Problem With Batteries on Digital Rebel

[mytwogirls]

My friend and I both have Digital Rebels and although I have not had any problems with it, she is having lots of trouble with the batteries. She has the battery it came with and an off-brand battery as a backup. She says that neither battery will hold a charge. She says she can only get about 30 photos out of either battery. Does anyone have any ideas about this? Could it be the batteries or could it be the camera? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Steve Parr]

Hmmm...

I got about 650 pictures out of two batteries (in a grip) over the weekend. Both are Canon batteries.

I'd probably replace the batteries first, as this would seem like the least expensive option, and go from there...

Steve

[Belmondo]

You might try swapping batteries with her since you both have the same camera. If you get normal use out of her battery in your camera, you know she has a problem with hers.

I'd try that before buying any more batteries.

[mytwogirls]

That's a good idea about swapping batteries. I think I will suggest that to her and see what she thinks. I just hope it isn't her camera!

[lostdoggy]

Make sure you mark the batteries before the swap or you might end up bad batteries. I find the problem with my DRebel to be the battery door, for some reason it would open up andthe camera would shut off.

[robertwgross]

If the battery door were bad, it will generally be bad the same way no matter whether the battery is charged or not.

Another possibility is that the charger has failed and the batteries are not getting a good charge.

However, lithium ion batteries like this have a finite life. I've heard figures of 300-500 charge cycles. So, they don't go forever.

The good news is that there are some very good non-Canon batteries sold for $10-15. I use two of those, and they have much better life than the older Canon batteries.

---Bob Gross---

[Zeke]

She may not have given the batteries a full charge when she first got them?

That's a sure fire way to kill a battery.

[Titus213]

Interesting - I have two batteries, the original Canon and an off brand from Best Buy. The off brand battery outperforms the Canon battery 10 to 1. Both have been in use together since the camera was purchased. The Canon battery just doesn't seem to hold a charge any more. Both are about 6 months old.

[Steve Parr]

You might try swapping batteries with her since you both have the same camera. If you get normal use out of her battery in your camera, you know she has a problem with hers.

I'd try that before buying any more batteries.

And that's why he's "Belmondo"!!

An excellent, and glaringly obvious, suggestion...

Steve

[FotOz]

Hi troopers. The Rebel I believe is the US version of the 300D? Yes, no? I know with my Canon 550N it is known as the Rebel in the US. Either way, do I gather with your digital that you are using the BP511 or BP511A battery? You use 1 with the camera body or 2 with the battery grip. Be aware that the BIGGEST consumer of power on your camera is the LCD screen on the back. If you must use it to check your shots, ensure it is set to the shortest review time you can - 1 second I think it is. Don't keep reviewing because that will very quickly drain your battery. I have the BG-E1 battery grip with BP511 and BP511A batteries and get around 600 shots before I'm down to 1/3 battery indicator. I only preview for 1 second per shot (and I don't really know why) and rarely scroll through and delete dud shots until the end of a shoot. I do a lot of weddings and will shoot 500-600 shots in 6 hours. If you are re-charging these batteries wait at least an hour after the charger stops flashing before you take the battery off the charger. Don't turn it on until you have installed the battery. Turn it off before removing the battery.
Steve - Oz.

[mkh]

This sounds like a bad battery or a charger issue as other have stated.

But bear in mind that a zoom can really eat up the batteries as it can take a lot battery power to rack the focus in and out on those things. I get worse battery usage whenu sing my Tamron 70-300 but no where near as bad as your friend.

[griff2]

My Canon battery appeared to stop holding a charge, but then I discovered that if I moved the charger, while charging, it would change charge status either indicating 75% or 100% charge. I decided to buy a couple of batteries from Stirlingtek, and, on charging, found that the same thing happened; it was thus the charger that was falsely indicating that the battery was charged.

Try swapping chargers and see if that changes things.

[etaf]

i have had no problems with bateeries and also find the non-branded lasts a lot longer.
It may be worth looking at the mAhrs of the batteries too.
otherwise - the batt swap would be the first test

[Lioness]

Bob (or others that also stated this)- which non-canon brand of battery do you use that works so well?

[etaf]

i purchased mine from 7dayshop.com
it has the following on label
BP511 7.4v 1200mAh
canon type bp511
Li-Ion battery pack

and then a a symbol which looks like a flower head with Li-Ion underneath

[robertwgross]

Greenbatteries.

---Bob Gross---

[Mr. Clean]

It's either a bad battery or it's been sitting too long after a charge. I'll easily get 250+ pictures out of both my Canon batteries. The only time I didn't is when one sat for a month after charging, however it performed flawlessly after another charge and use.

[robertwgross]

A good lithium ion battery has a self-discharge rate along the lines of 1% per day. If it is much more than that, then it's time to buy a new battery.

---Bob Gross---

[cfcRebel]

It might not be an issue but I set my 300D to auto-turnoff after 2 minutes. Check the setting of your friend's 300D. Maybe she accidentally set it to manual-turnoff.

