Battery charge when plugged in to PC?

[Colin Franks]

This feels like a silly question, but when I plug my smart-phone into my PC, it charges the battery, so does this also happen when we plug our cameras into the computer (with the camera ON) via USB?

 

[ifi]

This feels like a silly question, but when I plug my smart-phone into my PC, it charges the battery, so does this also happen when we plug our cameras into the computer (with the camera ON) via USB?

Not all cameras.

 

[Colin Franks]

Canon 6D.

 

[msowsun]

It is not possible. USB ports only have about 5 volts available output. Your 6D has a 7.2 volt battery but the charger puts out 8.4 volts.

 

[ifi]

Canon 6D.

No.

 

[Colin Franks]

Great, thanks.

 

[D00M]

6D: No.

Only devices that can charge the battery in the device itself (some small P&S, phones, GPS devices, etc) have charging circuitry built in. So if you plug into the USB, it will charge. If current is not sufficient, it will still trickle charge and take a long time.

I don't work at Canon so I cannot be 100% sure. I can guess with 99% certainty that 6D does not have circuitry to charge the battery in camera body.

 

[Henrik Herranen]

It is not possible.

It definitely is possible, altough not done with any Canon DSLRs.

USB ports only have about 5 volts available output. Your 6D has a 7.2 volt battery but the charger puts out 8.4 volts.

This is a non-issue. Step-up DC-DC converters are ubiquitous these days, and their efficiency is typically over 90%. So there is no technical reason that would make it impossible to charge a DSLR battery inside the body using USB.

Nevertheless, an external charger makes it possible to charge a battery while using another in the camera at the same time, which obviously isn't the case if only in-camera charging would be offered. Also, traditionally you can draw only upto 500 mA from a USB source (though this is rapidly changing), so charging would be pretty slow. Canon also doesn't want to put the charging logic (which requires utmost care with the delicate Li-Po/Li-Ion batteries, and would be even more complex than in the separate charger because you could connect any USB source to it) both in the charger and in the camera.

So, a separate charger it is.

Kind regards,
- Henrik