Chargers, counterfeit vs genuine. ::)

[Valvebounce]

Hi Folks.
Hopefully this might be of some interest to some who visit the site.
Some time back there were warnings about counterfeit Canon products and how they might be damaging or even dangerous.
Suffice to say I got caught by that old “if it looks too good to be true it probably is” adage! I bought a cheap “genuine” charger so as to have 2 available for charging a pair of batteries for a grip, the second I opened the package I knew it was fake! : :
Then someone gave me his failed charger after we had confirmed it was the charger and not the battery by putting his “too flat to wake the camera” battery (which had been on his charger for hours) on my charger where it started to recover within minutes.
So here are some shots of the innards of each, can you tell the difference?

4X3Z7495_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

4X3Z7501_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

4X3Z7508_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

4X3Z7505_DxO by Graham Stretch, on Flickr

Now I’m no electronics expert but it seems one is a lot busier than the other, the first clue is the weight, the counterfeit is very noticeably lighter than the genuine item then there is the shortage of components on both sides of the pcb.
Notwithstanding that some of this stuff might be to do with telling the battery how well it is charging, 3, 2, or 1 green square I’m going to guess that a lot of it is to do with the safety of charging the battery.
I’m sure that some of you will know what a lot of this stuff does and might be able to explain some or all of this circuit, if you feel inclined to share that would be really great and I’m sure I won’t be the only one to find it interesting!
Oh, I’m sure by now that most if not all of you will have worked out that the top 2 are the fake, the bottom 2 the real thing.

Cheers, Graham.

PS. I’m sorry the shots are not entirely sharp, it was a hurried setup whilst I had a short time slot, I’m hoping the fact that one side or the other was out of focus is because the camera might not have been true to the plane of the subject and not due to a tilted element on my 24-105 which I have dropped from waist height on to longish grass on a 45deg slope, the lens tumbled down the slope a short distance before stopping and I’m hoping that the grass with the slope and tumbling was more of a deceleration than an element shifting stop!
Lesson, don’t jam lenses in pants pockets that are not big enough to safely stow a lens and then start to walk!

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

I usually use third party batteries, always charging in original Canon charger.
But I avoid using original batteries in a low quality charger, which could ruin my batteries, even causing a fire.

 

[Don Haines]

That is an outstandingly cheap power supply!

 

[Ozarker]

Thanks Graham! Very interesting.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The problem is that a counterfeit charger can wipe out the protective circuits in the battery, and suddenly its unsafe, even if charged on the Canon charger.

I did buy a 2nd lp-e6 battery charger a few years back. As far as I can tell, its genuine. I may look even closer and weigh both to see if there is much difference.

 

[midluk]

OMG. Canon is doomed! This shows how inefficient the electronics design is at Canon. Apparently chargers can be done with much less components than they use.

Seriously:
I would expect this device to produce any random voltage (also depending on input voltage). There is no feedback from the secondary to the primary side. And there is no big semiconductor on the secondary side which looks like it could do some linear regulation in a second step.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Mt Spokane.
I suspect most people would have noticed the weight difference straight away, plus the charge light doesn’t reflect the charge like a Canon with 1, 2, 3, flashes then solid light, it just flashes a regular on, off patern then lights solidly when charged.
Yes I tried it once (fully supervised) on an old third party battery which was already showing signs of weakness.

Cheers, Graham.

The problem is that a counterfeit charger can wipe out the protective circuits in the battery, and suddenly its unsafe, even if charged on the Canon charger.

I did buy a 2nd lp-e6 battery charger a few years back. As far as I can tell, its genuine. I may look even closer and weigh both to see if there is much difference.

 

[Hesbehindyou]

Whoa, that's quite a difference.

I follow a couple of YouTube channels where they take apart cheap electronic goods bought over the Internet and it's made me realise just how valuable the regulations we have (and the enforcement of them) is - I like not having to worry whether stuff I buy from a shop is unsafe.

Buying over the Internet, I've learnt to place a premium on quality and also learnt to be wary of buying branded goods through third parties. The great deals aren't worth the few quid I save over buying products from a reputable manufacturer (often direct) once I've factored in the occasional duff purchases.

Unfortunately it's a recent lesson - the new tailored rubber car mats that saved me £20 are now in their third week of stinking the spare room out while the half price windscreen wipers had their too-brittle end caps broken when I knocked them de-icing the windscreen.

All you people that paid the premium for the genuine stuff for a guarantee of no hassle or buying twice - well done, you smug bastards