Batteries DIE completely after a few shots

[DavidMacg]

I have a G5, and both my Canon li-ion battery packs will not hold a charge.
I charge them on my camera - and recieve the green light for full battery charge. the Battery icon says full charge.
After a few shots the whole %$%*ing thing shuts down.
Batteries were puchased seperately a few months apart. at a good camera shop in NYC. one 12 months ago and the other 9 months ago.
Could they just be dead - at the same time? or is it a camera issue?

Has anybody experianced this problem - and how did you fix it.

thanks
D_MacG

[Ballen Photo]

I have a G5, and both my Canon li-ion battery packs will not hold a charge.
I charge them on my camera - and recieve the green light for full battery charge. the Battery icon says full charge.
After a few shots the whole %$%*ing thing shuts down.
Batteries were puchased seperately a few months apart. at a good camera shop in NYC. one 12 months ago and the other 9 months ago.
Could they just be dead - at the same time? or is it a camera issue?

Has anybody experianced this problem - and how did you fix it.

thanks
D_MacG

David, I can understand your frustration. If you were only talking one battery, I would suspect the battery was shot. Since you say it happened to BOTH batteries at the same time, I would have to wonder if they are getting properly charged. Is it possible for you to get your hands on a stand alone charger like the ones that come with the D30, D60, 10D, etc? Maybe your camera store has one you can borrow or buy?
Let us know what you find out, and Good Luck with it.
-Bruce

[283CID]

If you used the camera a lot...many re-charges/top-off's... *I* can believe it. From what I've lived with, Lithium Ion batteries are terribly short lived. Who cares that they don't have Ni-Cad memory syndrome? They don't last long enough to worry about it.

THIS set of BP-511's.... I am not topping off. I am running them until the camera quits, before charging... see how long they last. Maybe it is the charging event that kills 'em...

Shame...

[meow]

It is, according to Cannon. They say 300 charges IIRC. It's in the manual somewhere.
From what I've read here, people get less than that out of them though. :shock:

[283CID]

AMEN.....! :evil:

[DocFrankenstein]

300 charges? Only?

WOW :shock: I'll check the manual

[283CID]

Yeah-But....... What's a "charge" ? A 'top off' ? A FULL run ?

[Ballen Photo]

Yeah-But....... What's a "charge" ? A 'top off' ? A FULL run ?

I read somewhere that since these batteries are only good for so many charges(300 I think?), that it's best to run them all the way down, not for memory purposes, but to stave off the inevitable needed charge longer. I now run my batteries down till the icon starts flashing before I install the spare.

:shock: A thought I just had, inspired by this thread; I think it might be a good idea to mark the purchase date on each battery when you buy it, with a permanent marker or label. This would help in keeping track of battery life for different brands, etc.
......Bruce

[meow]

Yeah, I said it just above. :D

283CID -- You shouldn't charge the battery when it isn't empty. A charge is a charge.

I looked it up. They do say maximum 300 charges. Also, according to Canon, you should remove the batteries when the camera isn't used because they discharge (slowly) when left in the camera.

[283CID]

Yeah..but when I talked to Canon a while ago...when my first battery was getting weak so soon, he told me specifically to 'keep it topped off'....... Maybe he wanted to sell more BP-511's.... the $60 variety!

Yup.... I'm running 'em until the little box DIES. Just came back from a Family Re-Union... covered the event. One time it quit when the lens was out... I changed batteries and 'zip..', in came the lens and away we went.

[ScottK]

I have a G5, and both my Canon li-ion battery packs will not hold a charge.
I charge them on my camera - and recieve the green light for full battery charge. the Battery icon says full charge.
After a few shots the whole %$%*ing thing shuts down.
Batteries were puchased seperately a few months apart. at a good camera shop in NYC. one 12 months ago and the other 9 months ago.
Could they just be dead - at the same time? or is it a camera issue?

Has anybody experianced this problem - and how did you fix it.

thanks
D_MacG

I had an interesting/odd one-time-only-so-far occurance last week - makes me wonder if it's similar to your's. I had a battery in the camera that wasn't fully discharged, but I knew it would be getting close, my backup was totally drained, and I had an hour or so to give it some extra juice. So I plugged in the camera and left it for a little while. I noticed when I came back about 15 minutes later that the charging light was no longer blinking, but solid. I knew there was no way it was fully charged yet. I don't recall now exactly what got it "reset" (if I recall right, I first unplugged and replugged the charger, and it still said it was full), maybe I had to take the battery out? But once I got it back to recognizing that it had to charge, it went on recharging as it should have, reaching the three-blink state by the time I had to go.

Hopefully it was just a glitch and I won't see it again, but it left me wondering about your experience. Perhaps its not that the batteries aren't holding their charge, but that the camera is incorrectly thinking that the battery is fully charged. If the camera stops charging after a few minutes, then it would follow that you wouldn't get much, if any, use out of the battery. If your still trying to work through this, maybe first verify that the camera stays in its charging mode for a significantly long period (2-3 hours?). If not, try unplugging the charger, poping out the battery, reseating it and replugging the charger, and see if you can get it to charge as long as it should.