Battery in camera while using grip?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

I

IainD

Well-known member
Member's gallery
I am having trouble deciding this one... I have a D850, a D500 and a D5. The D850 and D500 use the same battery, which is excellent. But I also have grips for them and a D5 battery for each. I can just use one battery type and one charger, and the D850 and D500 shoot for about a century on one D5 battery....!
Should I take the camera battery out when I use the grip? I would hate it to damage the camera if it burst or leaked.
What are your thoughts?
I
 
Member's gallery
Provided you use the correct battery it does not matter if you have two batteries in the camera or just one in the grip . It can be an EN EL 15 or EN EL 18 on its own in the grip . just remember all EN EL 18 batteries are not the same and some are not chipped for 9 fps on the 850 ( but will still give you 7) I dont take the battery out the camera when I have the grip on ..I never heard of a battery blowing up or leaking..except on a plane with lower air pressure
 
Member's gallery
I meant leaking if I forgot it was in there in the long term. My batteries are all Nikon, so should be ok. I have tried both ways and can't decide!:)
 
Member's gallery
I have used the large battery in all my grips since the D300 and have never had a battery in the camera. If you don't need the extra power why carry the extra weight? I usually put the grips on and hardly ever take them off.
 
Member's gallery
I guess if you’re concerned about the risk and you can’t be bothered removing the grip, if you don’t need the capacity afforded by dual batteries then just use one in the grip. Save yourself sine weight too.
I gave seen batteries left in camera for tests without ill effect..... my old D600 springs to mind.
 
Member's gallery
IainD said:
I meant leaking if I forgot it was in there in the long term. My batteries are all Nikon, so should be ok. I have tried both ways and can't decide!:)
Click to expand...

Can these batteries leak? They are not NIcad or Nimh. In 20+ years I've never had a camera battery leak including the ones in spare/second bodies one of which went unused for about 5 years. I kept a battery in it, replaced when it ran down (which took quite a long time) as it used different batteries to my other bodies, it being the oldest. Come to think of it, I've never heard of a lithium battery leaking. I've got a few power banks, some new and not yet used, that have not leaked.
 
Member's gallery
dabhand16 said:
Can these batteries leak? They are not NIcad or Nimh. In 20+ years I've never had a camera battery leak including the ones in spare/second bodies one of which went unused for about 5 years. I kept a battery in it, replaced when it ran down (which took quite a long time) as it used different batteries to my other bodies, it being the oldest. Come to think of it, I've never heard of a lithium battery leaking. I've got a few power banks, some new and not yet used, that have not leaked.
Click to expand...
It would be rare for a Lithium battery to leak, that wouldn't be my first concern. Like the OP, I run the big battery in the grips so power isn't a concern. Over time, the small battery in the body will loose charge (all rechargables do) and if not removed and recharged on a regular basis, wouldn't be much good in the rare event it was needed. Removing a grip is something I don't like to do and I'll only do it if I need to troubleshoot a problem or send the camera in for repair. As I have a few spare large batteries with me, I have never had a need for an extra in the body and it's one more thing to maintain as well as some extra weight. YMMV.....
One additional thought, if something were ever to go wrong with the camera that requires pulling the battery out fast, I'd rather not have to fumble trying to take the grip off to get to the one inside. I had a friend that fried a D850 when salt water splashed on it, there were sparks and he needed to get the power disconnected fast. It can happen....
 
Member's gallery
These are not alkaline batteries, and I have never seen a rechargeable battery of any kind leak (without puncturing the cells). If a lithium battery leaks that’s very bad, it could cause a fire, so they are very well sealed. I left a battery (EN-EL3e) in an old D300 by mistake for a year or so and it was fine. All that happened was the battery drained almost right down.
 
Member's gallery
I have both cameras gripped and use EN-EL15x only, because the grips for the D750 and the D7200 don't take the big ones. I always have a battery in the camera, because this way I have the spare capacity and I don'T need to have spare batteries separate in my backpack. They hold so well that I can put a full one in the camera, leave it there and while emptying three or four batteries vias the grip the spare one in the camera ist still above 90%.

That said, I am thinking about swapping two of may cameras to a D850 with grip and by doing that I would be able to run purely on EN-EL18x.
Did somenone by any chance come across a working USB charger for EN-EL18x batteries somewhere ?
 
Member's gallery
We all work the same, differently. I use the ENEL-18 batteries in my grips, and in the two cameras that have 15's in the cameras. I like to exhaust my enel18's to the point the cameras go to the 15's. In the D5/6 cameras I will exchange the battery at 2 or 3% remaining with a full charged unit.
 
