BP511 Battery question

Steve Mills38027 · Apr 16, 2002

I have a D60 and G1 and three of the BP511 batteries, plus the charger that came with the D60 kit. Is it OK to leave the batteries stored on the charger after they are fully charged or should I remove them from the charger?--Steve

Ginny Johnson · Apr 16, 2002

Steve Mills said:
I have a D60 and G1 and three of the BP511 batteries, plus the
charger that came with the D60 kit. Is it OK to leave the batteries
stored on the charger after they are fully charged or should I
remove them from the charger?
--
Steve

The D60 manual says "To protect battery packs and prevent loss of capacity, do not charge them continuously for more than 24 hours."

Michael

Steve Mills38027 · Apr 16, 2002

Michael J. Walters said:
The D60 manual says "To protect battery packs and prevent loss of
capacity, do not charge them continuously for more than 24 hours."

Michael

Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge. Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3 weeks?
--Steve

Ginny Johnson · Apr 17, 2002

Steve Mills38027 said:
Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have
any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge.
Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3
weeks?

--
Steve

Well, I've only been using the BP511 for about a week. My first battery is on its first charge with about 250 images. I haven't even got to the second battery yet. That is a good question though. I charged the second battery the same time as the first. It will probably sit idle for about 2 weeks. I let you know what I find.

Michael

Scotty B · Apr 17, 2002

This might help...

I recharged my 3 BP511's about a month ago (2 for the grip and 1 backup).

This weekend, a friend brought his D30 over to be checked for what he thought was a problem. But he forgot to bring a battery.

So I stuck the spare in it, it reads full charge, and I have been shooting his camera all week (probably 400 frames at this point) and it still says full charge.

((BTW, the "problem" was he blundered into the menu and reset the "sleep" time and thought his camera was defective because it "never" turned itself off).

And definately DO NOT leave the batteries in the charger for longer than a couple of hours after they show full charge if you can pull them then.

You won't see any immediate effect on your shooting, but in the long run you'll lose several months of life off the battery pack if you leave it on the charger too long repeatedly.

HTH,

--scott b.'Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.'-Ansel Adams

RichW · Apr 17, 2002

For those of you who have left your battery on the charger for more than a day, don't worry about a thing! I have left mine on for weeks at a time and they still work just fine! I don't think it makes the slightest difference. Even if it does you can buy a replacement for $39 at B&H. No reason to get paranoid.

Rich

Scotty B said:
This might help...

I recharged my 3 BP511's about a month ago (2 for the grip and 1
backup).

This weekend, a friend brought his D30 over to be checked for what
he thought was a problem. But he forgot to bring a battery.

So I stuck the spare in it, it reads full charge, and I have been
shooting his camera all week (probably 400 frames at this point)
and it still says full charge.

((BTW, the "problem" was he blundered into the menu and reset the
"sleep" time and thought his camera was defective because it
"never" turned itself off).

And definately DO NOT leave the batteries in the charger for
longer than a couple of hours after they show full charge if you
can pull them then.

You won't see any immediate effect on your shooting, but in the
long run you'll lose several months of life off the battery pack if
you leave it on the charger too long repeatedly.

HTH,

--
scott b.
'Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have
somebody click the shutter.'-Ansel Adams

JonnyBeGood · Apr 17, 2002

Hi Steve,
I have read somewhere, that lithium ion batteries loose
about 5% per week, when fully charged.
I dont know, if this is true for all batteries in different
sizes and if it is an average.

Juergen

Steve Mills said:
Michael J. Walters said:

The D60 manual says "To protect battery packs and prevent loss of
capacity, do not charge them continuously for more than 24 hours."

Michael

Click to expand...

Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have
any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge.
Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3
weeks?

--
Steve

Al Goldis · Apr 17, 2002

Lithium-ion batteries have the lowest rate of spontaneous discharge of any rechargeable batteries. They hold their charge very well. Ni-MH are the worst with Ni-Cad better but nearly as good as lith-ion.

Also, note that with the Canon charger, when the light stops blinking and turns steady red, the batteries are NOT fully charged. Canon recommends a minimum of one additional hour per battery. I consider this a design flaw of the charger; that light should indicate a full charge but does not.

Steve Mills said:
Michael J. Walters said:

The D60 manual says "To protect battery packs and prevent loss of
capacity, do not charge them continuously for more than 24 hours."

