Li-ion Batteries

[papajo]

I have a canon dslr (30d)

Yesterday I went for a walk to take some pictures...

I fully charged my battery put it into my camera and then the camera indicator for low battery life blinked.. though (while the camera low power indicator kept blinking all the time) the camera worked just fine for about 4 hours in which I took about 200 shots.... some in burst mode and using the built in flash as well...

I turned of the camera off and called it a day.

Next day I put the battery to the recharger and within 5 seconds the charger "thought" that the battery was charged...

I put the battery into the cam and I am not able to take one single shot because it has no power.. (it lasts though a while if I dont choose to shoot anything)


The easy answer to the problem is that the battery just worn off...


BUT how can a battery from litteraly one day to an other get from fully capable to entirerly dead??


Also why the day before it died it was supplying power for hours but the indicator was blinking all the time that the battery has no power???


These questions made me to want to crack and open the battery


I found inside two barrel like batteries and a circuit

The battery is called Canon BP-511A (or 511) it has a Positive connection a Negative and two connections labeled B and L as shown in the picture bellow

I noticed that the BL connections lead to a tiny chip...


SO I believe that the batteries are fully capable (since yesterday they worked just fine for hours no matter if the indicator for low batter was blinking from the very first second I booted the camera) but the chip some how got confused and is sending bad information about the batteries...


And i wonder if there is any way to destroy or reset that chip so I could use the batteries again??

The batteries are very expensive (90 euro a piece) but its not about money I already got a new one its just about experimenting and turn into use a fine set of batteries.

thanks a lot for your time reading this big post.

 

[CocaCola]

You can get generic ones from China for about $6 delivered... The generally don't have the same mAh regardless of advertised claims but they do work well just the same...

If you want to try and repair your existing cells I would pick up one of the generic packs and simply swap your cells for theirs while maintaining the new charge circuit from the generic pack... Might be a quick and dirty way to get your OEM cells back and running for a few bucks and little hassle...

 

[papajo]

Thanks for the info but I already have a new original one...

I posted here in this forum because I hoped to get a more sophisticated answer on how those circuits determine the battery load etc and how they work in generally and an explanation on what could gone wrong in my particular case...

P.S could a mod please change my title since it has a an "i" less

 

[CocaCola]

Thanks for the info but I already have a new original one...

I understand that...

I posted here in this forum because I hoped to get a more sophisticated answer on how those circuits determine the battery load etc and how they work in generally and an explanation on what could gone wrong in my particular case...

Then you should have stated as such in the original post, instead you asked if there was a way to 'reset' or 'destroy' the chip and get your battery working again, I offered a way to properly get your battery working again as you originally asked... The charge management chip is necessary with Lipo cells or else they can go *BOOM* and burst into flames, you can't just bypass it, they are a necessary safety feature...

They have the charging management IC and circuit (that you have found) and unless it's marked and can be identified all you have to go on is that it's a charging management IC your really can't figure out the specifications it uses, especially if it's no longer functioning properly... I have no specific idea what the charger expects in regards to feedback when charging from the IC... You could look at common over the counter Lipo charging management chips like the MCP73831 and get an idea on how they work, and even use that chip to possibly fix you dead battery... But, the reason I suggest getting the generic pack, removing that charging IC and circuit from that pack and replacing the likely failed on in your old OEM pack is that you know it's already matched to the specification the OEM equipment uses (aka communicates properly with your camera and the charger) and fitment should be painless, $ for $ it's a very cost effective repair option...

 

[conductor3]

my camera doas that to becous the button didnt click