Multiple DSLR batteries will not hold charge?

[Adam Cross]

I have currently three DSLRs (two Canon 550Ds and a 500D; both only one and two years old, respectively), which work apparently work fine. I have been using them for external time-lapse photography.

The problem is that a fully charged battery doesn't last more than a few hours (on average about 2 hours). I have the cameras set to minimal power usage: no display, no replay of photos when taking and no flash. The camera just focusses, takes a picture (every 20 minutes) and nothing is allowed to appear on the screen. After two hours or so, the batteries are all dead.

I have bought replacement batteries for all three cameras and a new charger as well. Nothing works.

Has anyone else had a problem like this? Can anyone suggest what might be wrong and how to fix the issue?

Many thanks.

 

[woof woof]

It does seem a little odd that they go flat after so few pictures and so little activity. How the environment / temperature? Not in a cold location are they?

 

[4wd]

I could imagine effectively an electrical short draining a battery far quicker than normal in one camera, but hard to see how they all developed a similar fault.
So suspicion falls on the batteries.
The symptoms are rather as would be expected with ageing batteries.
Where did you get the new one, some ebay ones are next to useless, I remember one such I got for my 300D and it was always flat next day from new.

 

[Adam Cross]

I have used up to 7 Canon/Hahnel batteries on one camera, all of them failed in the manner described. I bought new ones (albeit not branded) and they didn't work, but given the Canon ones didn't work I suspect the batteries are not at fault. None of the existing batteries are more than two years old, so they should work fine.

I didn't mention as I wanted objectivity but the cameras are left in weather-proof (but not airtight) boxes 24/7 for two months. Cameras running from three years ago worked fine a year later. However, cameras last year did not work this year, even if the cameras were brand new.

Naturally, you would assume it is due to them being left outside for so long in continuous use. However, why do 3 cameras all independently share the same fault when they have been used in different locations and worked some years and not this year?

Is there some electrical fault within cameras which can develop resulting in them draining batteries quickly?

 

[Orville]

It is unlikely that all bodies will be at fault. It is also unlikely that all batteries were created faulty. That would leave the charger as a possible culprit, but I am not sure whether the 500D & 550D share the same batteries?

 

[lostsoulal2]

I have used up to 7 Canon/Hahnel batteries on one camera, all of them failed in the manner described. I bought new ones (albeit not branded) and they didn't work, but given the Canon ones didn't work I suspect the batteries are not at fault. None of the existing batteries are more than two years old, so they should work fine.

I didn't mention as I wanted objectivity but the cameras are left in weather-proof (but not airtight) boxes 24/7 for two months. Cameras running from three years ago worked fine a year later. However, cameras last year did not work this year, even if the cameras were brand new.

Naturally, you would assume it is due to them being left outside for so long in continuous use. However, why do 3 cameras all independently share the same fault when they have been used in different locations and worked some years and not this year?

Is there some electrical fault within cameras which can develop resulting in them draining batteries quickly?

From the limited information given, I would still be considering that condensation has played its inevitable part, as you have indicated the boxes are not airtight.

The weather over the last year has in general been a lot wetter - for example; the Met Office released the annual statistics for 2012, showing that it was the second wettest year in the UK since national records began in 1910.............

whereas in the previous 2 years we had isolated dry spells viz - 2010 The period January to June was particularly dry, the driest such period since 1953 generally and since 1929 in north-west England and north Wales. But a very wet July in the north and the west, following by a very wet August in the south and the east helped offset any rainfall deficits.

I would be looking in more detail at your location / weather records for the periods concerned and considering using waterproof cameras in the future for your project?

 

[Adam Cross]

Thank you for your help. However, I have been using these cameras in the Outer Hebrides, which in contrast to the rest of the UK has probably had the driest weather on record over the last year or so! That said, the range in temperature from cold at night to warm in the day could well induce condensation, so it is a very likely cause.

I have also bought new chargers and tried out others too. I think from all your suggestions that it is very likely that there is some internal fault causing the batteries to drain quickly. Without finding an electrician somewhere, does anyone know of a similar fault and the possibilities for repair?

 

[Nod]

Do you have a known-to-be-reliable camera that you could use to test the possibly knackered batteries in? I reckon there are 2 possibly faulty items - the batteries and the cameras so a process of elimination needs to be carried out. I hope for your budget's sake that it's the batteries that have all failed but since brand new ones don't seem to work either, it might be the bodies that are at fault.

I for one am looking forward to seeing the end result if it's going to be for public consumption! Are we allowed to know any more?