Optimizing 40D Battery Life

[james_rice2]

I have a 40D on it's way to me in the mail and wanted to know how should i go

about charging it the for the first time. Are there any special techniques one

could use to get the most life out of it as possible? I appreciate the help.

[phule]

You should charge it and then use it and then, when the battery is low, you should charge it again.

 

Etc.

[jimstrutz]

Either put the battery in the charger and then plug the charger in, or plug the charger in and then insert the battery. Watch carefully until the light stops blinking and glows steady, and then without taking your eyes of of it, set your timer and wait an additional hour for a full charge. Nothing to it, James. You can do it. Trust me. :)

 

No, there's nothing you need to do. But if you should decide to buy a backup, consider getting an after market version. They're a lot less money. Either way, they usually last 2-3 years before failing to hold a decent charge.

[santa1]

My special technique involves buying 5 more batteries so I don't care about special techniques.

[rainer_t]

Additional batteries are a very good idea ... and you'll find that they really dont cost much (if you take others than the genuine canon batteries). I have one canon battery (that came with the camera) and two noname batteries. All three are running fine, I don't notice any difference. There are no special charging procedures required ... Li-ion batteries aren't that picky about charing like NiCd's ... and with the really low pricetag of noname batteries, batteries are nothing to worry about.

[colinsouthern]

I've always thought of this as cruel and unusual punishment - like there we are - new toy in hand - and they expect us to wait a few hours whilst we charge the battery! - You've got to be kidding!

 

Thank goodness the 1D3 came with a battery eliminator as well - so I could play with the beast whilst the battery was charging.

[hakon_soreide]

Ni-Cd batteries should always be empty before charging. The word on the lithium ones is that they actually will get a longer life if you stick them in the charger not when they have run empty, but rather as often as possible. I'm not sure how the Ni-Mh ones compare. In any case, extra batteries and memory cards - more than you think you'll need, but at least as much as you might one day accidentally find use for - is always a nice thing to have.

[james_rice2]

wow thanks for all the responses. i will probably buy an extra battery or two soon.

 

cheers,

 

james.

[anthony_zipple]

I agree with the consensus that having 2 or more batteries makes sense. Be careful about non-Canon batteries. I have seen reports about battery damage to cameras from badly made, non-OME batteries. If you are not really sure about the supplier, saving a few bucks on a battery may be an unwise economy.

[milton-chris]

I bought a coule of spare batteries from SterlingTek.com for an incredibly low price and am gobsmacked at how long the charge lasts. I thought I got a lot out of the SterlingTek batteries on my XTi's, but these last so much longer.

 

I splurged a whopping $69 on a battery grip on ebay, and it is awesome too - with 2 batteries, I'm shooting 1,000 plus RAW at H ISO without re-charging - shooting in long bursts and in cold arenas.

[steve_dunn2]

<cite>I've always thought of this as cruel and unusual punishment - like there we are - new toy in hand - and they expect us to wait a few hours whilst we charge the battery!</cite>

 

<p>There isn't really a good way around this for many battery technologies. All rechargeable batteries lose juice over time. Keep in mind that from the time the factory puts the battery in the box until the time you open the box will be weeks or months.</p>

 

<p>Some technologies self-discharge more rapidly than others, and <abbr title="lithium">Li</abbr>-ion batteries, as used in cameras like the 40D, are better in this regard that some other technologies. But Li-ion doesn't like to be stored at high charge levels and/or high temperatures; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion#Guidelines_for_prolonging_Li-ion_battery_life" target="_blank">a 100% charged Li-ion battery stored at room temperature <em>permanently</em> loses capacity at a rate several times that of the same battery stored at 40% charge</a>. If the factory were to ship the battery fully charged, by the time the battery is in your hands it will already have permanently lost several percent of its charge capacity.</p>

[knweiss]

Before you go out and buy many batteries let me tell you that a single battery charge will be good for LOTS of shots (>1000). Thus, if you want to re-charge each of your batteries at least once a month (as recommended for Li-Ion batteries) you will have to take *many* pictures each month! I think two batteries are enough for most people.

 

BTW: I once bought three new 3rd-party batteries for my 300D on e-bay and it was the worst deal of my life as they died very soon. I'll never buy this cr*p again. Instead I bought a 2nd original battery for my 40D which works great. Life's to short for trouble like this just to save a few bucks.

[jimstrutz]

I've had just the opposite experience as Karsten. When my original Canon batteries (for a very old Canon G1) failed after 2 years of modest use, I bought the cheapest things I could find on eBay. They worked great for almost 3 years. Since then, I have bought several other Canon bodies that all use the same BP511 type battery. All my dozen plus third party batteries have held up at least as well as the Canon branded ones.

 

I have heard rumors of third party batteries not having the customary safety fuse built into them, and causing fires as they melted down inside some camera. But other than a few cell phone battery disasters, the no verifiable accounts from DSLR users. The ones I did read were all rumors of things heard from someone's brother's best friend's sister, who has an aunt with a fried point & shoot. I know it's a possibility that unprotected LiIon batteries can short out, then burn, or even explode, but I would like to read just one real account of, "Hey, this happened to me. Look at my 20D!"

[jchinphotography]

SterlingTek.com ... bought many batteries from there for my G3, 20D, S410, SD800IS and now the 40D ... years now ... not a problem.

[jeffreyc]

Jim S: "I know it's a possibility that unprotected LiIon batteries can short out, then burn, or even explode, but I would like to read just one real account of, "Hey, this happened to me. Look at my 20D!""

 

It's not quite a story of poorly made batteries exploding but I had a situation once where I needed to dispose of one of the batteries for my Treo after I dropped the phone. (About 3 feet on to asphalt) The trauma caused the battery to swell. It was hard to detect visually and you could tell because the back cover of the phone wouldn't slide off easily. Upon closer examination there was a small swell in the center on the surface of the battery. I threw it out soon after the discovery, since I wasn't too keen on walking around with a swollen LiIon in my pocket.

 

On the other hand, I also dropped a Canon BP-511A in my cat's water bowl. After verifying it still worked, I took the battery out of service. I keep it in my desk to format cards while our non waterlogged batteries are charging.

[gtx2]

Rob Berhard & Jim Stutz gets two free batteries (sponsored by StarlingTek.com of course) for the funniest answers