G3 battery: can it wear out... what is a good replacement?

My battery (Canon BP511) has been very good until it recently started to empty much quicker. At first, I easily went out for a whole day without any battery problem. Today, I get low battery warnings after a couple of hours. I did not change my shooting behaviour (display is always on since the beginning) and I didn’t change to a micro-drive CF card or so.

I guess the battery is just getting old. Can that happen?



I started browsing the Internet for a replacement battery and was shocked with the price differences:



For a Canon BP511 I saw prices range from 17.50 euro (one site) to 85 euro (several sites). Such differences make me nervous. I don’t want to pay too much, but I also don’t want to buy bad stuff that heats up or whatever. Also I saw a BP511A battery for a little higher price. Is that one better?




So, any advice? Also, is there a good alternative for this battery, e.g. non Canon? But again, I don’t like to experiment. It must be safe and good quality.



Also, since my battery seems to have worn out, I don’t feel like buying second hand. Is that fair or was I unlucky with my battery?

Batteries definitely have a limited lifetime, in terms of both age and use. A LiIon battery will lose much of its capacity after 3 years, even with minimal or no use. I believe they also have a limited number of charge cycles.
Check www.batteryuniversity.​com for some great background information, and tips on making the most of future batteries.

There are a couple of threads on this forum about 3rd party batteries; sounds like some are great deals, and some are not. I bought a third-party battery as a spare, at about 1/2 the price of a Canon brand. I only use it when my primary battery dies, and once I get back to power, I recharge and go back to using the Canon. No noticeable problems with either in 2 years...

As for the BP511A, it simply has a higher amp hour rating, meaning it will last longer in a given device than a normal BP511. The 511 is rated for 1100mAh, while the 511A is rated for 1390. Probably not worth spending much more money on, imho.

I've had very good luck with the BP-511 from SterlingTek but I don't know if they ship overseas - yep, they say they do. The batteries are not very much and seem to last as long as Canon. One caveat, some of the 3rd party batteries have been said to "overheat" if charged in the camera. You might want to purchase an AC/DC battery charger if you are going to use 3rd party batteries.
Gil

http://www.sterlingtek​.com/candigcamac.html

They do ship overseas. Not the quickest but very cheap. If Holland is anything like Sweden, customs don't bother when the value is low. God, I love buying on the Net.

Correction. Shipping time was normal, about a week. I was thinking of something else.

Before throwing your battery away, try this. Get a pencil with a good eraser and clean the contacts on both the battery and inside the camera. When my batteries show the red 'low battery light' They'll re-charge almost immediately after I plug them into the camera charger, and then be good for only about ten shots.

Then I clean the contacts and they'll take about three hours to get to a full charge. This happens with both my Canon and Sterling batteries. They're about a year and one-half old and I change them every month -- have taken almost 5000 pics with both.

Richard

I've been running two (2) Sterling Teks for quite a while. I'd have to actually look it up, to be accurate, but they work in our G-1's...just fine. I have a couple of $30 ones I bought, between the Canon "Gold Plated" ones and the Sterling Teks. I have been keeping some records and *I* am convinced that what wears out Lithium Ion batteries is the act of charging. I do not take a battery out of a camera until the camera actually STOPS. Oh, there are times I don't want to be fiddling with a battery change, but almost always we change on a battery that wont run the camera. Then charge. Never 'top off'.. This is empirical data, my experience, and I don't swear by it, nor argue with someone else's results.

I believe I read that somewhere.....about depleting the batteries fully. I bought a pair on generic batteries on ebay for 20.00....BP 511. They seem fine....At this rate, I can have five of those worn out before it costs the same as an Canon battery. Isn't it always true that brand name costs more? Even if manufactured by the same company. Worst case scenario is that a crappy battery would leak in the camera. That would be bad.

Ray

I'm going to 'disect' the next BP-511 here that wears out...see what IS in there. It may be that there is nothing 'liquid' to leak out at any time... The 'gell' in a gell cell battery is like thick jelly.

Happy Don Messer Day.....

Check http://www.sparkybruce​.com/sony_info/BP71.ht​m for a partially dissected pack. Based on the size and shape of the BP511s, it may be just two cells.

Also, futher warnings on getting inside the cells themselves:
http://www.ulbi.com/ms​dsheets/MSDS051_UBBL07​.pdf
There's some toxic and reactive stuff in there--not something I'd mess with, personally.

Thanks for the info.... from the physical shape of a BP-511, I thought there would be at least two cells in there...Maybe four... Anyway, when I get a likely candidate, I'll carve open the brown plastic and see. Then... I'll epoxy one to a piece of board, tack that into a tree, and see what happens when a .22 bullet smacks it !! Yeahhhhh.....

Please post pictures of the result

(heh-heh)...**IF** I can figure out how to do that... But the way the batteries are going, it will not be soon...

Also, based on the voltage it is most likely 2 cells.

BTW
I have found that the Power 2000 batteries are better price/performance than the Canon ones, mine are still performing well after 16 months.