50D battery problems

In my battery grip of my 50D, I can put a battery in the right slot and the battery power scale flashes half power. Put the battery in the left slot and the battery power read half power but not flashing. Take off the battery grip and put battery in the camera and shows half power and not flashing so basically I cannot use 2 batteries in my grip. Can someone tell me what is going on or am I doomed to just use 1 battery in the left slot or just in the camera?

That's weird... Are your batteries old or have they been recharged a lot? If so, they do wear out and might be due for replacement. I think I recall reading they are good for about 400 recharging cycles. That's just the first thing that comes to mind.

You might carefully clean all the electonic contacts, on the batteries and in the grip, as well as the grip-to-camera contacts. I'd use some isopropyl/rubbing alcohol, a few drops to dampen a clean cloth and wipe the various contacts.

It's possible too, that the charger is failing. I've heard of that happening, not charging the batteries fully.

Finally, have the batteries been sitting a long time? I had some that weren't used for quite a while and took several recharge/drain cycles to come back up to speed, they were so completely drained. The symptoms were that even though the charger showed the battery full the camera would turn on and only give a couple shots at most, before the battery showed drained and the camera shut down. One or two more times in the charger and then drained, they took a few more but showed partially charged quickly and didn't last long. But after a couple more charging/drain cycles they are working just fine and taking what appears to be a full charge.

I've had this happen with both Canon OEM and much cheaper clone batteries. Actually, the clone batteries, which are newer, bounced back faster.

I can clean the contacts but it only happens on the right slot inside the battery grip. Move the same battery over to the left slot everything looks fine, no flashing or anything.

Canon or third party grip? I had a Zeikos grip for my 50D that would not report battery charge correctly.

Tim S wrote in post #14215915
Canon or third party grip? I had a Zeikos grip for my 50D that would not report battery charge correctly.

Third party. Not sure what brand it is, just said model Canon 40D and it works on a 50D and said Made in China. No brand listed. Just started acting up 2 weeks ago. So you think that is the problem? I got it cause I could not afford a canon one. it is about 3 years old.

Just shot a wedding and got back a few hours ago. Had two batteries in my battery grip. Shot 5 hours, raw, and then it showed half capacity so I guess that sounds about right. I think it was the way I was attaching it to the camera, not getting it shoved up in there solid enough. I shoved it up there harder then usual and pressed it hard against my stomach as I tightened it up and then the batteries showed full charge until the 5 hour mark and this it jumped down to half power capacity so I guess that is normal. Short wedding, shot about 600 images.