The Xtar 7 in 1 battery charger for the EOS R series begins shipping

[Chaitanya]

the problem is not easily solved by Canon since they don't make cells and even the leaders don't do much in the way of development on the 18490's front (what is inside E6 batteries). Short of making mirrorless tech less power hungry there is little they can do without making batteries larger. 18650 get the brunt of efficiency improvements thus for multi cell packs I use them for building my own high cell count batteries usually due to cost to performance; such as for powering inverters for mains powered monoblock lights when I have no access to power outlets but a pack and head or SLA battery setup would be too big/heavy.

There are cells with better density such as 21700 and maybe 26650/26700 if you're lucky that are better for single cell style uses due to increased density from size but per gram/cubic mm they tend to be behind the 18650's on efficiency so at equivalent space multi cell batteries they still lag behind especially since they also cost more. The tech improvements does trickle into larger cells first from what I've seen such as substrate film manufacturing improvements to pack more electrolyte in given space and so on. As for smaller cells they don't see as much development and are limited in how much you can push them so not all developments translate down in length or width for various reasons I wont go into here. 18490 are a really minor formfactor especially and cr123 or 18350 are likely to be more popular before them and you barely see the big cell makers like samsung, sanyo, panasonic and so on update them never mind 18490's.

If canon released a slim grip sans controls that was basically just a battery holder with a decent BMS in it that allowed you to put your own unprotected 18650's or 21650's in I'd be a very happy man but I can't see them ever doing that really.

In last 2 years or so 18350 especially in IMR chemistry have become quite widely adopted compared to RCR123/16430 which rarely was adopted by flashlight makers. For 18500 FF(ones inside LP-E6) there have been quite a few improvements and now IMR cells can be found upto 2200mAh capacity compared to 1400mAh 5 years back. LP-E4 does use 18650 batteries so it would be possible for Canon to provide a tray(similar to AA tray) with their battery grips to allow users to use 18650 cells of their choice. Nissin has a flash that allows use of Li-Ion 14500 cells.

Canon LP-E6 battery pack Teardown

This is a teardown of real Canon LP-E6 from EOS 5D Mark III camera

www.ifixit.com

 

[kten]

In last 2 years or so 18350 especially in IMR chemistry have become quite widely adopted compared to RCR123/16430 which rarely was adopted by flashlight makers. For 18500 FF(ones inside LP-E6) there have been quite a few improvements and now IMR cells can be found upto 2200mAh capacity compared to 1400mAh 5 years back. LP-E4 does use 18650 batteries so it would be possible for Canon to provide a tray(similar to AA tray) with their battery grips to allow users to use 18650 cells of their choice. Nissin has a flash that allows use of Li-Ion 14500 cells.

Canon LP-E6 battery pack Teardown

This is a teardown of real Canon LP-E6 from EOS 5D Mark III camera

www.ifixit.com

Aye I am sure they could easily do it, just really doubt they will. I've torn down quite a few old E6's and replaced the cells with 18490/18500 (the flattop unprotected fit better than the '500s so oft use them especially since the bms is separate in the battery so easier to squeeze it in to original case). Even then with newer capacities they sadly don't last long in certain shooting scenarios. The 18350's I have a lot (a lot of my flashlights are that formfactor) myself and they'd be perfect for some things like triggers/remotes etc but for camera something more like 2s2p or 2s3p 18650's would be better for me especially since I have a ton spare. Especially if they made it as a dedicated battery grip and kept as much room for cells and cut a lot of the extra grip for ergo and control surfaces space requirements.

Failing that I think I may just bang a V mount on the bottom of my camera and use v lock batteries and dummy battery some day. Not sure if the R5 or any of the future planned ones like the R3 support charging via powerbank while in operation but I know my R definitely doesn't as it'll only do that when not in use.

 

[Ian K]

Well I just tried the Nitecore UNC2 charger and it reported fully charged. The Camera reported 50%. Which is the worst yet. Just put the battery my existing charger and it’s charging more. I’m returning the Nitecore

 

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Two things I can see about this. First a fast charger is not something you want. Everyone will think they want it but it basically is a great way of killing batteries. I used a fast charger on my iPhone and about 18 months later the battery needed replacing. My wife's phone was bought at the same time and only charged with normal chargers was still on 99% of original capacity.

