly from the States. The batteries were here within 6 days.

Donald

Hey - Thanks Donald - I'll probably do that when I'm back from Auchencairn. I've a trip to NZ coming up in March/April and am getting myself organised for that.

Cheers

David

PS I'm definitely going now.

try Phottix batteries. even better than the original canons