350D - Power Drain?

I bought the Digital Rebel XT 350D last year and as far as battery life was concerned everything appeared normal, that is to say the length of the battery life didn't seem unusually short. Gradually, however, I began to notice that even if after popping in a fully charged NB-2LH and snapping, say, no more than 10 shots, the camera would not turn on indicating to me that the battery was dead. This went on for several frustrating months. It got to a point when I simply could not rely on the camera to be there when I needed it. I could replace it with a fully charged batter in the morning and by noon it was dead.

I finally sent it to CAnon and they returned it to me yesterday. I charged up the batteries (same ones, by the way) and put them in, snapped a few pictures and turned off the camera. Ten hours later I went to turn on the camera and it wouldn't turn on.

Is this normal? Seems to me I should get a longer usuage out of the battery. Is something still wrong with this camera?

Please, please, please can anyone help me?

Could be with the batteries or your charger as well. Do you have access to another charger you can try?

lindalee5445 wrote in post #2261511
...Gradually, however, I began to notice that even if after popping in a fully charged NB-2LH and snapping, say, no more than 10 shots, the camera would not turn on indicating to me that the battery was dead.....
I finally sent it to CAnon and they returned it to me yesterday. I charged up the batteries (same ones, by the way) and put them in, snapped a few pictures and turned off the camera. Ten hours later I went to turn on the camera and it wouldn't turn on.

Is this normal? Seems to me I should get a longer usuage out of the battery. Is something still wrong with this camera?

Please, please, please can anyone help me?

Lithium-Ion behave differently that other batteries. They have fixed shelf life, they have a limited # of charges ranging from maybe 300-500, they hate heat and keeping a battery in a charger limits the number of times they can be recharged as does storing the battery with a full charge. To your question, is it normal? Well it can be depending on what has happened to the battery over its lifespan. A year for a heavily used Li-ion battery can be normal if it’s used every day, recharged all night long, left on the dash of the car in the summer, or was already old when you got it. There are many variables, too many to accurately answer your question.
Now the second part of you question, is it the camera, you can test that by putting another known good battery into the camera. If it works properly, it is your battery. If it exhibits the same shot duration, it is your camera.
One last note, it is it your camera and its draining in a short time, this can be dangerous. One of the little quirks of lithium-ion batteries is that the hate being shorted and can overheat, bursting and messing up the camera quite badly. Search the web on these exploding laptop batteries for some example pics of what happened when a battery overheats.

Thanks for the reply everyone. I'll try getting a new set of batteries and take it from there. I am guilty of leaving the battery in the charger for extended periods of time. Is that really harmful to the batteries?

Go here for some replacements:

www.sterlingtek.com

Then once you have a nice assortment of replacement batteries give them all a good charge and I would be willing to get your issue goes away. The Sterlingtek's that I use have a higher mAH rating than their Canon-branded counterparts and that means longer life in my camera. Your Canon's are rated at somewhere near 720 mAH and the Sterlingtek's are at 1500 mAH......thats more 'gas in the tank' for your photo taking pleasure.

lindalee5445 wrote in post #2261740
Thanks for the reply everyone. I'll try getting a new set of batteries and take it from there. I am guilty of leaving the battery in the charger for extended periods of time. Is that really harmful to the batteries?

It's not harmful per say as lithium-ion batteries can not be overcharged. That’s one of their pluses. But heat generated as the electrons constantly flow through the battery does reduce its life span.

Okay. Got the Sterlingtek batteries which arrived yesterday, charged them, put them in the camera, camera turned on and operated fine. 15 hours later, no power. Same problem. I'm also assuming that when the green light on the battery charger turns on, it means the battery is fully charged? I'm really starting to get frustrated now. As you know, this wasn't a cheap buy.

What do you think?

I'm calling United Camera, the folks I originally sent the camera for repair a call today.

DOn't pull the batteries from the charger right after the light changes; leave 'em in for several more hours, at least the first time.

I called the Sterlingtek people and they said that the CAnon EOS is a notorious juice-consumer. He suggested a) removing the batteries when not actually using the camera, such as at night, and b) give the batteries at least 4 charge cycles.

Am I the only one having problems like this with the EOS?

When I DO actually get to use the camera, I've had beautiful results with it. Such a shame.

lindalee5445 wrote in post #2276340
Okay. Got the Sterlingtek batteries which arrived yesterday, charged them, put them in the camera, camera turned on and operated fine. 15 hours later, no power. Same problem. I'm also assuming that when the green light on the battery charger turns on, it means the battery is fully charged? I'm really starting to get frustrated now. As you know, this wasn't a cheap buy.

What do you think?

I'm calling United Camera, the folks I originally sent the camera for repair a call today.

Hmmm... Maybe it's the charger?

Jon wrote in post #2276362
DOn't pull the batteries from the charger right after the light changes; leave 'em in for several more hours, at least the first time.

As Jon says, they should charge for a few hours at least. If you have a volt meter, you could measure the voltage across the terminals right after charging. It should read somewhere around 8 volts. Then wait overnight and measure again. If it reads significantly less, then sure enough the camera is discharging you batteries.

lindalee5445 wrote in post #2276428
I called the Sterlingtek people and they said that the CAnon EOS is a notorious juice-consumer. He suggested a) removing the batteries when not actually using the camera, such as at night, and b) give the batteries at least 4 charge cycles.

Am I the only one having problems like this with the EOS?

When I DO actually get to use the camera, I've had beautiful results with it. Such a shame.

Which EOS? My current batteries have been in the camera for about a month, with the camera turned on. That's 2 cameras, 2 batteries, probably not even the same brand. Typically they run for 4-600 shots min. unless I've been really heavy on night shots with IS on, hence long exposures.

EOS Digital Rebel 350D.
Actually, after fully charging (left on it on the charger for a few hours) the battery putting it in the camera and snapping a few shots, then removing the battery for a couple of days, I put the battery back in and it was still fully charged. I don't intend to take the battery out every single time I pause between taking pictures, but I think it would be safe to remove them at night.

Funny, but from what I've read, some people with the same camera don't have this problem.

I would say that you have a unique problem with your specific camera - what you are describing even with the brand new batteries is NOT acceptable beahviour from a Rebel XT or any other Canon DSLR for that matter. I really do not think that any new battery buying/charging gameplan is going to solve this problem - I think that the problem lies within the circuitry of your camera. I can go weeks on a single charge in my 10D if I use it intermittantly in that timeframe.

I think that your camera needs to be properly repaired or replaced. It is working in an unacceptable manner right now.

Hi LindaLee,

I have had a 350D for about 6 months now. I have shot a few weddings and stage performances.

I have two batteries (NB2LH). They give me around 500 shots each before needing to recharge.

Sounds like somethings wrong with either your charger or camera!

Regards,

-Sam

I get a somehting near one THOUSAND pictures out of my bateries per charge...if its not the bateries its your camera, take it back and tell them you want a new one cuz it AINT RIGHT!