Canon Battery Replacement

Ok Obviously there are price differences in battery replacements for the BP-511 for the Canon.

Here are choices I have found:

Canon Price: $ 49.95

BP-511A Lithium-Ion Battery (7.4v 1390mAh)

Power-2000 Price : Price: $ 34.95

BP-511 Lithium-Ion Battery (7.4v 1500mAh)

RadioShack Price : $ 39.99

BP-511 Lithium-Ion Battery (7.4V, 1300mAh)

Bescor Price : $ 49.95

BP-LI511 Lithium-Ion Battery (7.2v 1300mAh)

Monster-Power Price : $ 49.95

BP-511 Lithium-Ion Battery (7.4v 1300mAh)

Lenmar Price : $ 34.95

BP-511 Lithium-Ion Battery (7.2v 1250mAh)

CTA Price : $ 34.95

DB-BP511 Lithium-Ion Battery (7.4v 1500mAh)

So as you can see Price is basically from $35 - $45 .. but it's the mAh difference that interests me .. what is the difference of that value mean .. longer lasting ? long term or short term .. etc etc .. Just want to know which one to add to my wishlist, 2 years and my original Canon 1100Ah 7.4v (no longer made in the mAh) Any Electronics experts here by any chance

Hi Giles,

I'm not an expert, but can I answer anyways?

mAh is milli-amp hours (I hope I spelled that right). 1500 means it can put out 1500 milli-amps for an hour. A battery with less "stamina" say 1390 milliamps can only put out 1500 mililamps for .92 hrs.

Basically they are all the same, so I'd choose one of the 1500's

Cheers

James

thats exactly what I was thinking Along with .. how convenient it is that the 1500 are the cheapest !! Which isn't normally the case ... so even though I see what you are saying .. does the fact that it puts out more enegery per hour mean that it will not last as long in the long term ?

and James, you may not be an electronic expert but your anorak knowledge of everything camera is always welcome

Total power = total power. the mAh number tells you how much current it will put out for a given time. That's the number you need. Power is how long it will last see my post above. The canon battery will last .92 times as long as the others...

so a battery with a higher number will

a) last longer on one charge

and

b) take more total charges (and sustain (a)) for longer.

than a battery with a lower number.

so a battery with a higher number will

...

and

B) take more total charges (and sustain (a)) for longer.

 

than a battery with a lower number.

~Matt Segal

I just ordered several from here for $11.99US each:

http://store.yahoo.com/sterlingtek/ln03-ca...511-dlc511.html

Recevied them within two days (two-day shipping is $6.99 for orders over $35). Battery is labeled 1800mAh. Not sure about international orders with them . . .

Mike

be interested to know how long they last

the canon ones brand new lasted me 2-3 days of shooting

and have been like that up until recently so .. 2 years of use

thats pretty good. I agree with matt the Canon OEM ones have to have longer life span both per charge and total life.

I don't agree. Don't for a minute think that the "Canon" batteries are made in a Canon factory by Canon. They are probably ALL made in the same factory...

I'd get one of the 1500mAh "generic" batteries, but that's just my opinion.

Cheers

James

Oh I believe you are right about the lack of canon battery factory.

Ok .. and yes for length of per/use longevity the 1500 is the longest

but would the 1300 last longer in total before it starts failing. My 1190 I have now has lasted 2 years, and that was a great battery. I would just rather have one last 2 years than one year.

Yes, no, maybe - how are we supposed to know? Check the battery testing websites Giles.

Cheers

James

Battery Test Hotline

1 - 800 - WISEMAN

there are battery test websites ? I am googling !!

WHAT I FOUND OUT:

Depends on the Camera, and the battery.

the BP-511A is almost 4 times better than the BP-511 but only when used in the 20d instead of the 10d.

But by Canons Naming BP-511 is 1100mAh

and the BP-511A is a 11390mAh (which lasts longer per use)

so I learnt nothing new from the tests I found that we didn't already know.

On a how long each battery can hold it's charge per session the 1500 is def the best one to go for ... no doubt what so ever.

