The Chinese battery charger that saved our Trip to Africa!

It was almost an afterthought,. as I was packing, instead of two of the very small LP-E6 chargers I usually toss in a bag for their small size and weight, I opted to pack this latest 3rd party dual charger;

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Well that worked out well. Good info on the common plate thing.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18427934
On day one, one of our party had lost most of his LP-E6 inventory to the flight police,. he's sadly checked them, and they were removed.

Were the batteries confiscated for some security reason or just plain stolen?

I have that Fuji charger....didnt know the plates were removable...

John from PA wrote in post #18428141
Were the batteries confiscated for some security reason or just plain stolen?

Confiscated, you are not allowed to check Lithium Ion batteries. They (oddly) have to be in carry on.
It's been this was for many years now in the US,. he was flying from Finland, so not sure if that was new for that part of the world. I assume it is new, as Ollie is a bit of an experienced world traveler.


Also I forgot to mention, the charger also has a USB outlet that can be used to power/charge anything that uses USB power. So we did not have to swap DC plugs to charge cell phones etc. This made the charger triple useful!

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18428263
Confiscated, you are not allowed to check Lithium Ion batteries. They (oddly) have to be in carry on.
It's been this was for many years now in the US,. he was flying from Finland, so not sure if that was new for that part of the world. I assume it is new, as Ollie is a bit of an experienced world traveler.

Really, it's not too odd. It's much easier to spot a fire in the cabin than in the cargo hold

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18428263
Confiscated, you are not allowed to check Lithium Ion batteries. They (oddly) have to be in carry on.
It's been this was for many years now in the US,. he was flying from Finland, so not sure if that was new for that part of the world. I assume it is new, as Ollie is a bit of an experienced world traveler.

I was interested because there is a street market for batteries. I was approached once by a street person who had a Canon battery, for which he wanted $20. I happened to have a 60D on my shoulder but the individual was offended at my suggestion to test the battery. I laughed and moved on.

Actually lithium ion batteries are allowed in checked baggage, but not as a "spare". In other words they have to be installed in the device for which they are intended.

A current summary of the "regs" is at https://www.faa.gov …sengers_and_bat​teries.pdf.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18428263
Confiscated, you are not allowed to check Lithium Ion batteries. They (oddly) have to be in carry on.
It's been this was for many years now in the US,. he was flying from Finland, so not sure if that was new for that part of the world. I assume it is new, as Ollie is a bit of an experienced world traveler.

Also I forgot to mention, the charger also has a USB outlet that can be used to power/charge anything that uses USB power. So we did not have to swap DC plugs to charge cell phones etc. This made the charger triple useful!

Not a new rule at all. This has been a standard requirement in Europe for a few years now. I guess he just forgot or got confused in the stress of packing. (I'm a very frequent traveller but I still detest the whole packing business.)

Your post was a very helpful steer towards this model of charger (which seems to sell under a variety of brand names) ... a really versatile and flexible piece of kit. I'll certainly be acquiring one and a few sets of plates. It's refreshing, incidentally, to see that the suppliers don't try to sell the alternative plates at a rip-off price (not in the UK, at least).

CDS.....There are several reviewers on Amazon who claim that this charger will not fully charge a non OEM Canon battery. Have you noticed this issue?

KeithS wrote in post #18428683
CDS.....There are several reviewers on Amazon who claim that this charger will not fully charge a non OEM Canon battery. Have you noticed this issue? Also, there seem to be several of this model on Amazon with different brand names.

Are you sure that you are referencing reviews of this exact model? I have come across this criticism for a slightly different (less advanced) dual battery charger that is in most respects very similar to this model.

There is also an admitted issue for some batteries that have not been "fully decoded" (i.e. the manufacturer has not yet successfully reverse engineered the coding on the battery chip). This does not seem to include any of the most common/popular battery types.

You can only rely so much on Amazon reviews ... no matter they average the 4.5s. As long as the reviews are reasonably free of "this fried my kit" complaints, I generally just 'go with the flow' and accept the small risk that what I have bought -- usually very cheaply -- will turn out to be a dud.

Yes, at the above provided link.

DaviSto wrote in post #18428682
... It's refreshing, incidentally, to see that the suppliers don't try to sell the alternative plates at a rip-off price (not in the UK, at least).

Did you find the plates sold alone? I have not
I was just lucky enough to have a fuji charger that came with my 3rd party batts using the same plates.
Let us know.

KeithS wrote in post #18428683
CDS.....There are several reviewers on Amazon who claim that this charger will not fully charge a non OEM Canon battery. Have you noticed this issue?

Before I left for Africa, I wanted to know which of my LP-E6 were old and tired, both 3rd party and OEM. I did not want to be using old batts that would only take a 64% charge (yes I have one like that)

I charged every single one of my LP-E6 batteries, and then after charging, inserted them in my EOS body (5D4 or 7D2) and read the bodies battery info in the menu.

I then wrote on the battery in gold marker what the charge result was.

I used this charger.

Obviously the charger said 100%, and for the vast majority of the batteries I charged, both Canon and 3rd party (Wasabi and STK) the EOS body confirmed 100%. One was 98%

So no, I personally have not seen this issue.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #18428924
Did you find the plates sold alone? I have not
I was just lucky enough to have a fuji charger that came with my 3rd party batts using the same plates.
Let us know.

In the UK, ExpressPro sell their own Ex-Pro branded version through Amazon. There seems to be a good range of plates available for sale either with a base unit or separately. ExpressPro seem to be one of the best of the Chinese goods resellers. They appear to be pretty careful about what they choose to put their name on and offer a good service.

https://www.amazon.co.​uk …smid=A15TW43BF9​Y9WW&psc=1

KeithS wrote in post #18428683
CDS.....There are several reviewers on Amazon who claim that this charger will not fully charge a non OEM Canon battery. Have you noticed this issue?

If I counted correctly there are two reviews out of 41 that mentioned this. I'm more inclined that they used the charger on the default "L" or slow setting and just didn't allow sufficient time for the charge cycle to complete. I've decided to purchase one primarily for the feature to allow use in a car. The ability to do two batteries is also desirable.

Some searching by the way indicates this is also bundled with two LP-E6 equivalents for $51. See https://www.amazon.com …&keywords=90088​852+neewer. Actually only one is shown in stock so you can get the bundle from Neewer direct at http://www.neewer.com/​90088852.html.