topic Re: 6d battery drain in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

6d battery drain

Sad6duser — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 18:03:17 GMT

I placed a freshly charged canon battery into my 6d and left the power off for 24 hours. The GPS and wifi are off. After 24 Hrs. the battery was down to 33%. This is outrageous. None of the reviews I researched discuss this. Exactly what does OFF really mean these days. Is my camera defective or is this Canon standard design?

Re: 6d battery drain

Boogieman0 — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 20:26:30 GMT

My 6d stays up for weeks and probably alot longer i just dont go that long between uses. so thats not normal. the only thing i know of is the gps that will drain it that quick.

Re: 6d battery drain

Sad6duser — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 20:58:56 GMT

I have GPS and WIFI disabled.

Re: 6d battery drain

hsbn — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:39:17 GMT

The only issue we have heard so far about the 6D is that if you leave the GPS on, it will drain battery even if the camera is OFF. So be certain that your GPS is off. Otherwise, you may have a faulty battery. Have you tried to fully charge the battery, then leave it out of the camera for a day, then put it back into the camera to seel how much it has been drained. Also, go into the battery info section of the camera, how does the battery rating? Is this a genuine Canon battery or OEM?

Re: 6d battery drain

Sad6duser — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 22:49:20 GMT

Through my testing of my 6D with canon and Tamron lenses indicate that even with GPS and WIFI disabled, a non canon lense will cause serius battery drain with power off. For me a Tamron lense cause 70% battery drain in about 12 hrs. That's not acceptable for me so I contacted the vendor of the Tamron lens (B&H) and they exchenge the lense for the canon version without a restock fee. I only paid the price difference.

Re: 6d battery drain

BjRollison — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 23:21:33 GMT

I have not experienced any unusual battery drain with my 6D

It is quite possible that your battery is defective and not holding its charge.

Some aftermarket batteries are notorious for fast charge/fast discharge (see reviews on Amazon, etc.)

Have you tried another battery?

If you tried a known good battery, and experience the same issue then I would recommend sending your camera in for servicing because you may have a "leak" in the electronics.

Re: 6d battery drain

RobertFrei — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 13:20:07 GMT

Mine has a canon L-series lens, but it drains even with the GPS off. The battery holds a charge as long as it is not in the camera. The battery can take over 500 raw shots on one charge, and as many as 1000 jpg files over the course of a day, but let it set turned off with a battery installed and it will be dead in 3 days. Leave the battery outside of the camera and it will still have 95% or more charge after 5 days.

Is the camera defective? Or is it just bad programming? Is there a FIX - I am not interested in any more work-arounds. I love the camera, the feels, the features and the great photos, so I would rather see this fixed by Canon.

Re: 6d battery drain

CANCANGOR — Wed, 20 May 2015 18:14:29 GMT

Hey. I just bought my new Canon 6D yesterday. And the same happened to me in the first night!

I have a 17-40mm L lens on the thing. It was fully charged when i went to bed and turned the Camera Off (alongside Wifi and gps ofcourse) . I woke up in the morning wanted to turn the Camera back on but it did nothing. didnt even try to turn itself on. After i fully charged the Battery everything seemed to work again. Have been using the camera for about 8 hours now. (take a photo every now and then) and the battery is still at 96%. Tonight i will try and take the lens off and turn the camera off like that. I have been told that a short circuit in the lens might cause a drain. If its not the Lens then it has to be the battery or the Camera.

Re: 6d battery drain

TCampbell — Wed, 20 May 2015 18:52:11 GMT

To avoid confusion... swtiching the camera "off" does not disable the GPS. If you use the GPS, then the GPS is on at all times -- even when the camera's power switch in the "off" position and this will cause a drain.

It should normally make sense that if you swtich off the main power switch then that means everything is "off" -- but that's not the case with the 6D.

Make sure you navigate into the menu system and specficially disable the GPS before switching it off.

Re: 6d battery drain

RobertTheFat — Wed, 20 May 2015 19:13:24 GMT

@TCampbell wrote:
To avoid confusion... swtiching the camera "off" does not disable the GPS. If you use the GPS, then the GPS is on at all times -- even when the camera's power switch in the "off" position and this will cause a drain.

