Recharge performance

Can anyone bring some light to recharge performance on a canon OEM battery? I have a canon lp-e6 that had only 2 green bars after only 4000 actuations...what's the deal. Is this have to do with the way I'm charging and discharging the battery?

Hrm,

You took 4,000 actuations and it only used essentially 50% battery capacity per the monitor? I'd say good deal!

Battery performance does degrade over time and it does matter how it's discharged & recharged. Ltihium cells don't like being fully discharged and it can cause them to lose some performance over time. And the cells themselves are not forever, so over time, they degrade and will not have the same capacity anyways. You also have to consider the camera unit itself and how it measures the capacity as sometimes it's not correct/perfect in how it does so either.

Very best,

I think Martin has misunderstood your problem. He seems to think you are referring to 'remaining capacity'. I believe you are asking about 'recharge performance'. Remaining capacity is a battery with 4 white, slanted bars. Recharge performance is three green (or not) boxes.

I've had several Canon batteries go down to 2 green boxes at around the same number of shots as yours. My 60D's original Canon battery went to 2 green boxes relatively quickly. I'm guessing, but less than 5,000. I rotated it in sequence with two Wasabi batteries. At about 15,000 shots, the Canon battery went to 1 red box. I kept it in rotation with the two Wasabis. It continued to perform without noticeable degradation until I sold the 60D.

Enter the 70D. That camera p!$$ed me off. As you can probably guess, most shots on the body were test shots. I used it very little for 'real' shooting. I only had it for several months. By the time I sold it, the battery was down to 2 green boxes. Both Wasabis were still showing 3 green boxes.

Enter the 6D. I've had it two years. I rotate its Canon battery with the same two Wasabi batteries I used in my 60D. At 20,000 shots, the Canon battery is now showing 2 green boxes. I can't recall when that started. Both Wasabis are still presenting with 3 green boxes.

I have no idea what this means about Canon or Wasabi batteries. I estimate that the Canon batteries go to 2 green boxes at around 3-5,000 shots, and 1 red box around 7-10,000 shots. They continue to work just fine with 1 red box. If my assumptions about my shooting are accurate, the Wasabis each have 10-15,000 shots on them. They may last as long as my 6D does. They may die tomorrow. I'll shoot them as long as they hold a charge for a few days.

Since I have 3 LP-E6 batteries, I always use them down to 20% or less before re-charging. If I take one out at 19% or so, I do NOT charge it. I only recharge one of the not-in-camera batteries if I have a shoot planned. I check the discharged batteries about once a month. I've never noticed any of them losing more than 1-2% over that time. If one does get below 10%, I recharge that one whether I need to use it or not.

Hope some of this helps.

Bassat wrote in post #18075992
I think Martin has misunderstood your problem.

Yes.

Same with my 7D, original battery, bought in early 2009.