after market Wasabi charger for en-el-18b nikon battery

[mrca]

I am getting fed up with waiting on a back ordered charger for the above battery for the d850 battery pack. Checked with amazon and they have the above charger for $62 not $369 for the nikon. Anyone have any experience with that charger? Any problems or would you recommend it? I'm sure I could find something else to do with the $ 300 difference now that I have broken my third $70 clear 77mm filter. I guess I should be thankful, one front element repair would have been more than that.

 

[mrca]

A couple of posts on the purchase of the nikon model said they didn't get 100% charge on the after market but did when using the nikon charger. If only 80% charge and I have a second battery in the body, I doubt that matters if not fully charging doesn't damage the battery. There is some indication of battery calibration but I don't know what that means. Is that a shortcoming possibly in the after market version. It's bad enough they hose us for $150 for a fn battery but 369 for a charger! Why so expensive?

 

[mrca]

After researching, got several replies elsewhere that folks are using the $62 charger and it works fine. Will have it tomorrow and will post whether it works for me. They tell me they get nearly full charge and full 9fps. If so, that is over a $300 savings over the nikon model.

 

[BrentC]

Get one of these or more. Charges your battery from any USB. I started using them for my batteries and I love it. Small, lightweight and plug into any USB port. Great for traveling.

https://www.amazon.com/Newmowa-Char...8-3-fkmr1&keywords=newmowa+nikon+charger+d850

 

[mrca]

Brent thanks, but it won't work for the 18b battery that is twice the size of the 15 regular battery. It enables 9 fps instead of 7.

 

[cgw]

No problems with Wasabi batteries for my Fuji X100T but the charger was a bit iffy, build-wise, compared to the OEM version. As usual, YMMV with the Nikon model.

 

[mrca]

First charge gave me 9 fps. Works fine so far. I wonder why the $300 more expensive charger is back ordered, are folks waiting in line to pay that much for charger? Bad enough $169 for the darn battery.

 

[mrca]

Just checked battery level from the after market charger. 99%. So far so good.

 

[Derrel]

First charge gave me 9 fps. Works fine so far. I wonder why the $300 more expensive charger is back ordered, are folks waiting in line to pay that much for charger? Bad enough $169 for the darn battery.

Sophisticated battery monitoring, perfect battery reconditioning as-needed throughout the life cycle of a genuine Nikon battery, and long battery duty life are some of the reasons people buy the genuine Nikon batteries and chargers. I have one, single battery for my Nikon D2x, bought new on May 3, 2005; that battery _still_ works perfectly. Yes, it is at the end of its duty cycle, but the genuine Nikon charger has at multiple times throughout the duty cycle, "reconditioned" the battery. This type of sophisticated, advanced battery monitoring and reconditioning, not just charging, is why people are as you put it "waiting in line" to buy the genuine article, and not a Made in China look-alike made from stolen, cast-off industrial moulds. And as to expensive batteries, Nikon has a recently history of battery issues using cheap, Made in China battery grips and/or cheap, imitation batteries; from low-end D3xxx models to the D500, there's a recent (last five years or so) history of third-party batteries and/or third-party grips simply NOT working in some Nikon cameras.

So...again...I've been charging my _ONE_ Nikon D2x battery for about just under thirteen years. ONE battery. Almost 13 years' worth of service. Need more be said?

Look in to some of the documented failures of cheap, knockoff batteries from Thom Hogan's relatively recent web pages.The Battery Situation | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan

Excerpt: "
So here’s some not so good news: a lot of third party EN-EL15 batteries that work fine in my D7200 simply don’t work at all in the D500. I’ve verified that Watson and other third party batteries I’ve got laying around show 100% in the D7200, but show the blinking battery indicator and no charge in the D500. Readers report troubles with other third party batteries, such as the Promaster version.

Nikon has obviously changed their pin detection algorithms again, though whether intentionally to trip up third party batteries or not is unclear. However, all the third party EN-EL15s I have to examine are not 7v, 1900mAh like Nikon’s version. The Watsons are 7v, 2000mAh. Another brand that’s generically marked is 7v, 2550mAh." And at the end he writes: "Update: confirmed that Watson, Wasabi, Pearstone, and Power 2000 batteries won’t work in the D500."

