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poorguy
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En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Thu Jan 04, 2018 7:24 pm

I just bought a new Nikon D500 DSLR with F2.8-4 16-80mm lens package. The battery that comes with the package with its first initial 1st charge drains very fast. Some details about this problem.

(1) I bought this package brand new from a shop that is authorized dealer with Nikon locally at Singapore as listed in Nikon's dealers website. I checked the package and did some simple testing with the package in the shop. The observation is the battery was low in power so the shop assistant had to use other battery in their shop to power the camera up.

(2) The EN-EL15 battery (black) comes with -20 coding so its not the older battery that have problem its quick draining and power level reading.

(3) I did several reading on the Nikon D500 user manual (PDF) and from the various sources online about applications that drain D500 battery power, so i set the following in cam so that minimal power is being used. Enabled airplane mode, set LCD brightness to -2, set timers for LCD time out, review etc to the shortest timing, using AF-S with no continous focusing, disablee auto face detection, set the correct order of power usage (camera battery first), and set MB-D17 grip battery type to 'Ni-mh'.

(4) I took only 15 raw+jpeg fine files and the battery drained about 10% during a short 30 minutes photowalk near my home. I am using the 16-80 VR (with VR 'off') and the 50mm F1.8G lens.

(5) I left the unit with battery in the cam body overnight (1 night) with switch 'off' and the power is okay. I remembered it read 55% the night before and in the morning it still reads 55%.

(6) I left the unit with a 50mm F1.8G lens attached and powered 'on' for about 3 hours and the percentage stays the same before and after the 3 hour duration just like test in point #5.

(7) I did a test to simulate how i will use this cam. It shall be used for event shoots when the cam will be on, i will move around a place and have the cam doing many cycles of autofocusing via the viewfinder. I will need to be taking about 400 photos in an event that may last for the span of 6 hours. I observe that battery drains about 40% when i have the cam with lens attached on in just one hour doing the above action. Worse i only took 15 raw photos not 400, that could drain or even kill the battery power!

(8) I read that Lithium-ion battery for DSLR may take a few charging cycles to reach its full power capacity so i am hoping to hear some comments about validity on this one.

Any inpouts on my problem welcomed as i need this cam to have the power to last for my event shoots. They are all paid work. Further information is i ordered a Meike MB-D500 grip and a Nikon MB-D17 grip. They are on the way so i will need to run further tests so that the batteries (both AA and EN-EL15) will run smoothly and function properly with the grip on this time. Hope it will still not have quick battery drain in normal usage again.
 
Kougar
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:55 pm

If the battery is still draining quickly after a second, full charge there may be an issue with it. I know you said you activated airplane mode, but I would still suggest you manually disable wifi and bluetooth as well.
 
just brew it!
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:55 am

Lithium-ion batteries degrade if stored in the uncharged state. You noted that the battery was not charged when you went to purchase the camera. If it had been left like that for several months the battery likely suffered permanent damage. If it does not improve after a few charge/discharge cycles you will need to exchange it for a fully functional battery.
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poorguy
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:35 pm

Kougar wrote:
If the battery is still draining quickly after a second, full charge there may be an issue with it. I know you said you activated airplane mode, but I would still suggest you manually disable wifi and bluetooth as well.


Thanks for the comment. I am going to use the battery with the camera to take some less important events to also test how much lossless 14-bit raw files i can take in one hour duration and the battery power level remainding after that, and then deplete its power quicker so that i can proceed with the second charge. Any idea or other methods to discharge a proprietory cam battery other than using it in cam?
Last edited by poorguy on Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
poorguy
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:40 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Lithium-ion batteries degrade if stored in the uncharged state. You noted that the battery was not charged when you went to purchase the camera. If it had been left like that for several months the battery likely suffered permanent damage. If it does not improve after a few charge/discharge cycles you will need to exchange it for a fully functional battery.


I do not know if the manufacturer will charge their sold batteries before they ship out their products. When i first opened the package with the sales assistant, the power in the new battery was down to about 20% or less, not at the fully depletion state. The D500 body will not allow the cam to work when the power is at the 20 percent level (as shown on the top smaller display panel). It will take some time to have a few charging and discharging cycle tests but any other methods to discharge a proprietory cam battery other than using it in cam? Even if i can test it so i think it may be difficult for Nikon to believe that and i wonder if they are able to test it and see it like i have done.
 