[PhotosGuy]

She may not have given the batteries a full charge when she first got them? It's been written that you should full charge & discharge 3 times before you partially charge or discharge them. Seems to work. I've never had any problems with the Canon or 2 off-brand $12 batteries.
Another source says that none of them will last more than 2-3 years, even if they're sitting in a warehouse!

[Barb42]

FotOZ is correct. Don't assume the battery is charged if the charger goes green. Wait an hour or so. You can train the battery to take less and less of a charge and think its full.

[RodneyCyr]

Make sure the battery is fully charged (That is not as easy as it sounds!!)

I find that, with my charger and any of my three Canon-branded batteries, the charger will indicate full within a few minutes, even if I put in a battery that I know is almost empty.

Usually, if I remove the battery and put it back into the charger, the charger will behave more normally and charge for an hour or so before indicating "Full". I leave the battery in the charger for at least an hour after that, to make sure.

I find that I can get about 100-150 shots out of a battery, unless I use the on-board flash a lot. Since the camera does not give a very good indication about battery charge (indicating full, half-full, or dead), I start thinking about switching batteries once I see a half-full indication. I do not want the battery to die half-way through writing a picture to my CF card.

[Jon]

I found one of my batteries coming up flat after almost no use (unrelated to the grip problem) in my 20D and in my D60. I'd been charging it with the charger that came with the 20D and with a 3rd-party one, and it was showing fully charged on both. When I got back from vacation, just for kicks, I plugged it into my D60's charger (the old 2-battery one that supports the AC adapter) and is showed nothing, nada, zilch, no blinks on the LED. Left it there overnight or a little longer and it was showing the happy solid glow on the LED. Haven't tried it yet, maybe this weekend.

[robertwgross]

Jon, you are saying that you have a discrepancy between one charger and another charger. The problem wouldn't be in the secondary contacts, would it?

---Bob Gross---

[johnnybfan]

Wow!! How many shots can you take with one charge? 650,600, 250, & 100-150. What a wide range of answers. :eek:
I get about 850-1000 out of my two in my battery grip - and I've yet to get down to the 1/3 mark on the meter. I have my camera set to turnoff after 1 minute and a 2 second display time on the LCD. :D:D
Also, I've heard that the Li-on batteries should never be run all the way empty - that they work best and live longer if they are recharged after each use. One of the nice things about Li-on is that there is no memory. It doesn't matter how long the first charge is.
I have one Canon battery and 3 off-brand batteries. As near as I can tell there is no difference in how they perform. Take good care of them and they'll take good pics for you. :lol::lol::lol:

[robertwgross]

It's been written that you should full charge & discharge 3 times before you partially charge or discharge them. Seems to work. I've never had any problems with the Canon or 2 off-brand $12 batteries.

That might have been good advice back in the NiCd days.

Lithium ion batteries do not respond well to a full discharge.

---Bob Gross---

[JulianL]

Hi troopers. The Rebel I believe is the US version of the 300D? Yes, no? I know with my Canon 550N it is known as the Rebel in the US. Either way, do I gather with your digital that you are using the BP511 or BP511A battery? You use 1 with the camera body or 2 with the battery grip. Be aware that the BIGGEST consumer of power on your camera is the LCD screen on the back. If you must use it to check your shots, ensure it is set to the shortest review time you can - 1 second I think it is. Don't keep reviewing because that will very quickly drain your battery. I have the BG-E1 battery grip with BP511 and BP511A batteries and get around 600 shots before I'm down to 1/3 battery indicator. I only preview for 1 second per shot (and I don't really know why) and rarely scroll through and delete dud shots until the end of a shoot. I do a lot of weddings and will shoot 500-600 shots in 6 hours. If you are re-charging these batteries wait at least an hour after the charger stops flashing before you take the battery off the charger. Don't turn it on until you have installed the battery. Turn it off before removing the battery.
Steve - Oz.

This man speaks the truth. My boss has a 4mp Canon P&S and she was complaining about the short battery life. I asked her if she was reviewing her pictures on the LCD and she admitted that she did that constantly. I recommended that she not do that at all, since she has a high capacity CF card there really is no reason to review and delete pictures while you are shooting. Just shoot like mad and delete later. She tried it and sure enough, no more battery complaints.

[Jon]

Jon, you are saying that you have a discrepancy between one charger and another charger. The problem wouldn't be in the secondary contacts, would it?

---Bob Gross---
Could be . . . had the problem with two chargers, not with the third, but I haven't had a chance to see if the battery in question really does have a full/significant charge on it now. All of them did report the battery as fully charged somewhere along the way. Don't know if that's based on what the charger's pushing into the battery or what the battery has across the primary contacts, or if it varies between chargers even.

[foxbat]

She may not have given the batteries a full charge when she first got them?

That's a sure fire way to kill a battery.That implies a memory effect, and the memory effect is an often repeated urban myth. The only way I know to kill a good battery is to continually overcharge it so you destroy the electrolyte.

For example, compare the battery of a mobile phone user who leaves it plugged in to the charger all day to one who runs it down and then charges it fully each time...