Secondly, no one answers the key question. Does it actually do the job you want, which is to fully charge the battery to 100% of its capacity. I've never come across a 3rd party charger or a USB charger that will actually fully charge an LP-E6, LP-E6N or LP-E6NH. I've tried a whole slew of them and they only ever seem to get to about 90% and then give up. You then have to remove the battery and put them back on to top up. Even then they don't seem get to 100%. How do I know it's not fully charged, simple. Put it on the Camera and see what it reads as. I trust the camera to tell the truth with Canon original batteries.

So those who have used this charger does it do the job or leave you flat. I see above that it seems to have a problem with LP-E6 batteries anyway. Which would kill it for me.

I can report that the Dolgin Engineering chargers (I've had two of their four-bay chargers, one for Canon and one for Sony) do indeed fully charge the batteries. At least the camera reports them at 100 percent after charging. These are not cheap chargers, but rather ones designed to do stuff like charge and then measure the watt hours actually available after charging. They do this by charging and then draining and then charging again.

I used them to do some battery reviews (like this). I have so many chargers that have accumulated over time. It might be fun to use the Dolgin to test the same batteries charged in the various charger types.

 

[Ian K]

I can report that the Dolgin Engineering chargers (I've had two of their four-bay chargers, one for Canon and one for Sony) do indeed fully charge the batteries. At least the camera reports them at 100 percent after charging. These are not cheap chargers, but rather ones designed to do stuff like charge and then measure the watt hours actually available after charging. They do this by charging and then draining and then charging again.

I used them to do some battery reviews (like this). I have so many chargers that have accumulated over time. It might be fun to use the Dolgin to test the same batteries charged in the various charger types.

Thanks for that. They look good for a studio style setup, but I wouldn’t take them travelling with me.

It’s the mobility issue that’s making me look for a USB solution. With sufficiently large numbers of batteries I can get through the day easily enough. I then employ enough chargers to recharge overnight, removing the need for “fast” charging.

A USB based charger that won’t kill the battery is my goal. Cost isn’t an issue, if the quality is there.

 

[tron]

Nitecore also makes quite a few USB camera chargers that so far have good reviews from users.

Quite right and I have one for Canon (LP-E6) and one for Nikon (EN-EL15)

 

[tron]

Well I just tried the Nitecore UNC2 charger and it reported fully charged. The Camera reported 50%. Which is the worst yet. Just put the battery my existing charger and it’s charging more. I’m returning the Nitecore

Maybe a charger (was it a powerbank?) problem because coincidentally I used mine for the first time Saturday night/Sunday morning to charge two Canon batteries using 4Smarts VoltHub Graphene 20000mAh and they charged to 100%. Unfortunately the powerbank went from full charge to one bar after that but it did the job. Next time - if the need arises - I will check my other 20000mAh powerbanks (which are much cheaper) out of curiosity.

Something interesting. It started at 1 Amp but while the time was passing the charge current was getting lower and lower.

 

[Ian K]

Someone also suggested XTAR as a good make, but they don't seem to make the VN2 anymore.

The batteries that charged to 50% was removed and put back in the Nitecore and reported as full right away. I put it in the stock Canon charger and several hours later it finished charging, resulting in a perfect 100% reading on the camera. I may try another Nitecore UCN2 at some point perhaps with a different charging brick.

 

[tron]

I have Nitecore UCN3 but I used only one slot so as to utilize the maximum charge speed.

 

[Ian K]

I’ve just ordered a pair of Nitecore UCN3s, which only require a stock 5V USB power source. They are also incapable of fast charging, which sounds good to me. They maintain the UCN2s thermal monitoring capability.

I did read on FredMiranda that the LP-E6 protection chips can get disturbed by a bad charger or thermal issues, preventing them reaching 100%. The stock Canon charger seems to be able to overcome that issue, restoring them back to 100%. Which is pretty much what I have seen recently.

Does any have the NITECORE UCN3 digital USB travel charger?

Carrying a UCN3s for normal use and a stock charger for emergencies seems a possible solution, unless the UCN3 turns out to be well behaved.

 

[Ian K]

So the UCN3 arrived and charged a battery, that had previously reached 100% before being discharged, back to 100%.

It remains to be seen if the sub maximum charge limit comes back in the future. If so a run on the stock LC-E6E charger should reset them.

if it never comes back I will have finally have a good USB charger. Hopefully with many thanks to you guys.