battery condition red on Genuine Canon LP-E6

[RGF]

Hi

I have 2 Genuine LP-E6 and 1EP- E6N batteries (at least I think they are genuine, I purchased batteries only from B&H or Adorama - or could have come with an older camera) that show red on the battery condition scale. Other batteries, mostly Lp-E6N and 1 LP-E6 register 2 or 3 bars.

The batteries with the red battery condition seem to work okay - when in a grip on 5D M4 (one battery shows 2 bars and the other red on battery condition) both seem to work equally well. Discharge about the same on both batteries. Took ~1000 shots from each battery.

What does the Red bar in battery condition really mean? Is it the battery is bad or just borderline?

Thanks

Rich

 

[Nelu]

Hi

I have 2 Genuine LP-E6 and 1EP- E6N batteries (at least I think they are genuine, I purchased batteries only from B&H or Adorama - or could have come with an older camera) that show red on the battery condition scale. Other batteries, mostly Lp-E6N and 1 LP-E6 register 2 or 3 bars.

The batteries with the red battery condition seem to work okay - when in a grip on 5D M4 (one battery shows 2 bars and the other red on battery condition) both seem to work equally well. Discharge about the same on both batteries. Took ~1000 shots from each battery.

What does the Red bar in battery condition really mean? Is it the battery is bad or just borderline?

Thanks

Rich

Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with your battery. I might be like a "time bomb" Canon uses to make you buy a new battery.
It happened to me when using three Canon genuine batteries with my 5D Mark III camera...of course, one at a time
The oldest of the batteries started to show up in red when checking the status but it kept working just fine.

I think you can safely ignore the red warning and keep on shooting.
Nelu

 

[fullstop]

Personally I exchange Canon Power Packs when performance status indicator goes red, because I don't want to risk being caught out somewhere with a battery pack going "unchargeable". There should however be no safety risks even in continued use - protection circuitry should remain functional, but charge capacity has deteriorated.
http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/eos5dmarkii_lp_e6_battery_article.shtml

Battery Performance: It’s a fact that rechargeable batteries have a finite number of charge-discharge-charge cycles they can go through, after which they can begin to lose their ability to hold a charge. While the LP-E6 should allow photographers hundreds of charge-discharge cycles, it’s useful for the working photographer to know whether a battery pack is nearing the end of its useful life after several years of use. The Battery Performance indicator does just that, with a 4-stage icon:
3 Green Squares: Battery is providing full performance each time it’s charged
2 Green Squares: Battery still producing good power each time charged, but not to the level of a brand-new LP-E6 battery pack
1 Green Square: Battery is nearing end of its useful life; full recharge will not deliver performance matching a new LP-E6 battery
1 Red Square: Battery has reached the end of its useful life, and should be discarded and replaced with a new LP-E6 battery pack. Recharging or re-conditioning will not enhance its performance.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Batteries last XXX recharges on the average. There is a lot of variation, but the live indicator is telling you that the number of recharges has reached average life expectancy. The battery might go on for years, but if it was a single, then I'd say it was time to get a backup. Since you have extra batteries, use it until it no longer keeps a good enough charge. The newer batteries have a date stamped on them, so if there is no date, its getting very old.

 

[AlanF]

2 of my 5 LP-E6 and Ns have been red for years and hold their charge as well as, if not better than, the greens with a couple of bars. I’ll keep on using them as I always carry enough spares.

 

[[email protected]]

I once read in a Canon manual somewhere that the bars had more to do with recharging efficiency. The vague notion I have in my memory was that at some point, the batteries will be so inefficient in charging that they will not charge.

 

[fullstop]

Batteries last XXX recharges on the average. There is a lot of variation, but the live indicator is telling you that the number of recharges has reached average life expectancy.

i agree with rest of your posting, but observe this somewhat differently in my use. batteries that got similar numbers of time in camera and shutter actuations some went from 3 bars to 2, 1, red whereas other copies remain unchanged at full 3 bars. i have an LP-E6 that originally came with 7D (original) and still is at "full health". so i don't think the health status indicator is based on "expected average number of shots" but rather linked to (change in) batteries' internal resistance. but, just a guess.

ps: overall i am *very pleased* with Canon LP-E6/N power packs - both in terms of charge/"shot reach" as well as in "longevity". also battery status information in my 5D3 (and other EOS DSLR models) is very useful and to my liking. so no "incessant whining" on this one.

 

[Hesbehindyou]

What does the Red bar in battery condition really mean? Is it the battery is bad or just borderline?

Old & well used lithium batteries will put out the required voltage when they have plenty of charge but, when the get to lower levels of charge (ball park figure of 15% and lower) the voltage drops. This leads to (for a personal example I've had - a lot) my old phone powering down unexpectedly if it tries power-hungry stuff when the battery is low - there might be 12% left in there but fire up a demanding game and it'd shut down.

