Genuine Canon LP-E4 will not charge or power 1DMarkIV
Aug 22, 2011
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.