Battery life for 40D...

[shimmishim]

I haven't shot a single shot on my new 40D but I did charge the battery and then placed it in the camera. I've let it sit for a day w/o doing anything and the battery was completely dead this morning.

Is this typical or did something happen to the battery?

[John_B]

shimmishim,
That doesn't sound right? ???
I leave the battery in my 40D with the camera on for days sometimes and it works fine. It almost seems like the battery didn't charge? Did you see the light blinking on the charger when you put the battery in to charge and stay on when charge was complete? ??? A guess is maybe the battery didn't charge, like it wasn't seated correctly in the charger? I am just guessing because this has never happened to me (luckily).

[Steve Parr]

One of the biggest advantages I've seen with the 40D over the 20D has been battery life.

It may just be my imagination, but the batteries in the 40D seem to last forever. I've not come close to running them dry yet.

Sounds like either a battery or charger issue...

[shimmishim]

yeah. when i charged it a few days ago, it was solid.

i am charging it again today and it's been over 30 minutes and it's still only blinking 1 time.

last time it fully charged in like... 45 minutes? it went quick. my guess is that it didn't properly charge.

i'll update you guys again.

[Hermeto]

yeah. when i charged it a few days ago, it was solid.

i am charging it again today and it's been over 30 minutes and it's still only blinking 1 time.

last time it fully charged in like... 45 minutes? it went quick. my guess is that it didn't properly charge.

i'll update you guys again.

It fully charges in about 90 minutes.
In practice, when I see the steady light, I usually leave it for another hour or so..

[splitfyre]

Question though, if I'm location shooting tomorrow. Do you think the camera will last 2-4 hours off and-on shooting? I'm bringing my XT as a backup since I have the grip and 3 XT batteries.. so if I have to switch to that then so be it.

[godzakka]

Like Steve Parr said, the batteries seem to last forever in the 40D. I have gotten over 2200 shots without coming close to killing the battery (it was just at a half bar) and had my fair share of chimping. I also had an 1850 picture shoot with chimping and the battery didn't even get half way drained, as far as I can remember.

Both events were about 6 hrs long, camera was only off to change lenses or a 10 minute break. Hope the recharge works out for you, though. Good luck.

[PompeyJohn]

I have owned my 40D for 1 month now and taken 600 pics and i am still on the original charge i did on buying the camera so it doesnt sound right. I have obiously found the battery to be excellent.

[samnz]

Hmmmm...sounds like the charger maybe faulty - or the battery's terminals may need a weeee tweak. If you are able to get your hands on another 511 charger - do so. Or try another 511 battery.

I have 2 chargers and about 10 batteries. When I've wrongfully paired the battery with the charger, the charging light turns "steady" after say a minute. Then I switch chargers and "wallah"!

FWIW the batteries are ALL genuine Canon.

Just a thought

[colmc]

Hi,

You should also check the auto-power-off setting.

For some reason when I received my 5D back from Canon this was switched-off so the camera was always on. In this state a fully charged battery only lasts 12-24hours

Anyway you should check this first (Menu 5/First Tool in your 40D) and make sure that it's set to 1 minute.

If this is already set to auto-power-off then you have either a problem with your BP511 batteries or your body.

HTH,
-- Colm.

[splitfyre]

Battery lasted no problem. I think I will wait to run it dry before I do a full charge.

[sir.richard]

Sounds like a problem...either its not charging properly or else its discharging in the camera. Does the battery discharge out of the camera over night? (Could be internal short in the battery...which could be a fire hazard!).

To give you some idea of what the 40D should do: I took 2000 photos at the zoo three weeks ago. Many in high speed. Some with flash. 8G in total using high qual jpeg (which I imagine is worse as the camera must compress and process the raw image). The battery indicator still showed full after all that, which amazed me.

Since then I have used the camera twice more, taking around 300 photos each time. The battery showed 3/4 full.

I seem to be lucky to charge this camera up every few weeks. Normally less.

I have NO idea how they can make the camera so efficient. Amazing.

[cdifoto]

shimmishim,
That doesn't sound right? ???


Yeah no kidding. How can you own new gear for an entire day without using it once?

To answer the actual question....was the camera left on and auto-off disabled?

[queenbee288]

According to the instructions you are supposed to leave the battery plugged in for an hour after the light goes solid. I have shot an entire wedding and still had battery life to spare.

[ben_r_]

Not typical at all. I can leave mine in the ON position for days at a time and it does not noticeably drain the battery. Perhaps you had a button depressed in the case and you left it ON?

[shimmishim]

hehehe. i forgot about this thread.

yes, it was a mischarge. for some reason i moved it over to another socket and it showed up as not being charged at all (even though at the socket it showed a solid orange light)

the battery and camera are fine. it was a faulty charge either due to the outlet or the battery was not in the charger all the way.

thanks guys!