bp-511 life expectancy etc.

What is the life expectancy for BP-511 used with Eos Digital Rebel?

Under what conditions can a battery decrease its capacity?

As of right now I have shot 4654 photos in the course of 7-8 month. I

have used the battery to power up the camera during photo downloads

to a PC for the entire time.

It seems something is wrong now. Let me explain: after noticing a low

battery warning on a camera I charged the battery for about 3 hours

until the diode stopped flashing - meaning the battery is fully

charged. But after putting it into a camera and connecting to a PC, I

could not download photos due to "camera powered down. Battery weak"

notice. So I put the BP-511 to a charger, waited one minute during

which the battery from being partially discharged got charged (diode

was flashing twice and then was on continuously) put battery back to

camera and connected to a PC again. This time I managed to download

107 photos, but there is a low battery warning light again.

Waiting for help.

Batteries do have a limited lifetime. There are many factors that can affect the life expectancy of a lithium-ion battery like the bp-511, but the biggest factor, at least for Li-Ion, seems to be the number of times you charge it.

Sounds like the battery is shot. They are cheap (especially the generics which seem to be just fine) so buy 2 so you can have a fully charged spare available. A CF card reader would be easier to use than hooking up the camera to the PC (also cheap these days).

I've been using mine for nearly 2 years in the 10D. I try and let them run down a bit by not charging them every time I take the camera out. You don't want to completely discharge this battery but you don't want to re-charge it constantly. I've had no problems at all but will probably have them all go bad in the morning now that I've said this.

 

Rick H.

When the LED on the battery first stops blinking, your battery is *not yet* fully charged. Check pages 18-19 of your owner's manual: the LED stops blinking at 90% of full charge, and the owner is advised to leave the battery in the charger for another hour after the LED stops blinking, in order to achieve 100% charge.

 

This doesn't explain the behavior of your battery, however, which apparently needs to be replaced. B&H sells an excellent replacement battery for about $35:

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=232733&is=REG

 

I know you can find even cheaper substitutes, but this one strikes the right balance for me between price, performance and warranty.

I have to disagree with ken about generics being "just fine".

 

I bought two generics for use with my D30, in addition to the one (used) canon bp-511 I got with the camera. After a few months one of the generics was only capable of 50-60 shots and typically showed 1/2 battery after about 3. The other wouldn't even power the camera on further than a blinking battery symbol. The older, more heavily used canon battery would still do about 150 frames.

 

I sold the batteries with the D30 and got a spare genuine canon BP-511A with my 20D. I've taken 200 shots over a three week period with the 20D and the first battery is still showing both bars.

I have to agree with Isaac. I had a generic battery for my 20D for a short while and found it not to last nearly as long as the BP-511A from Canon.

 

What Jon said is also correct. Most rechargeable batteries will get a bit of life back after a really long charge. Try leaving it in the charger for 24hrs. It may sound excessive, but it does work.

FYI

 

Like me, there are also lots of people who seem to get very good service from generic BP-511 batteries.

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00BX5u

 

Like everything else in life, "your mileage may vary".

Thank you everyone for giving me your insights.

I know Li-Ion batteries are described as the ones with no memory effect. I wonder however, if there is really no impact on battery life depending how you charge them. Do you have any advice? Is it better to drain battery completely and then recharge? Or maybe as soon as you notice 'low'indicator you put it and let it fully charge?

I think once or twice I forgot I was charging a battery and it resulted in it staying in a charger overnight, something like 15 or even 20 hours. Could this affect the battery life?

Of course ken, it is a ymmv. There are good and bad generics. Both of the ones I got were bad. I felt it necessary to put the other point of view so that John may make a more informed decision about how he spends his money. As it is, I have two canon BP-511As for my 20D and don't feel I need anymore batteries. Since I bought the spare battery in the US for about half the UK retail price (ie similar to the cost of generics in the UK), I'm not too bothered by the price.

The newer rechargeable batteries don't develope a "memory" like the older NiCad batteries, but can still lose capacity. It's best to completely drain them, or refresh them about every 10 charges to keep them at thier best capacity. As far as other brands, some are better than others. But one thing to consider as far as life on a charge, is the milli-amp rating. The higher the rating, the longer the battery will last on a charge.

Also take into consideration: downloading images directly from the camera to the computer will drain the batteries, more so probably than operating the camera itself. It's best to use a card reader, if you don't want to recharge as often, as it draws its power from the computer. And as with all rechargeable batteries, it will have a number of charge cycles, and then will diminish in the amount of power it will hold.