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:54 pm

poorguy wrote:
It will take some time to have a few charging and discharging cycle tests but any other methods to discharge a proprietory cam battery other than using it in cam? Even if i can test it so i think it may be difficult for Nikon to believe that and i wonder if they are able to test it and see it like i have done.

You're missing one point. One should NEVER fully discharge a Li-Ion battery.
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poorguy
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:04 pm

More updates on what i had already tried.

I read the user manual page 5 states that initial charge of about 2 days to fill up the internal clock, which may result in a battery drain. I have done so for 1 day (two 12 hours cycles overnight). I noted the power level before and after - no drain. Leaving the battery in cam whether switched on or off overnight do not drain battery level.

I also updated the firmware to latest 1.13 version (i read somewhere online in other forums that updated firmware helps with some battery drain issue). Reset the cam settings then do the usual fousing half pressing of shutter randomly with my 50F1.8G prime, navigating of the user display without taking any photos for a few hours. Battery fully charged down by (not to) 8%.

I observed that the battery drain mostly when i am navigating the user interface settings, activating and de-activating live view for a few seconds on and off, half pressing the shutter for focusing, simulating what i usually do while shooting an event. I had not taken any photo for raw files to be written to my SD (primary slot) card yet.

I also read in user manual that about 1000++ shots per battery charge tested under CIPA standard. Just want to confirm if the standard tests are all fired in continous burst? My testing are all on single shot AF-S mode.
 
Airmantharp
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 05, 2018 7:52 pm

Standard tests are mixed use, with flash thrown in-

and you should easily be able to get 1000+ shots out of the battery, and significantly more than 1000, not less, if bursting and not using the LCD. This is a DSLR and not a mirrorless camera, after all!


My recommendation: since you need a backup regardless, go get one, and see if it behaves similarly. If it does, the issue may be the camera (itself or your operation of it, by simple elimination). If the new battery behaves as expected, then return/RMA the one that came with the D500. (if worse, return all of it...)
 
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 05, 2018 8:24 pm

That's a 7.0 volt 1900 mAh battery. I'm routinely getting 2000+ shots from a similar-sized battery (7.2 V 1865 mAh) in my full-frame DSLR.
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poorguy
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:07 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
poorguy wrote:
It will take some time to have a few charging and discharging cycle tests but any other methods to discharge a proprietory cam battery other than using it in cam? Even if i can test it so i think it may be difficult for Nikon to believe that and i wonder if they are able to test it and see it like i have done.

You're missing one point. One should NEVER fully discharge a Li-Ion battery.


I will take note not to fully discharge the Li-ion battery or store it in this state.
 
poorguy
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:13 pm

Some updates:

I shot an event a few days ago with the En-el15 battery starting at 91%. Did not use LCD to preview any photos, did not access the LCD just use the top small display panel. Used my 16-80mm lens with VR disabled, no LCD backlight. Only half-press shutter for focusing and taking of 14 bit lossless compressed raw photos. I managed to get 150 frames and by the end of the one hour shoot with the battery power level down to 74%. Summarising the battery life and usage: 17% at 150 shots with most power save options turned on. Going at this rate i may be getting 650-750 raw photos (per my shooting style) with a fully charged battery.

My Nikon MB-D17 vertical grip are still weeks away from collection and i will update the battery performance when it is used in the grip to see if i will need further help and advices.
 
Airmantharp
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 12, 2018 9:00 am

Recommend doing a full 'as you use it' test, including (especially!) turning on VR, with a full battery, until dead.

You should still be able to get 1000 shots easily.


[I've gotten over 2000 with my 6D on a single charge, a full-frame camera, shooting bursts...]
 
TechHead
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:47 pm

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EndlessWaves
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Re: En-EL15 Battery draining fast with brand new nikon D500 DSLR

Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:10 am

TechHead wrote:


He said in the first post he had the new -20 model.

Going by the shape, dimensions, voltage and capacity of the battery pack it appears to be a pair of standard lithium-ion round cells. Probably 18500 size. If you do end up with the faulty pack after this is all sorted (or can't get it sorted) then you could potentially replace just the battery cells.

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