Cannot communicate with battery - 7D

[aridillse]

Dear Friends,

I am a proud owner of 7D for the past 2.5 yrs and have done many trips and shooting with that.

I am not using any battery grip. Have 2 Canon original battery with me.

Fromyesterday night I am getting an error  "Cannot communicate with battery". It is same described in the below link also :-

http://kbsupport.cusa.canon.com/system/selfservice.controller?CONFIGURATION=1011&PARTITION_ID=1&secu...

I am using Original Canon battery and I have tried with both of them but no result.

As per User Guide ,

"

If the message "Cannot communicate with battery" is displayed when checking the battery status, select [OK] and continue shooting. Please note that the battery level indicator will appear blank.

"

My concern is :-

1. If I ignore that and continue shooting , will it create any problem to the Camera functionality ?

2. Wil the battery drain fast due to that ?

I am Ok with not displaying the battery infor as of now ( which I will repair by Canon) but need to confirm that the battery functionality will remain as usual. I will be travelling for a birding trip soon and I due to short time I dont want to send it to repair...

Please guide.

Warm Regards,

Ari...

[walmirribeiro]

Dear friends, I am also having the same problem. my 7d reconhese not the battery .. please help me.

[mackguyver]

I had the same issue with my 60D and battery grip.  I tried all of the tricks and eventually sent it to Canon.  It turns out there was a wire that was disconnected inside of my brand new battery grip.  I know this doesn't match the OP's issue, but wanted to post this for others who have tried everything.

[Junior72]

Good morning all. Another victim of the popular problem. It started out of the blue yesterday morning (10/31) .After many seaches on the web, forums for "a fix" (some of them worked for a few, some did not - even a mention of placing the camera in a freezer for 6-8 minutes which I will not do), I'm still at a loss.

I can click OK after the warning message, but no Icon of how much battery life, the "Battery Info" on the menu screen showed the error and also showed the ID of he batteries - Now that is gone. 

I have the Canon battery grip, 2 genuine LP-E6 batteries. Removing the grip and placeing the single battery into the camera body did not fix this as well..so I am assuming it's not the grip. I have a hard time thinking 2 of these batteries have become damamged in some way on the same day.

I did notice on the 1st page that this issue will not affect battery life. I'm not so sure about this. After testing it yesterday, taking only 20-30 shots on fully charged batteries, I used EOS Utility to read the photos and that prompted me I had a low battery. ugh, when I went to charge it, it took almost 45 minutes to complete. Just going by theis, it looks like this probme is draining the battery 10 X faster, at least.

If cleaning the connections didn't work..removing the watch battery and letting it sit for 30, 60 minutes, maybe it is the camera. Warrenty expired so it looks like the price range to fix this is $250-450...just based on what I've seen. So very frustrating!

[ebiggs1]

I am not certain this is a "camera" issue.    Well, of course it IS a camera issue because it shows up on the camera but I don't think it is the camera causing it. I have seen this on several different models. I am sorry I don't know exactly what works to correct it except new batteries.

Just because the 'keep alive' battery is supposed to last for 10 years does not mean it will. Replace it first and see what happens.

[walmirribeiro]

Dear friends, I sent my 7d for asistencia technique, and I'm waiting for the budget and a report on this issue.
Here in Brazil many have also had this problem with the 7D.
So that Canon provide me the budget share here in Forun ... Happiness to all

[Junior72]

Well I had to bite the bullet and take this in for repair, tried mulitple "fixes" to remove this communication problem, even my friends LP-E6 battery, same problems. I used it this weekend and was only able to get 308 photos before the camera died usuing the battery grip (real Canon grip, 2 real canon batteries - nothing 3rd party). That's around 700-1000 less photos before this error. So despite what the Canon rep replied earlier on this thread, this 'battery commincation' issue IS affecting battery life. So since this is a 3 year old camera, not under warranty. this will cost about around $250-300. Was also told it could take up to 3 weeks to get it it back - but "it could be sooner." It's fine, I can wait.

Anyway, it's defalting, not a cheap fix..and seeing this is such a widespread issue with many 7D users - not just here but on many other photography forums, 7D posts & even a rep for Canon in New Jersey knew about this issue I spoke with her last week. Until an official recall is announced with this camera, either deal with it, or pay big bucks for an obvious flaw. 

[Larryjay]

I have the same problem with a 15-month-old 60D. I have a Canon battery and a generic. The problem occurred while using the generic. I assumed that would not occur using the Canon battery. I was interest. It is obvious from the posts I've read here that is a problem with the camera. I assume it is a contact issue. Cleaning the contacts inside the camera's compartment is dicey at best. Rather than pay $300 to correct what seems like a minor in common issue I will simply "suck it up" and continue shooting. It does insert extra steps to actually start shooting. Has anyone attempted to clean contacts inside that department?

Any help would be appreciated.
Larry Jay

[walmirribeiro]

Hello friends, I sent minha7D for Canon to Brazil.
she remained for several days in tests. and showed no defect.
the defective battery not reconheser, avia disappeared.
The technical report was the following ..
a problem in the battery, (Original) caused this error ..
However, by staying a few days off, this information is lost in the memory of the 7D ... and everything started to work normally.
Only then I'll have to buy another battery.

[walmirribeiro]

According to the technicians from Canon. this error is caused by the battery.
desapareser for the error, you should leave the mamera off without batteries for a few days, al this information is lost. and everything returns to normal.
however you should change the battery, because it must be bad.

Sorry for the google translation

[bud411]

I was having the "can not communicate..." problem with my 7D also. If I left the battery in the camera with it turned off, in a day or 2 the battery would be stone cold dead. So, yes, it did affect battery life in my experience.

By accident I discovered that putting a fully charged battery in with the power switch in the on position, without a memory card loaded & after inserting the battery, opening the memory slot door to install the memory card, it would read the battery

properly & NOT discharge the battery in a day or 2 like it had in the past. It is now working properly even with my second battery (chipped aftermarket battery, BTW). I don't know if it had anything to do with my 7 yr old great grandson dropping it on a tile floor (not a recommended repair method), but after that is when all started working properly.

I'm going to continue using it & not sending it & a stack of hard earned dollars to a repair center until it fails again. Just wish Canon would take ownership of this failure as it seems to be a common fault of an otherwise spectacular piece of

equipment.