Battery Charge Times

Josh66 · Oct 20, 2008

How long does it take you to get a full charge on your batteries?

I have a Canon 350D. I use the stock (Canon) charger with one Canon battery, and one aftermarket battery - doesn't seem to be any difference between the two.

When I'm due for a charge it seems like it only takes like 5 minutes for the light to turn green. I don't quite trust that (seems like it should take a lot longer), so I leave it on the charger over night. Is that normal (short charge time), and am I hurting my battery by leaving it on after the light turns green?

(Camera & batteries are about 3 or 4 years old, if that matters.)

Garbz · Oct 21, 2008

Li-Ion chargers are very intelligent units. You could leave the batteries on the charger all year and the charger will make sure it does not overcharge them.
As for 5 minutes to actually charge, that seems strange. How much life do you get out of the batteries? If it's not more than 400 out of a single battery (without playing around staring at your LCD) I would think it's time for a replacement. They don't last forever.

andrew99 · Oct 21, 2008

The charger for my Nikon D40 would say the battery is charged after an hour or so, but the charge wouldn't last long in the camera. Leaving it in the charger over night did allow it to charge properly. So I wouldn't trust the charger to tell you when the battery is charged. If leaving it over night gives the best results, keep doing that!

Josh66 · Oct 21, 2008

I think I get pretty good life out of them. I don't know how many images or hours (never really counted before), but probably 2 weeks to a month - depending on how much shooting I do.

I never check the LCD (it's broken) and I rarely use the flash, I'm sure that helps a lot.

It just seems strange to me that the charger doesn't seem to know when they're fully charged.

Garbz · Oct 25, 2008

Could also be the charger that's broken. I had an energizer charger recently let the magic juice out of the batteries in the kitchen because someone left it plugged in for 3 days and the auto turnoff didn't work. Needless to say the stain in the bench is permanent.