Michael

Click to expand...

Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have
any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge.
Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3
weeks?

--
Steve

Al Goldis · Apr 17, 2002

Al Goldis said:
Lithium-ion batteries have the lowest rate of spontaneous discharge
of any rechargeable batteries. They hold their charge very well.
Ni-MH are the worst with Ni-Cad better but nearly as good as
lith-ion.

Darn it, that should read "...better but not nearly as good..."

Al Goldis said:
Also, note that with the Canon charger, when the light stops
blinking and turns steady red, the batteries are NOT fully charged.
Canon recommends a minimum of one additional hour per battery. I
consider this a design flaw of the charger; that light should
indicate a full charge but does not.

Scotty B · Apr 17, 2002

Al Goldis said:
Al Goldis said:

Also, note that with the Canon charger, when the light stops
blinking and turns steady red, the batteries are NOT fully charged.
Canon recommends a minimum of one additional hour per battery. I
consider this a design flaw of the charger; that light should
indicate a full charge but does not.

Click to expand...

add that to the fact that it charges one battery at a time, so if you're recharging a pair for the grip, that great looking double charger takes just as long as a single charger. (the only advantage being it automatically switches to the 2nd battery, you don't have to babysit it).

Mark Lord · Apr 17, 2002

Steve Mills said:
Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have
any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge.
Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3
weeks?

According to the manual (read it!), yes. Canon recommends charging ON THE DAY of the shoot when possible.

Cheers

TroyB · Apr 17, 2002

My experience has been that if a battery sits 3-6 weeks without charging, and then is used for a long duration, such as a studio shoot, it will have noticeably reduced capacity. This is in keeping with the (true) statement that a Li-Ion battery will lose 5% per week. Leaving the batteries a few days, or a week before using them does not noticeably shorten their usable number of shots in the camera.

The D30 and D60 are incredibly efficient, thanks to their CMOS sensors, and I seldom worry about battery life. I have yet to need more than 2 batteries in a day, even under extreme conditions, and extreme use.

Canon also did quite a good job of improving battery life on the G2… I was amazed at how much better battery life is despite it’s power hungry CCD sensor (over previous units I owned S20 and S300)

Juergen Schroll said:
Juergen

Steve Mills said:

Michael J. Walters said:

The D60 manual says "To protect battery packs and prevent loss of
capacity, do not charge them continuously for more than 24 hours."

Michael

Click to expand...

Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have
any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge.
Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3
weeks?

--
Steve

Click to expand...

Frank Patton · Apr 17, 2002

One IMPORTANT thing to mention here is that the batteries WILL discharge more quickly when left in the camera. I have both a G1 and a Pro90IS. If you leave the battery in the camera for a couple of days you might be surprised.... I believe that is the primary reason that Canon says charge them on the day you are going to shoot. I carry (3) 511's with me at all times. They are fine for extended periods if left out of the camera.

Frank

Mark Lord said:
Steve Mills said:

Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have
any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge.
Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3
weeks?

Click to expand...

According to the manual (read it!), yes. Canon recommends charging
ON THE DAY of the shoot when possible.

Cheers

Critter1 #80734 · Apr 17, 2002

I'm not sure what happened to me.

Two days ago, the battery was fully charged. Today, I picked up the camera and it was dead. No response from the on/off switch.

The battery was completely dead. And no, the power switch was in the off position. After recharging the battery, everything appears to be fine.

Frank Patton said:
Frank

Mark Lord said:

Steve Mills said:

Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have
any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge.
Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3
weeks?

Click to expand...

According to the manual (read it!), yes. Canon recommends charging
ON THE DAY of the shoot when possible.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Frank Patton · Apr 17, 2002

My message just previous to yours is the answer. I have had a Canon Pro70, and currently own a Pro90IS and G1. All of the Canons I have owned drain the battery if it is left in the camera. Make it a routine to remove the battery both after charging, and after a partial drain...

Frank

Critter1 said:
Frank Patton said:

Frank

Mark Lord said:

Steve Mills said:

Thanks Michael, I guess I missed that in the manual. Do you have
any idea how well a fully charged battery will hold its charge.
Will it lose a significant amount of its charge in, say, 2 or 3
weeks?

Click to expand...