I think some of the issues Hogan mentions above are partly to blame for people's desire to own the genuine Nikon-brand batteries and chargers. His page gets a lot of readers. My own experience with genuine Nikon batteries and chargers has been extremely positive.

 

[cgw]

Nikon's charger/battery sets are top-shelf, no question. Precise charge cycles and the cameras' ability to "read" their battery's charge history/condition seal the deal for me on my D7200. Besides, there's a ton of juice in the OEM EN-EL-15. Why buy a knock-off? I own two Nikon-made EN-EL15s that they'll probably bury with me. Derrel's experience seems typical.

I do know that my Fuji batteries and chargers don't pack the same monitoring features. Off-brand batteries are often just re-badged Panasonic cells(Fujifilm's OEM). Sometimes not. They're pint-size batteries relative to Nikon's and I've yet to notice any appreciable difference in their discharge behaviour. Both flatten pretty quickly with anything beyond the minimal drain settings. The optical viewfinder option on the Fuji X100T saves a ton of power that the X-T1 and its electronic viewfinder can't live without.

But for Nikon, I'd ante up and buy their batteries. Not really sure why you're desperate for another charger since Nikon batteries hold their charge for quite some time with minimal loss.

 

[mrca]

I am charging the $169 Nikon battery with the after market charger. I don't know what long term testing the source you quoted did, but the responses I got on another site from folks who used the charger for y ears had no problems. I too have batteries that are over 13 years old but I don't use those cameras much any longer, only when in horrible conditions that might trash a camera or for shot tests. The el 18 battery is rated with 5000 shots in the grip and another thousand or two for the 15 in the body. Plenty of battery life for anything I do. What did they say about the Sharps rifle in the civil war, load it today and shoot all week? Since folks have been using this charger for 4 years with other nikon cameras, d 4 and 5 , I question another geek limited testing. Yes, I don't know if it has the same battery monitoring technology, but since real world users have had no problem, I tend to be willing to take a chance on it over some geek cursory review. I have a Watson 15 and have used it as a second battery in a d500 grip with the nikon battery in camera and it works fine. I don't give a darn if it holds 100% charge or 90% charge, never even bothered to check. I shoot in the real world and it barely runs down so I don't care. I am a photographer, not a camera collector or tester who gets his panties in a wad over meaningless numbers. See all the wet pants geek reviews of the nikon 105 1.4 then take a look at the Angry photographer for a real world review. I'll stick with my 135 2.0 dc. Shot a wedding the other day and my bride never asked once about my battery or charger and the batteries on either camera barely lost any charge. She did cry when she saw some images. Not a tear wept over my battery charger.

 

[mrca]

Attended the Moose Peterson Gallery showing at Kelby Training last night and sat next to a nikon shooter who complained he paid for a battery grip, battery and end cap and was still waiting for the $369 battery charger. Told him I have been using a $69 one and it is working fine and as it has for years for d4/5 folks who use the same battery and after market charger. Looks like there is still a "back order" for the one labeled nikon.

 

[mrca]

Update on this charge. Working perfectly. Since my original post, have seen similar results from other users.

 

[Derrel]

Update on this charge. Working perfectly. Since my original post, have seen similar results from other users.

You mean it's been like, 90 days or so, and the generic still works great? Get back to us us in 13 years, okay?

 

[mrca]

In 6-7 years, it and the camera will probably be in the drawer with my currently 13 year old camera along with floppy disks and cable triggers. Just another obsolete paper weight. I have yet to hear any real world experience on the after market charger causing problems. Spoke with a d4 photographer the other day who has been using this charger for a bit longer than 90 days, 3 years. No problems. If you have anyone who has had an issue, let us know. I am just trying to pass on a cost savings I and a number of nikon users have been employing for years for this same battery using the same charger. Sorry, but I believe $ 369 for a charger is absurd.