battery question

[mven74]

im buying a battery grip, i have a canon battery and a sterlingtek battery. is that going to cause a problem? :confused:

[Jon]

Nope.

[superdiver]

Nope...

[sblais]

Nope (clear enough already??)

[mwt]

Actually........nope:lol:

[jr_senator]

The 2 batteries in the grip don't power the camera at the same time anyway. It's one battery until very low and then the next.

[Rhilton4u]

The 2 batteries in the grip don't power the camera at the same time anyway. It's one battery until very low and then the next.Then emergency double-As after that. :lol:

[jr_senator]

Then emergency double-As after that. :lol:

Well, I carry entra B-511 batteries and the adaptor with AAs. And no, I don't wear both a belt and suspenders;)

[Jon]

The 2 batteries in the grip don't power the camera at the same time anyway. It's one battery until very low and then the next.
Actually, no. People around here have pretty well established that the camera draws from the battery with the highest charge until the two are level, then equally from both thereafter until they're flat.

[jr_senator]

Actually, no. People around here have pretty well established that the camera draws from the battery with the highest charge until the two are level, then equally from both thereafter until they're flat.

OK, that's not my understanding. Not saying that ain't so, I just want to check it out.

[Jon]

Think about it - they'd have to design isolating circuitry to have it draw from the two consecutively rather than simultaneously. And try the experiment - use the camera for a while with both batteries in place, then put them both to the charger and see what they read at.

[jr_senator]

Jon, I'm really going to check this out as well as I can. I admit that now I am confused on the point. If the system can't run the batteries seperately then how does it do so if one battery is holding a greater charge than the other as you mentioned above? If the camera will run correctly and safely on just one battery (without using the BG) and will run correctly with only one battery in the grip how does it also run correctly with double the voltage (2 batteries simultaneously)? Being unsure now I can't argue the point but will try to get answers to my observations.

[superdiver]

All I know (and all that matters to me) is that

1)the grip works with one OR two batteries.

2)two is better then one.


I have four batteries and one charger. I keep two batteries in the grip and charge the other two (which takes NOT much time) and then when the two batteries ware down I exchange them. Simple...

on my XT I had three batteries, but it was confusing as to which one I had changed out last. Now I just change both and dont worry about it....LOL

[Jon]

It's running the two in parallel, not in series, so the voltage isn't doubled. And it's taking from the one wih higher "pressure" in the form of the higher mAh level until the levels even out. Like having two water towers feeding the same pipe, only one's got more water in it than the other. But it's not "selecting" one to draw from; one's pushing more into the camera than the other until things have evened out.

[canonphotog]

jr_senator ,

It's a little more complicated than that, but for the most part, Jon is giving it to you straight.

This same auto-leveling is why you should replace all your deep cycle batteries at once in golf carts, boats, motorhomes, etc. If you have one battery fail and only replace it, the new battery will be damaged when it tries to pick up the load as one of the batteries you didn't replace fails.

As long as you regularly recharge your Lion batteries, they should not exhibit effects where one kills the other.

If you don't have a need to use both at the same time you could always carry the extra battery in your kit and change it out as you see fit. This is particularly important if you start having battery problems and are trying to find the culprit.