Canon M6 mark II with internal battery broken

? Clock/date resets to zero? If that's the only problem when the internal battery has failed then it's a pain-in-the-assets, but not a total functional failure. Can someone confirm that there isn't a deeper issue with the battery failure? other preset values that disappear?

The camera is fully functional, the only issue is that when you take the main battery out, the time, date will reset. If you leave the battery in and charge through the usb, then it will not reset. But, if you take the battery out to charge like I do, then it resets and is super annoying..... Otherwise this is an awesome camera.

Thanks. Got it. Can you recharge via USB while on the go with something like an Anker powerbank? Don't know if they need to have some power delivery rating to do that.

MMuddler said:

Don't know if they need to have some power delivery rating to do that.

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My M6ii only charges internally with my Macbook 96w and Pixel 18w PD USBC bricks. Aftermarket LP-E17 cells will not charge internally (but seem to deliver just as much energy/perform just as well as the Canon OE battery otherwise).

For clarity, requirements for charging the M6ii by its USB port appear to be:

1. A genuine Canon LP-E17 battery

2. A Power Delivery-capable USBC charger

ichiu said:

The camera is fully functional, the only issue is that when you take the main battery out, the time, date will reset. If you leave the battery in and charge through the usb, then it will not reset. But, if you take the battery out to charge like I do, then it resets and is super annoying..... Otherwise this is an awesome camera.

Click to expand...

I can see that it wouldnbe annoying to have to re-enter date & time after popping out the battery... but if you are connecting to the Canon Connect app doesn't it automatically update the time to what is on your cel phone?

Or... and this is a real stinker if it applies... perhaps when the internal battery dies there is no way for the camera to retain the log-in data that reconnects the camera to your phone via Bluetooth! Catch-22 for you old buzzards like me. Now you have lost not just the date & time but also the pairing data and internet reconnect data that you enter when you first establish the connection between the M6mk2 and your phone. Hope I'm wrong.

--
Marabou Muddler

I find a range of usb-C sources can charge, I mostly use the usb-c base and cable from an OM System OM-1. That’s usually charging a larger battery but I’m guessing the stability and surge protection are good. I also use that for an R8, both with canon batteries, I wouldn't try and don’t think the camera would charge 3rd party batteries.

I have the grandaddy of your camera, the M50 (Mk one). It began "forgetting" what day it is a year ago. I don't remember when I bought it, but it's been quite a while. Two months after I bought it, Canon cut the price by $200 and included the EF-M adapter. A few months after that, they released the M50 Mk 2. OK, end of rant.

I found last year that if I left it without a battery overnight, the date/time had to be set again. Other settings like my four custom menus, the last ISO I used, etc. were not lost. Presumably those are stored in ROM. However, if I take out the battery and replace it right away, the date/time were retained. I asked Canon support about it, and the response was that I should send the camera for repair at my expense. No thanks. I have two batteries, so I just make sure there's one in the camera all the time.

Not a solution, I know. Our other Canon cameras have replaceable button batteries.

Unless I've missed something, I am quite astonished that none of the people who noted that this internal battery replacement was possible has bothered to put up a video of the process. It so reminds me of claims made over the internet when I was director of research computing about how you fix file systems that are broken, etc. Postings were simply cuts and pastes of other postings. I don't mean to be unfair, but I assumed this forum was to share knowledge. Simply saying a thing can be done doesn't feel like it's doing that.

This is your opportunity to dive into it and be a trailblazer. :-D

Well that's a good thought. I spent a ridiculous amount, when it happened, to get a refurbished one., because that's all Canon had to offer. I'd be interested, but taking apart a working M6MKii feels like performing surgery on a living person just to see where their organs are. But I'll say this -- if it happens again, I will.

heuristik said:

Well that's a good thought. I spent a ridiculous amount, when it happened, to get a refurbished one., because that's all Canon had to offer. I'd be interested, but taking apart a working M6MKii feels like performing surgery on a living person just to see where their organs are. But I'll say this -- if it happens again, I will.

Click to expand...

Did you try sending your original M6 II into Canon for repair?

When this originally happened, I brought it to Hunt's Camera in Boston, who is an authorized Canon repair dealer. After they did all of the normal "fixes" suggested here, they attempted to send it to Canon for the repair --- but Canon wanted to change out the mother board. But since the camera was near the end of it's production life (or maybe it was already past), all Canon had to offer was a refurbished M6MKii. I paid the price, but from what I've read, there really seems to be a defect that Canon didn't acknowledge. I've had T3i, 70d, and 80d, as well as a few other M-series. None of them ever lost the date/time settings. (Also a SONY A7R3). and look at how many in this forum have had the same problem.