It should normally make sense that if you swtich off the main power switch then that means everything is "off" -- but that's not the case with the 6D.

Make sure you navigate into the menu system and specficially disable the GPS before switching it off.

Sometimes I think I appreciate my 5D3 as much for what it doesn't have as for what it does.

Re: 6d battery drain

CANCANGOR — Wed, 20 May 2015 19:14:05 GMT

Hey Tim.

I know about the drainage of the gps and i turned it Off from the menu. And even if i it had been on. a Drain from 100 to 0 in only 7-8 hours without the camera being turned on. is too much. But again. the GPS and Wifi were turned OFF from the menu and then the Camera itself was turned Off.

Re: 6d battery drain

TCampbell — Wed, 20 May 2015 19:48:20 GMT

It sounds like the GPS didn't really switch off.

I would power off the camera, eject and then re-insert the battery (this actually forces the firmware to reboot fresh), and then go check the GPS menu to see if it's still indicated as being "off" (e.g. I'm wondering if even though the menu says it is off... that it really stayed on.)

The power switch is technically a soft-switch (it doesn't really cut power). Ejecting and re-inserting the batteries really does cut power and forces the camera to re-start the firmware. If for some reason something was "wedged" (software-bug) then this should reset it.

Good luck!

Re: 6d battery drain

CANCANGOR — Wed, 20 May 2015 20:05:07 GMT

Thanks for the advice. I did eject and reinstall the battery a couple of times. and after every time i checked the menu. GPS still shows OFF: But this doesnt really explain the situation. like i said. EVEN if the GPS was turned on. The battery being emptied in only in a couple of Hours is nor Normal. I read about exsess battery drain via GPS from other people and those complain about the battery being drained in 3-4 days with GPS on.SO I'm worried that my problem lies perhaps with something else. allthough i really hope its only something like the GPS not turning off properly ^^

Re: 6d battery drain

TCampbell — Wed, 20 May 2015 20:19:38 GMT

I agree -- it should not be possible to drain the battery in a few hours -- even with everything switched on.

I use the Canon external GP-E2 GPS (I have a 5D III) and I have it set to update my position only every 30 seconds (you can set it for more frequent, but that just drains the battery faster and I normally don't wander too far in only 30 seconds.) That GPS will last for days on a single AA (Eneloop rechargeable) battery.

It sounds like something else is causing the drain.

Have you contacted Canon service?

Re: 6d battery drain

CANCANGOR — Wed, 20 May 2015 20:26:30 GMT

Yes. I have sent them an e-mail explaining the situation. Waiting for reply... meanwhile . i will leave the camera in the bag tonight with NO lens attached. at least if it drains again. i'll know its not a short in the lens. Tomorrow night ill leave the battery out of the camera and see if its a Camera issue or the Battery itself. Funny though it only happens at nights. Camera has been 100% all day now. I might have a poltergeist who likes Shooting Canon lol

Re: 6d battery drain

Peter — Wed, 20 May 2015 20:44:35 GMT

My 1000D drained my battery. Not in one day, but in one or two weeks without using it. I thought it was that Canon model, but after I updated the firmware, I can store the camera for a month without any problems.

Re: 6d battery drain

CANCANGOR — Wed, 20 May 2015 20:46:12 GMT

You know what. thats another thing. im not running the latest firmware. maybe they fixed this issue. but i will wait for installation until im finished with the other tests. I really hope nothings wrong with the Body or the Lens 😞

Re: 6d battery drain

Peter — Wed, 20 May 2015 20:55:24 GMT

I still use 1,1,3 on my 6D without any trouble.

Re: 6d battery drain

Sixti — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 18:03:18 GMT

Hi Cancangor,

I seem to have a very similar problem. Could you please let us know, how you fixed your battery drain issue?

Thanks!

Re: 6d battery drain

Sad6duser — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 20:00:37 GMT

I haven't actually got a fix for this. Also, I'm sure I'm not using latest firmware update. My workaround is to have the battery charger on an extension cord in my camera bag so I won't forget to but the battery in the camera fully charged if I go out on a shoot. This is actually a got habit for me. I see the extension cord and I know to insert the battery. The extension cord always goes with me on trips either in my luggage or in the car.