Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV Locked

Started Aug 22, 2011 | Discussions
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ArdonRebel Regular Member • Posts: 130
Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

Hi Guys,

I already searched the forum but can not find a direct matching post reflecting my problem.

Bought a 1DMarkIV last April and some weeks after that a second genuine Canon LP-E4 battery. Both batteries worked just fine for all these months.

Now as I went out last Saturday to shoot realizing I had 33% juice left for the battery in use, I fully charged the other one. So far so good.

The 33% battery covered last Saturday's shooting so I left the fully charged one alone. Now yesterday I finally wanted to flash the 1DMarkIV to 1.10 (I was still running 1.0.8) and as used to with my 5D MarkII, I took the fully charged LP-E4 and inserted it.

The 1DMarkIV stayed stone dead?! Took the '33%' LP-E4 again and the 1DMarkIV was alive so I decided to put the fully charged one into the charger (LC-E4). At first it looked as if it started charging but after some seconds all 'charging leds' started blinking green in sync.
The 33% one would start recharging just fine.

According to the 1DMarkIV manual that means the battery believes it is operating out of the allowed temperature range to charge. Page 31: 'If all three charge level indicators blink in green, it means that the battery's internal temperature is not 0-40 degrees celcius/32-104 Fahrenheit. The battery will start recharging when the internal temperature is within 0-40 degrees celcius/32-104 Fahrenheit.'

Seemed odd as both batteries were in the same room for several hours (12+) and ambient temperature was around 25 degrees celcius (77Fahrenheit).

I then cooled down the bad LP-E4 in the fridge for about 30 minutes (7 Celcius/44Fahrenheit) just as a last resort and out of curiosity.

Out of two tries it suddenly would power on the 1DMarkIV and also charge again. The joy did not last for long. After two shots the 1DMarkIV died again Inserting the 33% LP-E4 again and all worked fine pointing 100% to a battery problem.

Last night I left the bad LP-E4 lying on a shelf in the living room but still no go with that one.

Now I can not tell which battery has gone bad, the original one as shipped with the 1DMarkIV or the one I bought seperately as the carton box does not show a seriel number and the 1DMarkIV does not show any specific battery info (like my 5DMarkII WOULD).

Now I can go two directions. Contact CPS (I am a Gold Member) and report the battery or go back to the store where I bought the second LP-E4.
The store is nearby but.......(and I will pas by in one hour):

1-Chances they have a spare LP-E4 seems slim
2-The personal is rather lacking expertise

I am still lucky this all did not happen next week when I have a longer shoot (EK Triathlon).

Question(s):

1-Anyone having similar LP-E4 problems?
2-Experience with CPS regarding LP-E4 exchanges?

Thanks in advance.

PhotoKhan Forum Pro • Posts: 11,950
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

With the battery in camera go to the "Set-up 2" menu (yellow) and, there, to Battery information.

The item "Recharge Performance" will tell you the overall condition of the battery. If there's' just one of the 3 dots filled, in red, the battery has a problem and should be exchanged.

If it shows 3 green dots, it is, most probably alright and the incident was just either a fluke or a calibration problem.

To rule out the calibration hypothesis, just insert the offending battery in the charger (if you still can't say which is which, do it on both) and perform a calibration by pressing the appropriate button.

Hope this helps!

PK
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OP ArdonRebel Regular Member • Posts: 130
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

PhotoKhan wrote:

With the battery in camera go to the "Set-up 2" menu (yellow) and, there, to Battery information.

The item "Recharge Performance" will tell you the overall condition of the battery. If there's' just one of the 3 dots filled, in red, the battery has a problem and should be exchanged.

If it shows 3 green dots, it is, most probably alright and the incident was just either a fluke or a calibration problem.

To rule out the calibration hypothesis, just insert the offending battery in the charger (if you still can't say which is which, do it on both) and perform a calibration by pressing the appropriate button.

Hope this helps!

Thanks but right now I can not get the bad LP-E4 even to power on the 1DMarkIV at all. Putting it on the charger at first it seems it is charging (50% and 80% ones solid green and the 100% blinking plus the Charging LED is solid green)but after 5 seconds or so all charging leds are blinking green again.

I am heading for the store now see if they have on the shelf. Bringing both batteries, camera, charger so I can show them.

PK
--
“Loose praise may feed my ego but constructive criticism advances my skills”
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(PBase Supporter)
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PhotoKhan Forum Pro • Posts: 11,950
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

Have you tried pressing the calibration button?

