Wasabi batteries in EOS R?

[Frodo]

Going hiking and looking for some extra batteries. Anyone used Wasabi batteries in their R? How about the Wasabi dual charger that runs off a USB charger or power pack?
I've always used genuine Canon batteries, but these are under half price and rated at a greater capacity and the charger looks useful.
This 2017 thread had positive comments about Wasabi in other Canon cameras:

Do You Use Third Party Batteries in Your Canon Cameras?

Out of personal curiosity, I asked on last night on Twitter if you folks used third party batteries in your Canon cameras. The results so far actually shock me, it’s quite close to a 50/50 split.Do you use third party batteries in your Canon cameras?— Canon Rumors (@canonrumorsguy)...

www.canonrumors.com

Thanks

 

[Kit Lens Jockey]

No personal experience with Wasabi, but I've heard good things. I have used these batteries for several years now, and never had a problem. The only thing I notice is that the battery level displayed on the camera is maybe a little conservative when using these batteries. ie, when the camera shows the battery is down one bar or two, it generally still has a lot of life left.

Amazon.com : STK LP-E6 Battery for Canon 5D Mark II III and IV, 70D, 5Ds, 6D, 5Ds, 80D, 7D, 60D, 5Ds R DSLR Cameras BG-E14, BG-E13, BG-E11, BG-E9, BG-E7, BG-E6 Grips : Digital Camera Batteries : Camera & Photo

Amazon.com : STK LP-E6 Battery for Canon 5D Mark II III and IV, 70D, 5Ds, 6D, 5Ds, 80D, 7D, 60D, 5Ds R DSLR Cameras BG-E14, BG-E13, BG-E11, BG-E9, BG-E7, BG-E6 Grips : Digital Camera Batteries : Camera & Photo

www.amazon.com

Also used this charger for a long time and have been happy with it. However, when using it with those STK batteries, they tend to almost always show 90% when charging, even if they have a ways to charge. Charging genuine Canon batteries on it seems to show the percentage more accurately when charging.

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Battery-Charger-Batteries-Compatible/dp/B01J9X9UUE/

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I've used them. The capacity is not higher, its far less. They lasted me a year.. They were not a bargain. You cannot charge your Canon batteries on their charger without risking damage to them.

 

[Frodo]

Thanks for the feedback. Over the weekend, I purchased one Wasabi battery and a Nitecore UCN1 USB charger. I have a sports event this weekend and will be able to report how the Wasabi battery goes. It charged fine on the Nitecore charger and talks to both my EOS R and 5DsR.
The Nitecore charger is simply brilliant! Smaller and lighter than the Canon LC-E6E and MUCH smarter. It assesses the condition of the battery once mounted. Two Canon LP-E6 batteries that score a single red bar in my cameras (yet hold a charge well) were displayed as "good". It then provides information on the voltage and charging current, as well as charge status, whereas the LC-E6E only provides charge status. It also displays temperature and total mAh fed into the battery. One of the photos shows that a relatively new Canon LP-6n battery that had shot almost 700 frames on by EOS R and was down to 1 bar on the display, took 1529 mAh. This should give a good indication of how much capacity my old and new batteries have, including the Wasabi.
But wait, there's more! The Nitecore charges from a USB power supply and from a USB powerpack. I have an Adata 12500 mAh powerpack and will be interested to see how many LP-E6 batteries it will charge.
Two downsides. Advertising states that it charges two batteries, but the one on the back is for an LP-E8, which is useless to me. However, charging two batteries reduces the current per battery, so you wouldn't save that much time. And the extra slot adds negligible weight and volume.
The charger includes a handy short USB cable. Fine for working off a powerpack, but a bit of a pain when hanging from a wall charger. I have a small and light USB 1 extension and this solves the problem. The input current is close to 1000 mA from the 2.1A wall charger and from the powerpack, but drops about 10% when using the USB extension.
So the Nitecore charger is way better than expected. Let's see how the Wasabi battery goes.

 

[Frodo]

I shot a running event today, with the Wasabi battery in the Eos R. I shot 1084 photos on the Eos R and the battery was showing 25% full and two bars.
On the Nitecore charger, the battery accepted 1312 mAh, so adding one third makes a total of 1750 mAh. Assuming the charging is linear, this is quite a lot less than the 2600 mAh that Wasabi quotes and a bit less than the Canon. Given the Wasabi costs a little over a third of the genuine Canon it may prove cost effective, if it last a reasonable time.

This highlights the value of the info provided in the Nitecore charger.

 

[xanbarksdale]

I only use wasabi and love them. No issues with battery life or charging capacity.

 

[Frodo]

Brief update: Charged the Wasabi battery from 8%: 1430 mAh; and the newish Canon LP-E6N from 9%: 1510 mAh according to the Nitecore charger.
So the Wasabi has about 5% less capacity.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Brief update: Charged the Wasabi battery from 8%: 1430 mAh; and the newish Canon LP-E6N from 9%: 1510 mAh according to the Nitecore charger.
So the Wasabi has about 5% less capacity.

Were they both new batteries? Batteries lose capacity according to the number of times they have been discharged and recharged. Partial discharge / charge cycles don't degrade a battery as much. Its very time consuming to do any reliable comparison because of the variables, new batteries might show one thing, but after 50 or 100 cycles the answer may change. It can take a year of testing to get reasonable answers. Rather than worry a lot about capacity, I'd worry about safety. Most name brand batteries have companies that actually exist so they will probably be around to give support. Its the no name ebay batteries that concern me most. Those guys won't be found when your house burns down.

 

[AlanF]

I was intrigued that a simple charger like the Nitecore could give an accurate measurement of the capacity of a battery by measuring the current during charging. First of all, how accurate is the measurement and then more importantly does it measure the capacity? As for accuracy, we don't know. But, a quick google says that the capacity should be measured for the discharge cycle not the charge cycle, though they could be the same. Unless you carefully measure the discharging current over time, the simplest test that matters is how many shots do you get in practice. I do know from experience that if a battery charges relativly quickly, it's not storing much charge!

 

[Frodo]

Hi AlanF, it should be a simple matter to calculate power sent into the battery during a charging cycle - this is just mA integrated with time. I expect the measurement to be reasonably accurate. I agree that it is the discharged power that counts. If we assume that the charged power is measured consistently (even if not accurately) and that there is a reasonably good relationship between charged and discharged power, then the relative charged power of two batteries should give a reasonably indication of comparative capacity. This indicates that the Wasabi is about 5% less than the Canon, even though it claims quite a bit higher.

Hi MSP, the Wasabi battery is near new (just two charge cycles). I don't know how many cycles the LP-E6N has had - I got it new with my R in October 2019 and rotate four batteries through the R. Its still showing 3 green bars in the R battery health indicator. I think the comparison is fair.
As for burning the house down, I haven't read of any situations where Wasabi or Watson batteries have damaged cameras, although there are a few reports of batteries swelling and being difficult to remove from Olympus cameras. My father flies radio controlled aircraft. The lithium batteries he uses to power the electric motors in his planes do combust from time to time (they are a different form of lithium) - he stores his batteries in a ceramic pot with a lid!

I've always used Canon batteries in my Canons (300D, 20D, 5D, 5DII, 5DsR, 6D, M3 and now R) until now. Previously there were issues with incompatible chips, but the Wasabi is fine. I'm not concerned about damage. The question is the length of life. Let's see. I'm also interested in the new battery in the R5.