Batteries swelling!

I report this as it may be of interest to some:

I have all my m43 cameras since 2009 and up until now have never had any problems with aftermarket batteries for these.cameras: G1, GX7, Gx8, Em1-Mk2. (And a Sony rx100 MK1)

They have always held charge and provided as much power as original batteries, however recently I have noticed something strange...

After getting the Em1-Mk2 except for gx8 I rarely used the others and after a few years their batteries went flat.

After recharging them about a year ago I noticed the aftermarket rx100 battery had swollen a lot and would no longer fit (it was at least 9 yes old). The genuine Panasonic hasn't swollen - yet.

A year later one of the aftermarket GX7 batteries is refusing to charge, but at £7 for 8 years use that's okay.

And last night I went to pop a 4 year old aftermarket battery which I had let go completely flat into the gx8 and noticed the fit was now a bit snugger than it used to be, but has charged fully, so I am wondering whether to bin that one also, even though it still works!

I haven't checked all my em1-mk2 batteries yet, but boy have they had a hammering over the last 5 years!

No genuine batteries have swollen yet!

Note. In use I don't favour any battery when I go shooting, I just grab any out of the drawer.

I draw the conclusion that aftermarket batteries are really good, as long as you don't leave them flat for very long periods of time, in fact maybe I shouldn't ever leave any li-on go flat?

What are other people's findings and routine?

got a couple of cameras that only have third party batteries, never had a problem, one of the batteries is now 7 years old as well

The worst thing you can do to a multi-cell lithium battery is to discharge it to a very low level. When a pack contains multiple cells, they inevitably have slightly different capacities. The camera may only measure the charge state of the pack by the total voltage, so when one cell is completely discharged, the voltage of the other cell(s) may fool the camera into thinking the pack still has some charge. Continued use leads to bad outcomes when current is pushed through the empty cell.

When a cell is damaged, the usual outcome is that its capacity is further reduced which compounds the problem. The difference in cell capacity gets larger.

If the cells are unbalanced in that they have slightly different voltages, more problems occur during charging. If there are two cells in series in a 7.2V pack and one cell starts at say 3.2V and the other 3.4V, the higher voltage cell will become fully charged before the low voltage cell. Let's say they get to 3.4V and 3.6V respectively. The pack voltage is only 7.0V so the charger may keep right on going leading to the higher voltage cell being over-charged. It is a very dangerous thing to overcharge lithium based cells!

(BTW The voltage written on lithium packs actually corresponds to the voltage when the pack is mostly discharged. Lithium cells are generally 4.0-4.2 volts when charged).

When a cell is over-charged, it can produce gases which cause the cell to expand. Once this process starts, it can continue even when not charging.

So how do manufacturers avoid this problem? There are a few things you can do. First, match cells as close as possible so that they have the same capacities. Second, program the charger and the camera so that the battery is never fully discharged and conservatively charged. Thirdly, add electronics to the charger to monitor each individual cell during charging to ensure that no cell is overcharged and bleed charge from the higher voltage cells to balance them.

I am not aware of whether camera batteries and/or chargers do balanced charging. Probably not given the cost. Larger, expensive batteries for high voltage power tools from better manufacturers often do include balancers.

So, returning to your third-party batteries. The manufacturers may not have taken as much care to match the cells in the pack and the pack may have charge/discharge profile characteristics that mean measures programmed into the firmware of the camera and charger are ineffective.

If you get a severe battery malfunction, the battery may become stuck in the camera (possibly destroying the camera) or worse, cause a fire (which is unusual these days). Consequently, since cameras are expensive pieces of equipment, I always buy original batteries.

Adrian Harris wrote:

And last night I went to pop a 4 year old aftermarket battery which I had let go completely flat into the gx8 and noticed the fit was now a bit snugger than it used to be, but has charged fully, so I am wondering whether to bin that one also, even though it still works!

Aftermarket batteries are so cheap, and you got four years of use out of this one, so absolutely DO recycle (not trash) this one now.   I would never continue to use a battery that has started to swell.

Until reading all your comments I was still tempted to re-use it. I will now be taking it for recycling.

I've been using Panasonic cameras for about 10 years - the oldest I still have being the GX8 and GM5.  In that time I have never had an original Panasonic battery go bad.  Over the years I have also tried aftermarket batteries of numerous brands (I don't recall their brand names anymore) all of which have failed within about 2-3 years.  I no longer buy aftermarket batteries.

