Battery Grip

[DaveD90]

I just recently purchased a battery grip. I have one Nikon EN-EL3e Rechargeable Li-ion Battery and another 3rd party battery the same type. When I use the battery grip it will not work when both batteries are in. If I take out the third party battery it works fine. Is this in issue with just this battery and if I have two Nikon branded batteries will it work fine? With a battery grip is just one battery in use and the 2nd simply for storage and you have to move over a slot? Please advise. Thanks

 

[JeffCole]

That's why I stick with Nikons batteries, I'm pretty sure that's why it's not working for you. It's my understanding from both the manual and actual usage that the battery with a lower charge is used first then the second battery is used, doesn't matter which side the battery is located. This is a Nikon grip right?
--
Jeff
http://www.jeffcole.smugmug.com

 

[DaveD90]

Thanks for the info. It is not a Nikon brand grip its a 3rd party Jennis one. Do you think having two Nikon brand batteries would make the difference? I think its pretty strange.

 

[Patco]

Thanks for the info. It is not a Nikon brand grip its a 3rd party Jennis one. Do you think having two Nikon brand batteries would make the difference? I think its pretty strange.

I think it's possible.

I've read reports of 3rd party batteries not working in the grip and/or the D90 body.

--
Patco
A photograph is more than a bunch of pixels

 

[DaveD90]

Cool. Thanks. I am just going to order another Nikon and use the 3rd party one as a spare. With a grip can you see what battery is on or the amount of charge on both?

 

[JeffCole]

Cool. Thanks. I am just going to order another Nikon and use the 3rd party one as a spare. With a grip can you see what battery is on or the amount of charge on both?

I'm guessing this Jennis grip is on a D90? If the Jennis grip functions the same as the Nikon MB-D80 then it will show the amount of charge on both batteries in the grip.
--
Jeff
http://www.jeffcole.smugmug.com

 

[Nosbigdivad]

Dave...I got a non Nikon Battery grip for my D5000 from Linkdelight, with two non Nikon batteries too.

The grip works with a mixture of non Nikon and Nikon batteries so you have a strange phenomenen going on there. Good luck with solving it

 

[DaveD90]

Jeff, it is the grip for the D80. It said it was for the D80/D90. That was a concern I had when I started having issues.

 

[Ben Seese]

Jeff, it is the grip for the D80. It said it was for the D80/D90. That was a concern I had when I started having issues.

Dave, I sometimes use the Jenis grip on my D90. All grips that work on the D90 also work on the D80 & vice-versa. No worries there.

With my Nikon-brand batteries, the Jenis works perfectly as designed, automatically using the weaker battery, whichever slot it's in. And the Battery Info menu shows properly the power level of each, and a box around the one being used.

You don't explicitly mention it -- have you tried your off-brand battery directly in the camera, and have you swapped the slots that you put the Nikon & off-brand into the grip, and have you tried the off-brand alone in each slot? Only after testing all those combos would I definitively say that the problem is your spare battery.

--
http://www.benseese.com

 

[DaveD90]

Thanks. I did try the 3rd party battery alone and it will not work. I tried this in both slots alone and switching them in conjunction with the Nikon battery. I am pretty confident now that it needs to be two Nikons. The spare does work by itself in the camera though which is frustrating!

 

[DaveD90]

I bought a Nikon battery and all is well!