EN-EL15 problems

[cupic]

Im in europe at the moment and my near new battery has died.
Only charged it 3 times.
The in camera system gives the battery life as 4 and charging it only seems to leave it blinking in the charger

I have bought one here in Europe so well see whats happening

I think this battery was bought as a spare from JB to the original as both are genuine . the latter was on order to be picked up
All looks to be good as I don't think JB sells 3 party batteries in nikon package

Is this a one off ?


cheers

[arthurking83]

Yeah! stupid battery design me thinks(or a severe drop in Nikon QA department)

My D800E battery(the one that came with the camera) died (basically)immediately. I can't remember specifics, but I think within a couple of weeks.
Wouldn't hold charge and battery life indicator read a 4(as yours now does).

Took it back, the shop checked it against a serial No. database and gave me a new one.
Was happy as a typical Larry, until the same crap about 2 months later, where the battery wouldn't hold charge well.

So me being typically me, I hate this annoying process of returning crap stuff to get replacements and suchlike .. so I bought a cheapie replacement off ebay(with a 12 v charger as well).
Strangely tho, I've been back to the shop a few times and even remembered to remember this battery fault. I just hate the process of trying to convince a paid pessimist that the product they gave me sucks!

FWIW: the cheapie ebay battery still works perfectly getting on for 3 years now, and while the replacement Nikon battery does work, it still shows 4 for the condition and still doesn't hold much charge.

So what I currently do(as most of my photography trips involve some driving).. I use the thirdparty battery as my main, and have the Nikon battery charged(checked before I leave).
If I use the thirdparty battery up fully, I'll charge it up in the car via the 12v charger and use the Nikon battery if needed(which may usually be not much, maybe up to about 2 hours at most).

The only problem with thirdparty batteries is the strict need for them to have the required chip to work in Nikon cameras.
Nikon recently implemented a system where they use a chip in their batteries to exclude the use of thirdparty batteries.
(some firmwares exist for some Nikon cameras to eliminate this)

So if you chase up any thirdparty batteries, just make sure they specify that they are chipped to work(most likely nowadays they all will).

[Cage]

As Arthur said there was a bad batch of EN-EL 15's around about 18 months ago.

The serial nos. of the dodgy batch were publicised and when I bought one for my grip I made sure it's No. wasn't on the list.

And BTW, I'm pretty sure I bought a Tamron SP 1.4 T/C in Pentax mount from you a few years back. Top T/C it was too. :th3:

[arthurking83]

As Arthur said there was a bad batch of EN-EL 15's around about 18 months ago.

The serial nos. of the dodgy batch were publicised and when I bought one for my grip I made sure it's No. wasn't on the list.

.....

Yeah, I remember this, and that's why the sales chap at Vanbar had to consult this database I referred too.

I kind of found it a bit insulting that he 'needed' my receipt to confirm the battery issue, as it was obvious that my first battery was on the database of suspect products.
Problem is, he then gave me a replacement battery, which you'd assume would be fine(or at least not on the database) .. so assume one of two things:

1/. the database is not complete
2/. the issue is more widespread than Nikon thinks it is(which basically comes back to the point of an incomplete database of bad products.

if my replacement battery is a part of another bad batch .. I'm pretty pissed that Nikon have allowed it to get through.

So it's just easier to forget the saga and move on.
Over the years, I've read many posts re batteries and how many folks advise to go with original manufacturer products to ensure better operation.
I usually laugh at this as (apart from the D300's EN-EL3e battery) .. the D70s battery and then the D800E battery have been failures, and the thirdparty batteries have been the outstanding products.

I actually enter into a decision to use thirdparty batteries with a high level of expectation that they will be garbage!! .. only to have been proved wrong(thankfully).

I did once, long ago, purchase some thirdparty batteries for my old PDA, which were 1/20th the price of an original .. and they failed almost immediately.
Had another go at them from another source(same price) and they lasted me years.

I understand that you get good and bad quality batteries from any source. From thirdparty sources you expect that they may not be as good, hence the low price.
But when Nikon charges stupidly high prices(near on 5x), you expect the highest level of product performance .. why else would you even bother.

[Cage]

In the interests of 'Political Correctness' I won't use the old saying, but have you had a look under your car lately. :lol2:

[cupic]

Be a genuine battery here in Europe so we will see the longevity on this one

cheers

[Cage]

This is the Nikon Service Advisory about the affected batch of dud batteries with the crook batch # nominated.

http://www.nikon.com.au/en_AU/service/service_advisory/nikon-en-el15-rechargeable-li-ion-battery

Make sure you don't get one of them ( I'd bet that there are still some of them floating around) although you and Artie seem to be having different problems.

[cupic]

Mine is 201XXXXXQXXXXX

So it might be a one off dud


cheers

[arthurking83]

I think our problems are definitely different .. mine charges, but doesn't really hold much charge to operate the camera for long periods.

With the camera off, and with this battery in it .. it runs out of juice. Haven't actually measured it(how many days) .. other than the battery dies with no use .. and indicates that it's at the end of it's life.
I could understand if this only just started to happen 3 or so years after a good run .. but it started happening again a month or so after it was replaced by my retailer.

mine is 2012XXXXKXXXXX .. the first 8 digits appear to be a date .. ie, as in 20150624 :confused013 .. could be coincidence tho .. that's how I do dates for my digital files and cataloging needs.

anyhow, mine is apparently not affected :rolleyes:

Like I said tho, it was easier just to ignore it and not have to deal with a battery problem AGAIN .. and just deal with it properly once and for all ..

Forget about massively overpriced genuine Nikon batteries that are just as likely to either work or not .. as any other manufacturer's battery is likely too, and simply get a couple of cheapies(within reason) off ebay .. again.

[cupic]

Bought one here its roughly $AU80 but in the states its under $US50... which is roughly the same compared to AU$130 retail


cheers

[Jorge Arguello]

It is sad to read issues with new cameras (no matter the brand). More with cameras that price is much above entry level cameras, where I would expect a much better quality.