According to the manual (read it!), yes. Canon recommends charging
ON THE DAY of the shoot when possible.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Mark Lord · Apr 18, 2002

Critter1 said:
I'm not sure what happened to me.
Two days ago, the battery was fully charged. Today, I picked up
the camera and it was dead.

Somewhere else it has been noted that if one changes lenses with the camera OFF, sometimes the camera (D30, probably D60) will enter a "high drain" mode and suck the battery dry much faster than usual. The solution was to simply turn the camera on, and then off again, after any lens change.

But the idea of completely removing the battery overnight sounds good.

-ml

Bob Jarman · Apr 18, 2002

Do the batts develop a memory? ie should we let them drain completely and recondition them on occasion?

Mark Lord said:
Critter1 said:

I'm not sure what happened to me.
Two days ago, the battery was fully charged. Today, I picked up
the camera and it was dead.

Click to expand...

Somewhere else it has been noted that if one changes lenses with
the camera OFF, sometimes the camera (D30, probably D60) will enter
a "high drain" mode and suck the battery dry much faster than
usual. The solution was to simply turn the camera on, and then off
again, after any lens change.

But the idea of completely removing the battery overnight sounds good.

-ml

Frank Patton · Apr 18, 2002

Do the batteries develop a memory?

Canon says emphatically "NO"! It's on their web site (support) somewhere, and I think covered in some of the reviews. The statement to that effect that I have seen is not wishy-washy, or filled with disclaimers. It was an absolute statement.

You can "overcharge" the batteries. If this is done it appears that the charging circuit (rather than the battery) can be fooled. Now I am referring to a Pro90IS or perhaps G1/G2 issue. The D60 uses an external charger.

I just had the firmware updated by Canon in my Pro90IS. The primary reason for the firmware update was to correct a situation where the camera/charger combination was "reading" an overcharged battery incorrectly and mishanding subsequent recharging of the same battery. That too is chronicled on their support site. That problem was in the firmware, not in the battery.

Frank

Bob Jarman said:
Mark Lord said:

Critter1 said:

I'm not sure what happened to me.
Two days ago, the battery was fully charged. Today, I picked up
the camera and it was dead.

Click to expand...

Somewhere else it has been noted that if one changes lenses with
the camera OFF, sometimes the camera (D30, probably D60) will enter
a "high drain" mode and suck the battery dry much faster than
usual. The solution was to simply turn the camera on, and then off
again, after any lens change.

But the idea of completely removing the battery overnight sounds good.

-ml

Click to expand...

Critter1 #80734 · Apr 18, 2002

I am quite certain that this explanation might fit the circumstances.

I had the camera attached to a long lens on a tripod, and when I was done, I put the 28-135 back on.

Other times I have left the battery in the camera for days and have not had a drain issue that I've noticed.

Mark Lord said:
Critter1 said:

I'm not sure what happened to me.
Two days ago, the battery was fully charged. Today, I picked up
the camera and it was dead.

Click to expand...

Somewhere else it has been noted that if one changes lenses with
the camera OFF, sometimes the camera (D30, probably D60) will enter
a "high drain" mode and suck the battery dry much faster than
usual. The solution was to simply turn the camera on, and then off
again, after any lens change.

But the idea of completely removing the battery overnight sounds good.

-ml

Critter1 #80734 · Apr 18, 2002

I'm not certain what happened, but this was a response to Mike Lord's post several layers above this one.

Critter1 said:
Other times I have left the battery in the camera for days and have
not had a drain issue that I've noticed.

Mark Lord said:

Critter1 said:

I'm not sure what happened to me.
Two days ago, the battery was fully charged. Today, I picked up
the camera and it was dead.

Click to expand...

Somewhere else it has been noted that if one changes lenses with
the camera OFF, sometimes the camera (D30, probably D60) will enter
a "high drain" mode and suck the battery dry much faster than
usual. The solution was to simply turn the camera on, and then off
again, after any lens change.

But the idea of completely removing the battery overnight sounds good.

-ml

Click to expand...

BP511 Battery question

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Senior Member

Forum Pro

JonnyBeGood

Guest

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Forum Enthusiast

Member

Leading Member

Forum Enthusiast

Leading Member

Forum Enthusiast

Leading Member

Leading Member

Forum Enthusiast

Forum Enthusiast

Keyboard shortcuts