Member's gallery
Charles Loy said:
We all work the same, differently. I use the ENEL-18 batteries in my grips, and in the two cameras that have 15's in the cameras. I like to exhaust my enel18's to the point the cameras go to the 15's. In the D5/6 cameras I will exchange the battery at 2 or 3% remaining with a full charged unit.
Click to expand...

I like this strategy, because even with modern rechargable batteries it is better to drain them to a larger extent before charging again, but I think here I am not consequent emough.
I sometimes don't have the opportunity to go out shooting very regularly and to be on the safe side I put in a full battery everytime I go out. May be I should change this, look for the charging status first, and then - depending on the status - put one or two batteries in my pocket , so that I can run the battery in the grip close to empty.

I don't know exactly how Nikon counts the lifecycle status of the batteries, whether they just count loading cycles, charging time, energy flow fpr charging, ...
 
Member's gallery
I have not had any problem with Nikon batteries, but have had problems with third party batteries swelling as they fail. Over time, that swelling can make them difficult or impossible to remove, and can cause damage to components.

You generally don't need a battery in the camera if you have a grip with battery attached. But it is a good idea to leave a charged battery in the camera or grip to avoid running down the internal camera battery.

I like to rotate my batteries to maintain even use. So when using a grip, I keep the freshest battery in the camera, and rotate it to the grip. I set the camera to use the grip battery first. That means I always have a fresh battery in the camera.

I rotate batteries every time I use my camera with the used battery going on the charger and a fresh battery going into the camera. It's best not to run down batteries too far for long term life. There is no penalty for topping off batteries.

I never leave the camera without a fresh battery. Once you go to shoot and find there is no battery - or the battery is dead - you won't do that again. I remember one time getting up before dawn, hiking a mile up a steep climb to a sunrise location, and finding my battery was on the charger. All I could do was watch the sunrise.
 
Member's gallery
Pistnbroke said:
The 1234 in the battery info is a measure of it the two cells are in balance .If the voltage on one drops different to the other it signals a problem
Click to expand...

I notice that when the EN-el18's suggest calibrate, the number changes (as 0 to1) after calibration. I've never had one go flat (dead), Nikon or otherwise
 
Member's gallery
Since the batteries don't leak, it doesn't hurt having the 15 in the body, and the 15s don't really weigh much, my take is as follows:

While I rotate the 18s in the grip in a sensible way (like Eric states above) and usually check for full batteries in camera/grip before a shoot, I will occasionally find myself in the thick of shooting and see the red "battery low" icon (which is just an indicator of the low 18 in the grip, even though there's a full 15 in the body). Shame on me for not checking levels before hand, but hey, it happens.

However, I know that means that I still have quite a few shots to go before it actually dies, so I just keep shooting, And additionally, I like having the extra insurance of the battery in the camera body to ease my mind. These days, the red icon just tells me that I need to eventually change out battery(s) after I'm done shooting, and I don't have to feel any anxiety over the battery low indicator. If my camera battery slot was empty, the anxiety would return.

Chris
 
Member's gallery
I never leave the camera without a fresh battery. Once you go to shoot and find there is no battery - or the battery is dead - you won't do that again. I remember one time getting up before dawn, hiking a mile up a steep climb to a sunrise location, and finding my battery was on the charger. All I could do was watch the sunrise.
[/QUOTE]
Ouch!( This was a quote from Eric Bowles but it came out weird.)
 
Member's gallery
IainD said:
I never leave the camera without a fresh battery. Once you go to shoot and find there is no battery - or the battery is dead - you won't do that again. I remember one time getting up before dawn, hiking a mile up a steep climb to a sunrise location, and finding my battery was on the charger. All I could do was watch the sunrise.
Click to expand...
Ouch!( This was a quote from Eric Bowles but it came out weird.)
Click to expand...

Let's talk about carrying that spare battery too. ;-)
 
Member's gallery
WARNING AND ADVICE PLEASE!!! I bought a grip for my D850 and then attached a Really Right Stuff L-bracket. This made it a pain to get to the internal battery so I bought a spare larger battery for the grip. So for many months I exchanged the 2 larger grip batteries. I never got even close to using up 2 of these grip batteries even in big day of shooting. After months I thought I had better open up the camera and check the internal battery. ALAS I got the dreaded "continuous quick flash" on the charger. I do believe this means - "battery is stuffed". This was the new battery that came with the camera and was not used that much before I purchased the grip. Can anyone advise that my info is correct concerning the quick flashing charger? Could somebody also please advise if it would be best practice to periodically take out the grip battery and use the internal battery and charge it? How long would this battery hold charge out of the camera? ANY suggestions or advice on battery care would be most welcome. Currently I have no problems rotating my 2 grip batteries, so do not have to worry about removing the L-bracket and battery grip to replace the internal battery.
 