There doesn't appear to be any difference in total life expectancy of these types of batteries, as the chargers and the batteries are 'smart' and don't need to be drained before charge. But all come with a total amount of charges they can probably handle total in their life. Which I read somewhere was between 300 and 400.

But have noted that the D seeries mkII require canon brand for some reason, not sure what that is.

So no need to dial the afore mentione 1 - 800 emergency need an answer number

you know what went through my head when i googled 'battery test' variads. I though 'how pathetic that someone likes batteries so much they made a website about testing them'

Then as an afterthought i thought 'I wonder if the battery test guys google 'underwater digital photography' variads and find wetpixel.com .. have a quick laugh and then move on thinking how pathetic we are to have a community based around uwp.

Maybe we should start a softball league. First match www.wetpixel.com against www.batterytest.com oooh the fun we could have in our wetpixel logo'd speedo's and jackets

It's not simply mAh when it comes to batteries and there are often big differences between batteries with the same mAh ratings. One important point is self-discharge or how long do batteries keep their charge out of the charger. Another is recharge cycle time and how many times batteries can be recharged. We have tested Canon and some OEM batteries under load and no-load in the lab. Some OEM batteries appear to be made by the same folks as Canon batteries (probably Matsushita) and they cost a little less, while some batteries made in China by an unknown maker had true mAh ratings of only aobut 40% of the Canon battery. Self-discharge rates are equally variable, the genuine Canon (n=5) were pretty reproducible, while some of the cheaper OEM batteries were much faster to discharge.

Bill

so which battery do we buy ?

A couple of things to consider here; marketing and quality control.

As to marketing, many companies "create" their own "specs" for marketing purposes, and the claims are not always backed up in practice.

As to quality control, even though many companies may purchase items from the same manufacturer and relabel as their own, some of these companies hold the manufacturer to a higher standard, and therefore sell a "better" product than the competition. This does justify a higher price for the item, as it will be a known better unit.

Sorry Giles, but I figure this didn't help you much, did it?!

In our hands at least, batteries made in Japan as opposed to China performed better (slower self-discharge and more reliable recycle rates) although the best Chinese battery was almost as good as the poorest Japanese version. For me, the $10 difference between Canon and OEM batteries isn't worth thinking about if I am on a $4K trip and potentially seeing things that I will not likely see again but that is a personal choice to be made. The difference between the $40 battery and the $11 one is probably 30% in terms of output when new but that is only a few beers worth of difference. On the other hand some of my EE friends at work routinely use the cheapest batteries they can find since they aren't convinced that the 30% makes that much difference.

Bill

Yeah, I guess it's a personal choice. An extra $30 a battery isn't going to send someone to the poorhouse if they already spent $4K to $20K on a rig. However, that $30 will put food in my mouth for a week so I still shop around. My personal choice is influenced by the following: I've found that I never even get close to fully discharging a camera battery during a dive trip as I always change the battery every couple dives (perhaps a hold-over from my days of shooting Olympus P&S cameras and having them die in the middle of every third dive if I didn't switch batteries often). When I'm on a $4K+ dive trip seeing things I may never see again, I tend to open the housing every couple dives to save my pictures off (just in case the tiger shark swims off with my housing) and this gives me an oportunity to change the battery out as well. Do I know people that stick a 4GB microdrive in the camera and leave it sealed for a day or two through several dives? Sure. I'm just saying that that ain't me very often. So, I can have one battery in the camera and two on the charger for the price of a Canon branded one. I can honestly say I've had much better reliability from the generic camera batteries (100%) than I've had with DS-125 battery packs (about 67%) so I don't really give it much thought. Bottom line -- if it doesn't bother you to buy the generics, I wholeheartedly recommend them. If you start to lose sleep over it, then buy the branded ones or drink more beer.

FWIW,

Mike

I guess one choice is to buy a bunch of generics at the $11 price and change them every dive if you can, just don't rely on them being nearly fully charged a day after taking them from the charger.