I've had several third party swell for my E-M5 I and II cameras (BLN-1) but only one of the original Olympus BLN-1 started to swell after about 6 years.

How do people get a swelled battery out of the camera?  I had to glue a wire to the bottom of the battery to pull it out.

Dick

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000128491/swollen-battery-information-and-guidance

and from our mates in australia

https://www.batteryworld.com.au/news/expert-advice/2020/i-have-a-swollen-battery-what-now

which is why i use oem batteries and chargers and as someone mentioned above charge outside the camera

Digital Dick wrote:

I've had several third party swell for my E-M5 I and II cameras (BLN-1) but only one of the original Olympus BLN-1 started to swell after about 6 years.

How do people get a swelled battery out of the camera? I had to glue a wire to the bottom of the battery to pull it out.

Dick

I used to paint with oils and acrylics, so I have a jar of palette knives, most of which are very thin blades. I managed to slide one down the side of the swollen battery and  slight twist and pull got a bit of movement. It was just enough to let me grip and pull by hand. I never want to be doing that again, I had no idea what was happening to the camera socket and contacts.

brentbrent wrote:

Adrian Harris wrote:

And last night I went to pop a 4 year old aftermarket battery which I had let go completely flat into the gx8 and noticed the fit was now a bit snugger than it used to be, but has charged fully, so I am wondering whether to bin that one also, even though it still works!

Aftermarket batteries are so cheap, and you got four years of use out of this one, so absolutely DO recycle (not trash) this one now. I would never continue to use a battery that has started to swell.

Yes, aftermarket batteries are cheap but this thread illustrates the risk you take.

Also, if they are not reliable for as long as OEM you may wind up buying more figuring "they're cheap."

However, you end up carrying more weight and have more to change/manage. Don't you use m43 to save weight?

If a NonOEM battery ruins your camera you're going to get finger pointing. If a Panasonic battery ruins your Panasonic camera, you know who to contact.

Batteries also take a tremendous toll on the environment, both their manufacturing and disposal. So the fewer you buy and the longer they last the less damage will come to the environment.  And if you're a nature/wildlife/landscape photographer, you should care about the environment.

I buy OEM exclusively, and carry a minimum. I don't need to carry a lot because I trust OEM reliability. I also set up my camera to minimize power consumption. And I don't turn on my camera at all until I have finished previsualization. That also means I have less shots to delete. No spray and pray here!

I also letter each battery (A, B,) and use them in sequence so they are all used a similar amount. So A is never used twice while B goes unused. i do this with a felt pen as soon as I open the box.

You should in fact not let any batteries of this kind go flat, nor store them fully topped off, 1/2 change or 2/3 charge should prolong their life better. It's a pain to be really on point with that, so I just make some calendar notes to recharge as much of my little used stuff as possible every once in a while, and if I get a chance (if I'm not gonna be using it) I'll pull it before full charge or use the battery some after it's charged but before storing it... That's the idea anyway, sometimes I'm lazy.

First party batteries not swelling could come down to something as simple as better plastic/construction, but it's likely they're also higher grade batteries (Panasonic is a huge manufacturer of batteries after all). My original GM1 battery is still working fine w/o swelling, tho I haven't really bothered to check how much of a charge it's actually holding. All batteries will lose some capacity over time after and/or a given number of discharge cycles, there's no avoiding that.

I've bought 3rd party batteries a few times in the past, mostly I stick to OEM these days, I'd toss any battery with signs of swelling immediately. Using it will get it warmer and then all bets are off... I do use 3rd party chargers (just cause OEM don't make USB chargers and those are very useful) and even charge in camera at times (handy in a pinch, when traveling by car specially, I don't make a habit out of it as it's slower anyway), but that stuff is usually not left unattended.

I'd always buy a discrete charger for and camera battery, regardless of whether it's the OEM / AC one or a 3rd party USB charger, the current trend of not bundling one when the camera can change in-body is a bit annoying but not the end of the world. I do wonder if it won't cost manufacturers more in the long run tho. I can see bundling phone chargers being wasteful these days (everyone's got loads, and they're cheap), but most people aren't churning thru cameras every 1-2 years.