My M6II is now losing the day/date/time settings on swapping out the main battery for a fresh one. Started happening a couple of days ago, reverting back to 2020. I am not going to worry about it. All hardware fails eventually, and button batteries are no exception. It is a fine camera in all other regards, with decent glass to couple with it. Resetting the date etc., scarcely takes a few moments.

My hands are too shaky to tackle the delicate prospect of delving into the camera. If I did succeed, I would worry about dust ingress whilst it was apart. I worry about that possibility, just swapping to a different lens.

My camera was bought (new) in December 2019.

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Canon's not the only one.... my Nikon D810, ehich I bought used recently does the same thing..... internal battery is not recharging and it is not accessible without a complete teardown..... so, terrible......

When it happened to my M6ii I was very disappointed, grumpy, bought an m200 as an insurance backup, it's a light body but I really miss the controls, FV mode, more bracketing. But now, I haven't taken the battery out for a year, I recharge using USB-C (not canon's cable), and it does not limit me at all. I don't shoot hours on end with this camera, so I don't have to change battery often, but I use it often, it's still my main camera for everything other than birds or bugs, even though the R8 is kind of better in most every way, but R8 with 50 1.8 is larger, even if it is lighter, and I don't like my images as much, and every other lens combination is much bulkier (R8 with 24-105 vs M6ii with 18-150, R8 with 85f2 vs M6ii with Sigma 56/1.4, R8 with 100-400 vs M6ii with 55-250STM).

Keeping it charged via USB is usually a good solution -- except on a long day out, LP-17 battery just doesn't last very long -- I suppose I could bring a power brick to keep it continuously charged, or almost so. In the realm of possibly bad things, this is hardly the worst. It's just that I'd never had ity happen with any of my previous cameras (and I did go through a bunch of iterations of M-series Canon cameras. I sure do wish theM6ii had a big battery like my SONY, but then again, the camera would be heavier. So here's my usual thought -- in this world, there are no solutions, only tradeoffs. (Ok, exaggerated, but fun to say.)

I own two M6 Mark II bodies that I use for travel; incredible good results at low ISO with Canon 11-22mm, Sigma 30mm f1.4 and 56mm f1.4. One of the two bodies started to have the well known issue with the clock battery; searching on the web I've finally found a video that shows bit by bit how to tear down the camera; at min 8:40 the small battery seems to be visible on the left side. I've ordered a new battery to replace the faulty one, in the next days I'll try to replace it.

The full video is here:

I’m so glad you decided to do this and also put up the video. The web is littered with people who claim, on the basis of a friend or some other reporting, that “this how to fix it.” Now we’ll gave your video and your experience trying to implement it. Then we’ll see also how good a person needs to be at electronic repair too. So thank you in advance. (I “paid” Canon a few years ago when all they could was exchange my camera with this problem for a refurbed version. You do have to ask what it would have taken for the designers to make this an easily serviceable repair. But that’s another corporate world discussion

I have already used the video tutorial posted to replace the front cover of one of the M6 mark II I own, the one with the "still good" clock battery. The rubber of the front cover was damaged; it probably soaked some oil or sweat during last hot summer trip in Japan; as a result the rubber in one corner "grown" in size until it started to break away from the chassis; it was impossible to re-glue it because the rubber was larger than needed, so I decided to buy an original Canon EOS M6 Mark II new front cover on ebay and followed the tutorial to replace it. I am not an electronic repairman but I have good manual skills and a decent, though not professional, tool kit bought on Amazon (see pic of a similar one). Everything worked. You have to remember the exact position of every single screw since many of them are similar but not of the same lenght; I suggest to number each single screw and took a pic of the exact positioning. Pay attention to the flat connectors when removing the back panel (Min 3:35 of the disassembling video) and mostly when reassembling the camera, they are quite delicate and you have little space and visibility to work, a magnifier helps a lot. I add another video to see how to replace an ML614 battery; it's about a Nikon camera but the battery removal system is the same. That said, placing a clock battery so deep inside the camera according to me it's a design error, in addition to that Canon decided to use a type of battery that was discontinued more or less while Canon was still selling the last EOS M6 mark II cameras. Here in Europe it’s quite impossible to find an ML614 so I asked Canon Europe to help me in finding one; they told me they don’t sell spare parts and can only repair cameras; unfortunately the price required by an “economic” third party repair company was 150 euro, so I didn’t even try to ask Canon Europe a cost estimate. That's why I'll try to replace it on my own!

Video for ML614 battery replacement:

I just discovered that I also have a problem with this internal memory battery on my Canon EOS M6MKII. Since I live in the EU my Google search brought up several sites within the EU offering the ML614. Ebay.nl shows multiple listings for the ML614. This one: Brand New Seiko MS614SE 3V Rechargeable lithium battery, ML614, caught my eye because it is rechargeable. Any idea if this will work and be recharged in the camera?