LP-E6NH Batteries not holding charge

[Tronhard]

I have several sets of Genuine Canon LP-E6NH batteries and, after very little use, the potential for charging has dropped by one and even two bars.  Older batteries do not have this issue - it is apparent on my R5 and two R6 units, so I don't think it's the camera.  These batteries are about a year old, but have been used only a couple of times.

If you have any ideas on this I would be appreciative.

[Tronhard]

I hope so too Rick.  I continue to see deterioration in the LP-E6NH batteries in the batch that I bought from an authorized dealer. Ironically, some 4rd party ones are performing much better and are about 1/6 the price...

[wq9nsc]

I absolutely despise the entire LP-E6N/NH family of Canon batteries.  I have been using Canon pro level DSLR bodies since 2003 and although I have gone through a few batteries in my 1 series cameras I always got very reliable service along with very long life.  I picked up 5DS and 5DS-R bodies a few years ago and they see very little use compared to my 1DX series bodies but I have replaced 2 useless LP-E6N (won't start a charge) and 1 LP-E6NH at my cost and another was replaced by Adorama after it died 2 weeks from delivery while sitting out of the camera after its first use.  It was around 75% charge when it came out of the camera but had the typical fast flashing error light that could not be resolved in the Canon charger that is far too common.  And no, the Canon service bulletin about attempting multiple restarts does no good.  For curiosity, I used my voltage regulated and current limited bench supply to bring a LP-E6NH back to life for a charge and it worked but I wouldn't trust it to last.  These batteries always get a recharge quickly as soon as they drop through half charge camera indication, something I have never needed to worry about with my 1 series bodies which often go down to 1 bar before charging.

During this same time period, only 1 replacement LP-E19 was needed between my three hard working 1DX III and II bodies and it was still working fine but had dropped to about 1,200 from the typical 2,500+ captures between charges performance.

My 1 series will get nothing but genuine Canon LP-E19 packs but I won't be wasting any more money on Canon branded LP-E6NH packs.  I have only owned two disappointing Canon products out of many, one was a 90s era camcorder that came with highly unreliable "printed circuit" ribbon interconnects and these battery packs are the other although I am fully satisfied the 5DS and 5DS R bodies.  And so far, the two LP-E17 packs used in "baby cam" (as I named my tiny M6 Mark II) have performed well with decent life between charges and no issues thus far.

Rodger

[shadowsports]

Hope I'm not sitting on a timebomb.  The LP-E6NH batteries were not available in June when my R5 C was finally delivered.  I'm using it now with 1 OEM and 2 Watson's.  I had 2 E6NH's on back order which got delivered mid Sept.  I haven't cracked them open yet.  I have almost 5 years of tenure with Watson batteries now (6D2) and only one is now finally starting to show signs of its age. 

I used the trio of E6NH's (Canon/Watson) for th last 10 days in Europe.  Took lots of pictures.  Still getting used to MILC.  The EVF is beautiful, but chews batt life.  I got nearly a full day of shooting from one battery in (photo mode).  CINE mode absolutely destroys E6NH's regardless of brand.  I knew this though.  PD took care of that and I also helped a few family members charge their cellphones.  😁     

[goalerjones]

Same here. Sitting unused for about 2 weeks, put in today, at 86% for my R5M2. Loses charge daily it seems. Is there ever a firmware update for batteries?

As an aside, when using the Neewer batteries for the R5, I never experienced charge loss when the batteries were not in the camera like I'm experiencing now with these Canon batteries.

[Tronhard]

I use SmallRig batteries now.  I honestly gave OEM batteries a good try and their recharge performance plummeted. I have had no such issues with the Smallrig ones - and in storage they really do hold their charge especially if not stored in a camera.  Still, even in camera they do really well.

[goalerjones]

I'll wait for the Neewer versions and go with them. I'm sure Canon doesn't literally make their own batteries like their hardware, so whoever is making them isn't watching quality control.

[wq9nsc]

Trevor,

I despise the LP-E6 battery family from Canon including the NH version.  I have used Canon digital cameras since 2005 and have always had great performance from the batteries until I picked up a couple of 5DS R bodies and ran into issues with the LP-E6NH batteries.  Adorama replaced 2 under warranty that failed to recharge properly 6 weeks after I put them into service and they were removed from the camera and put into the charger when they dropped to the 20-49% range according to the camera indicator.  Prior to that I had two batteries that failed within 18 months with not that much usage.

I have used Canon 1 series cameras extensively and the large batteries for those have been exceptional and I use nothing but OEM in them but for the 5 series, I haven't bought Canon batteries in three years and I have been happy with the aftermarket. 

Part of the issue with the Canon LP-E6 family is the smart monitoring of them is a little too smart with the battery refusing to charge and Canon released a consumer notice on plugging the charger in multiple times to attempt to get past this issue, something that never worked on any of the problem packs for me.  I have a couple of lab grade variable regulated voltage, adjustable current limiting power supplies on my test bench and I found that you can put a slight charge on the pack using it and the Canon charger will then charge it normally and the pack seems to function fine again BUT I wouldn't trust that pack not to malfunction again quickly.  It appears the camera battery monitor allows the pack to be discharged to the point where the charger isn't happy even when it indicates significant pack life is left.  I haven't run into that issue with the third party packs and I ran two of them down to an indicated 1 to 9% on the camera as a test.

Rodger

[Tronhard]

That's interesting Roger.   Yes, the wheels fell off when they boosted the capacity.  I still have LP-E6 Canon batteries that work perfectly and hold their charge.  I will be interested to see what happens with the LP-E6P batteries after some use.