I charged the battery every night and I guess it took about 2-3 years before I noticed any issues with it shutting down (apart from maybe gobbling up the last 20% quite quickly).

Looking at the list below, I expect a camera unexpectedly powering down, despite showing some battery capacity left, is the reason for the red square - re-conditioning will give more capacity but as far as I know won't help with the premature shutdowns:

3 Green Squares: Battery is providing full performance each time it’s charged
2 Green Squares: Battery still producing good power each time charged, but not to the level of a brand-new LP-E6 battery pack
1 Green Square: Battery is nearing end of its useful life; full recharge will not deliver performance matching a new LP-E6 battery
1 Red Square: Battery has reached the end of its useful life, and should be discarded and replaced with a new LP-E6 battery pack. Recharging or re-conditioning will not enhance its performance.

Given that the premature shutdowns would only happen when the camera draws more power, I would only expect this to be an issue for video users, not stills shooters.. This may be why the other poster isn't seeing apparent differences between his batteries.

While I'm banging on, pro tip for lithium battery life is to:
- recharge before it runs out - a battery that's charged twice as much because it never fully drained will be in better than the same battery that was charged half as much but used until it ran out (the charge-discharge cycle is not how many charges it's had but adding up how many it would have had if all the partial charges, because you topped it up before it had fully discharged. Something in either the device or the battery makes the device power down before voltage goes too low but it's better for the battery's long term health not to get near that state).
- Don't leave undischarged on the shelf for long periods of time (and be aware they self discharge). For storage, approx 40% is said to be best which implies regular partial charges so it hovers in the 40% ballpark. I cycle my lithium batteries so they all get used as much as the other.

For further reading on devices shutting down early due to the battery not putting out enough voltage see the recent news stories about Apple's phones throttling back when on older batteries.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Mt Spokane.
I can verify that it is not a counter counting average use! I bought a pair of aftermarket batteries to use in a grip and put my lightly (25-40 charge use cycles) used 3 green bars LP-E6 aside as I do not like to mix batteries. I looked up the best method for storing Li batteries, can’t remember exactly but I think not flat and not full charge were involved. Well next time I used it it was RED and it has been for ages but it still seems to work fine, charge fine etc.
I say charge ‘use’ rather than charge ‘discharge’ as I don’t flatten the batteries below about 1/4 power except on very rare occasions when they have got to the shut off point, perhaps I should flatten them more often but I don’t like to go out without fully charged batteries, I carried a 7DII with 100-400 around as a paperweight once, not much fun with flat batteries!

Cheers, Graham.

Batteries last XXX recharges on the average. There is a lot of variation, but the live indicator is telling you that the number of recharges has reached average life expectancy. The battery might go on for years, but if it was a single, then I'd say it was time to get a backup. Since you have extra batteries, use it until it no longer keeps a good enough charge. The newer batteries have a date stamped on them, so if there is no date, its getting very old.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Hi Mt Spokane.
I can verify that it is not a counter counting average use! I bought a pair of aftermarket batteries to use in a grip and put my lightly (25-40 charge use cycles) used 3 green bars LP-E6 aside as I do not like to mix batteries. I looked up the best method for storing Li batteries, can’t remember exactly but I think not flat and not full charge were involved. Well next time I used it it was RED and it has been for ages but it still seems to work fine, charge fine etc.
I say charge ‘use’ rather than charge ‘discharge’ as I don’t flatten the batteries below about 1/4 power except on very rare occasions when they have got to the shut off point, perhaps I should flatten them more often but I don’t like to go out without fully charged batteries, I carried a 7DII with 100-400 around as a paperweight once, not much fun with flat batteries!

Cheers, Graham.

Batteries last XXX recharges on the average. There is a lot of variation, but the live indicator is telling you that the number of recharges has reached average life expectancy. The battery might go on for years, but if it was a single, then I'd say it was time to get a backup. Since you have extra batteries, use it until it no longer keeps a good enough charge. The newer batteries have a date stamped on them, so if there is no date, its getting very old.

I was repeating what I've heard thru another member, it could be wrong, or more likely I misunderstood.

Partially discharging batteries rather than fully discharging them does prolong battery life.

Battery life of a Li-on battery is specified as a function of the number of charge cycles, it is much longer for a 1/2 charge cycle versus a full charge cycle.
Interesting article here:
http://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

 

[RGF]

I doubt I have done hundreds of charges on any LP-E6 battery. I tend to top batteries off, before a shoot I will fully charge a battery if only down to 75%. I wonder if that counts as a full charge by Canon's standards.