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Will a BP-511A battery damage a 5D Mk3?

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OKC4me

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Had my first opportunity to test out a (borrowed) 5D Mk3 this weekend, alongside my trusty 40D. In the midst of a theatre shoot, I loaded a 40D battery (BP-511A) into the Mk3. It slid in and latched easily, but the camera didn't turn on. So, I pulled the battery and waited for the LP-E6 to recharge. With the LP-E6 now fully charged, the camera still won't turn on.

Per suggestion from Canon tech support, I tried removing the coin cell battery to flush any error states, without success. Both Canon's phone tech and engineer were surprised that the older battery fit into the 5D.

Peering into the battery compartment, I don't see any bent contacts. Is is possible that the 5D is damaged? If so, it seems an awful oversight by Canon to design batteries that are so similar in form and fit, but not function.

Thanks!
 
Solution
V
Do you see all four pins? The most important ones are the power pins, which are the two right in the middle. They need to be sticking up enough to make contact with the terminals on the battery. They're recessed into the battery to prevent unfortunate short circuits resulting in batteries burning up.

When you inserted the BP-511 you may have bent one or both of those pins enough that it can't reach the terminal. The solution would be to bend it back up, admittedly a tricky operation.

You may want to ship it to Canon for cleaning, calibration, etc. If there's a bent pin that's not broken, they may fix that free of charge. If it is broken, maybe they'd consider it a warranty item, although usually broken pins are considered user error...
I don't think it should, the voltage is the same @ 7.4v although the LP-E6 has a higher capacity for more shots per charge. How long did you leave the 3v lithium cell out for ? I would say give it at least a couple of minutes to allow the in-camera circuit to discharge fully.
 
GordonAtWork said:
GordonAtWork wrote:

I don't think it should, the voltage is the same @ 7.4v although the LP-E6 has a higher capacity for more shots per charge. How long did you leave the 3v lithium cell out for ? I would say give it at least a couple of minutes to allow the in-camera circuit to discharge fully.
Click to expand...
 
Do you see all four pins? The most important ones are the power pins, which are the two right in the middle. They need to be sticking up enough to make contact with the terminals on the battery. They're recessed into the battery to prevent unfortunate short circuits resulting in batteries burning up.

When you inserted the BP-511 you may have bent one or both of those pins enough that it can't reach the terminal. The solution would be to bend it back up, admittedly a tricky operation.

You may want to ship it to Canon for cleaning, calibration, etc. If there's a bent pin that's not broken, they may fix that free of charge. If it is broken, maybe they'd consider it a warranty item, although usually broken pins are considered user error, I think.
 
Solution
6cc2ebe03be64179ae66d020ae9d4981.jpg

Thank you for the helpful responses. It turns out the power contacts inside the battery compartment were recessed - probably from inserting the BP-511A battery. Using tweezers, I lifted them back to their normal position. The attached pic shows them in their "fully upright position". If they are spring loaded, then I'm not sure why they didn't pop back up on their own. Regardless, the camera powered back up and seems no worse for the wear.

Again, thanks for helping me out of a jam.
 
OKC4me said:
OKC4me wrote:

6cc2ebe03be64179ae66d020ae9d4981.jpg

Thank you for the helpful responses. It turns out the power contacts inside the battery compartment were recessed - probably from inserting the BP-511A battery. Using tweezers, I lifted them back to their normal position. The attached pic shows them in their "fully upright position". If they are spring loaded, then I'm not sure why they didn't pop back up on their own. Regardless, the camera powered back up and seems no worse for the wear.

Again, thanks for helping me out of a jam.
Click to expand...
Glad you got it straightened out without a trip to Canon. I be what happened is that although it's spring loaded, it expects to be aligned just right. The wrong battery probably pushed it to the side when it was recessed, which allowed it to get hung up on the housing. Maybe dropping the camera would have fixed it. :-P

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