LC-E6 shows rapidly flashing amber light. Will not charge battery.

[LarryL]

The LC-E6 battery Charger that came with my new 5D Mk III failed to operate properly right out of the box. Would not charge my new battery, nor any of my other Canon batteries. Amber charging light blinks rapidly.
The old LC-E6 charger that came with my EOS 7D charges these batteries normally.
I junked the charger that came with my 5D Mk III, and bought a new LC-E6 from B&H. This unit has the same issue. It will sometimes charge some of my Canon batteries, but more often the amber light, after about 20 seconds just blinks rapidly, and will not charge the battery. My old LC-E6 charger still charges all these batteries in normal fashion.
I only use Canon Brand LP-E6 batteries in these cameras.

I have followed the battery charging instructions as found in the owner's guide and online at the Canon USA website. The batteries are relatively new, and show good operating status on the camera Battery Info panel of the camera menu.These units (LC-E6) have never operated properly.

[RobertTheFat]

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@TimT wrote:

Having the same issue.  If it's blinking twice per second, does that mean it's at 50% as indicated on the icon on the battery charger?

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I wouldn't rely on the percentages, but two flashes means the battery is more nearly chatged than if there was only one flash. Three flashes mean it's even more nearly charged, and a solid light (I think it also changes from orange to green) means it's fully charged.

[Waddizzle]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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@TimT wrote:

Having the same issue.  If it's blinking twice per second, does that mean it's at 50% as indicated on the icon on the battery charger?

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I wouldn't rely on the percentages, but two flashes means the battery is more nearly chatged than if there was only one flash. Three flashes mean it's even more nearly charged, and a solid light (I think it also changes from orange to green) means it's fully charged.

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Right.  The charger flashes amber yellow at diffferent rates while charging.  It stops blinking and turns a solid green when charged.

[TCampbell]

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@TimT wrote:

Having the same issue.  If it's blinking twice per second, does that mean it's at 50% as indicated on the icon on the battery charger?

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If you're getting "green" flashing lights, then all is well (this just means it is charging normally).  

The number of flashes between pauses indicates roughly how much of a charge is on the batteries.  Two "green" flashes, then a pause, then two more green flashes, etc. means the charger thinks you are roughly half-charged.

The OP's issue is different... if you get "amber" flashing lights then it means something is wrong.

BTW, if a battery is particularly dead then the charger can be tricked into thinking there is a problem.  If this happens, unplug the charger, wait a few seconds, then plug it back in.  It will try to charge for a minute before it checks the battery.  If it is still too low then you'll get the flashing amber light again... but just repeat...  unplug, wait a few seconds, and plug it back in again.  Each time you do this it'll get another short charge in before it tests the battery and after a few cycles of this it will get above the minimum voltage and the charger will just keep working.

If, on the other hand, you try this several times and it never corrects the flashing amber light, then that's an indication that you probably have a bad battery.

[JulioR]

Did you used non-Canon batteries? It don't work with Canon charger, but with other chargers works well. Even so you obtain an error message when you turn on the Camera. If you continue normaly it works fine, but is not reliable enough because sometime didn't recognise the battery when put the camera on. It only happen to me with  my 70D, other Canon reflex work perfect with replacemente batteries. My advise use Canon. Sorry about my english.