LP-E6N increasingly difficult to charge

[Mancubus]

I have here a 5D3 with the original LP-E6 battery which I bought in May/2015. In that occasion I also bought a extra (expensive!!) LP-E6N (they were not selling the LP-E6 anymore).

Just after the 1-year warranty expired, the LP-E6N lost a green dot in the battery info screen, was taking about 200 shots less than the LP-E6 and now it also became very hard to charge.

I keep getting the quick blinking orange light (meaning bad communication) and in order to get it working I have to repeatedly remove it from the charger, clean the contacts, unplug the charger and try again. I was getting it in the first try, but now takes me 4-5 attempts.

As of today, the LP-E6 that came with the camera charges properly, still shows all 3 green dots and takes more shots. And I've always used them by alternating (roughly 1 full battery use every 3 days), so they endured the same amount.

This LP-E6N has been quite a disappointment to me. Any ideas on how to make it at least charge properly?

 

[brad-man]

In the past I have had the occasional charging hiccups with genuine LPE6 batteries (no experience with the N version). When the Canon charger won't behave, I use one of my Wasabi chargers and it seems to straighten out whatever was wrong. I recommend doing this out of range of any fuel sources just in case

 

[East Wind Photography]

Li-ion batteries are pretty finicky. Case in point is the Samsung fiasco. There is a lot of circuitry in Canon batteries to prevent it from burning your house down. That being said, humidity, shock from dropping, high ambient temperatures, low ambient temperatures, frequent charging to top off, etc all have a detrimental effect on these batteries. Lithium ion also has a finite number of charge cycles before they are unusable. In fact that degradation starts the first time you charge it up.


Not all batteries are the same either. The tolerances during manufacturer dictate the useful life and while canon goes to great lengths to test their cells before selling them (unlike some Chinese equivalents) they do vary in longevity. Losing a green dot doesn't indicate a bad better though. Just that it's lost about 1/3 of its life.


If you can try another charger you might be able to determine if it's the charger having the comes issues or if it's the battery. I recall reading something about an issue with earlier chargers but I can't seem to locate the service bulletin.

 

[drmikeinpdx]

If it were me, I'd buy a handful of Wasabi batteries and toss the old Canon battery.

Call me a Wasabi fanboy!