(Calibration takes up to 10 hours.)

PK

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OP ArdonRebel Regular Member • Posts: 130
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

PhotoKhan wrote:

Have you tried pressing the calibration button?

(Calibration takes up to 10 hours.)

PK

Forgot to mention that one. Calibration will not even start. No matter when I push the button.

PhotoKhan Forum Pro • Posts: 11,950
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

ArdonRebel wrote:

PhotoKhan wrote:

Have you tried pressing the calibration button?

(Calibration takes up to 10 hours.)

PK

Forgot to mention that one. Calibration will not even start. No matter when I push the button.

Yeah, it's a dud, I think...none of mine ever behaved like that.

If you bought the battery so recently, you still have the receipt and they have it in stock, they should replace it for you.

PK
--
“Loose praise may feed my ego but constructive criticism advances my skills”
************************************************************
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.pbase.com/photokhan
(PBase Supporter)

OP ArdonRebel Regular Member • Posts: 130
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

Just got back. Last time I have been there. Bunch of dorks.

None in stock as I was afraid of. Had all with me but they did not even want to see the symptoms?

He was saying they need to send it back to Canon. Why? Dead is dead.

And all would take at least 6 weeks. Right. No ways. To top it off they would also need the charger. No way.

Hahahaha.....the guy thought he was smart or so stating that on most bateries Canon has a 6 months warranty period (need to check) but then I pointed at the receipt.......March 10 2011.

Then he was saying he could order a new one so I asked him how long that would take. Could be there next friday so I told them to order and give the new one to me and send the faulty one to Canon.

Even after having a talk with his boss they refused and they insisted on having it sent back to Canon (plus charger) for 6 weeks.

I have a good battery but am never putting my money on one horse and my initial post of today is the reason why.

I will contact my CPS rep.

Thanks anyway PK

pikchaser Regular Member • Posts: 201
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

So if you bought the battery separate of the camera, why do they need to take the charger and for 6 weeks? and is is possible the fault is in the charger?

OP ArdonRebel Regular Member • Posts: 130
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

pikchaser wrote:

So if you bought the battery separate of the camera, why do they need to take the charger and for 6 weeks? and is is possible the fault is in the charger?

As the guy in the shop was absolutely clueless.

No, the problem is not with the charger as the other battery just charges fine in it.

I also contacted the reseller where I bought my 1D MarkIV to see how they would respond. They wanted me to ship both battery and 1DMarkIV. No way.

And then what? They would see the same as I do. Battery is fully charged but does power on the camera. Kind of ridiculous this all. Broken is broken. How dead do you want it to be?

I also do not think Canon would even repair (if possible at all) a broken battery.

Needed to print out the CPS RMA forms.

Before I ship, I will contact the repair center first and see what they say. If they also request camera/battery/charger then the impact for me is minimal as I have a CPS gold so in case they do not repair/exchange in 3 days I get a free back-up loan.

AlephNull Veteran Member • Posts: 5,151
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

I have four of these batteries. I got a spare before my 1D Mark III arrived, so that's my oldest one. One with the 1D3 in June 2007, one with the 1Ds3 (November 2007), and one with 1D4 (December 2009). All four are working fine, despite two of them being over 4 years old.

I'm not a heavy user - average one shoot per week. But if I can get four years from a battery, you should be able to get more than 6 months.

Do not let them take your charger - without it you cannot charge the one good battery you have!

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alpshiker Senior Member • Posts: 1,466
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

A similar thing just happened to me. I have a pair of LP-E4 for the 1Ds3 that I use in turns. Both were just fine and are not heavily used. Although from 2008, they still had plenty of power, and the good one shows two bars (moderate reload) and 100% capacity. Recently I made the probable mistake of shooting until the battery went off. Now that battery wont even make a green led blink when on the charger. No chance with the calibration button either. No sign of life when on the camera. I'm about sure that a small power input would revive the circuitry, but the charger doesn't seem to include the "defibrillator" function. Did someone succeed in reviving a battery? If I knew which contacts are what, I would try to plug a bridge from another battery.

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alpshiker Senior Member • Posts: 1,466
Re: Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV

alpshiker wrote:

If I knew which contacts are what, I would try to plug a bridge from another battery.

Well, this proved to be of no use. There are certainly electronic switches between the cells and the contacts. Had to purchase a new battery.

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