Member's gallery
Neil H. said:
WARNING AND ADVICE PLEASE!!! I bought a grip for my D850 and then attached a Really Right Stuff L-bracket. This made it a pain to get to the internal battery so I bought a spare larger battery for the grip. So for many months I exchanged the 2 larger grip batteries. I never got even close to using up 2 of these grip batteries even in big day of shooting. After months I thought I had better open up the camera and check the internal battery. ALAS I got the dreaded "continuous quick flash" on the charger. I do believe this means - "battery is stuffed".
Click to expand...

What does the D850 say when you look at the Battery Info menu (without a battery in the grip)? Look for Charge % — is it full, empty, or between? And also look at Battery Age (0=good, 4-bad).

I'm not familiar with the rapid flash indication on the battery charger, what it means (stuffed or just in need of calibration), so I'll leave that to someone else to answer.

This was the new battery that came with the camera and was not used that much before I purchased the grip. Can anyone advise that my info is correct concerning the quick flashing charger? Could somebody also please advise if it would be best practice to periodically take out the grip battery and use the internal battery and charge it? How long would this battery hold charge out of the camera? ANY suggestions or advice on battery care would be most welcome. Currently I have no problems rotating my 2 grip batteries, so do not have to worry about removing the L-bracket and battery grip to replace the internal battery.
Click to expand...

You don't have to remove the L-bracket. Just unscrew the grip and remove the grip with the bracket still attached, then you have access to the battery door. At least, that's the way it is with my non-RRS bracket and knock-off grip. So it should not be a pain to get to the internal battery.

The battery will slowly discharge whether inside or outside the camera. I can't say that it is keeping the internal camera battery charged up (or if the grip battery would do that task when attached), but that would be a small drain. But regardless, storage of these batteries in any location is best if you do not let it reach and stay at zero. Li-ion batteries don't like to be fully discharged. So yes, you should check them periodically and charge them if they need it. You can check them from the camera Battery Info menu without even taking the grip off.

If your battery is stuffed, it could be because it discharged to zero and stayed there for a long time.

Chris
 
Member's gallery
Thank you Chris! I really appreciate your very prompt response. I will check to see what the camera "says" about the battery that "flashes" when in the charger. ALAS the Nikon on-line advice is not good on that - it says "defective battery". However this may be a valuable heads up for others that may be rotating grip batteries and leaving the internal battery in a a D850 for a long period. It will be interesting to see if anyone else has experienced this problem. Many thanks!
 
Member's gallery
Neil H. said:
WARNING AND ADVICE PLEASE!!! I bought a grip for my D850 and then attached a Really Right Stuff L-bracket. This made it a pain to get to the internal battery so I bought a spare larger battery for the grip. So for many months I exchanged the 2 larger grip batteries. I never got even close to using up 2 of these grip batteries even in big day of shooting. After months I thought I had better open up the camera and check the internal battery. ALAS I got the dreaded "continuous quick flash" on the charger. I do believe this means - "battery is stuffed". This was the new battery that came with the camera and was not used that much before I purchased the grip. Can anyone advise that my info is correct concerning the quick flashing charger? Could somebody also please advise if it would be best practice to periodically take out the grip battery and use the internal battery and charge it? How long would this battery hold charge out of the camera? ANY suggestions or advice on battery care would be most welcome. Currently I have no problems rotating my 2 grip batteries, so do not have to worry about removing the L-bracket and battery grip to replace the internal battery.
Click to expand...

Just as a side note, sometimes chargers can be also too clever ;). I had the rapid flashing on the Nikon charger with one of my EN-EL15 as well. I didn't know what it means according to documentation, but it was obvious that the battery wasn't charging. I then decided to put this battery in my simple USB charger that I got for travelling (because it allows easy charging with any USB charging port, be it a hotel, train, car, a power bank or even a solar panel). This charger didn't care at all, just took it as an empty battery and charged it. After this exercise the Nikon charger decided to accept this battery again as a working member of the family :).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top