Calibrating The Camera Battery

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bleirer said:
So I guess the answer to the OP is to do it when it blinks to tell you to do it. Or if you have a model that doesn't tell you when to do it then do it on a schedule, like on the 31st day of every month that has 31 days or some easy to remember schedule, or to do it when the behavior of the battery in action makes you think something is wrong.

Now I'm glad I shoot Canon. Simpler.
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Only the D1 thru D6 and Z9 batteries may need calibration. I have used these for 18 years, may have done 5 calibrations IN TOTAL.
No need to do it unless the charger blinks to do so, and ignore if you don't want to bother.
Fact is, the D1 may have not had a calibration, can't recall that far back. I do recall it was the flagship in 1999, 2.74MP camera body. I loved it.
I don't know about a Canon, I have never owned or used that brand.
 
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So my z9 battery charger started flashing red and the info in the camera menu said calibrate. I was down to 10% on the battery. I calibrated and fully charged it overnight and used the same battery the next day. When I came to recharge it next time it asks to be calibrated again. Surely one calibration cycle is enough? Any ideas guys?
 
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Stmall said:
So my z9 battery charger started flashing red and the info in the camera menu said calibrate. I was down to 10% on the battery. I calibrated and fully charged it overnight and used the same battery the next day. When I came to recharge it next time it asks to be calibrated again. Surely one calibration cycle is enough? Any ideas guys?
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A relatively new battery should not behave like that. Sounds faulty.

What does Battery Info say in the camera? This will tell if/when Calibration is needed.

I have ENEL18c's from circa 2019 that are still rated as New in my current cameras - according to the Battery age field in Battery info. These have had constant use in D850 and D5, now D6 although rarely in the Z9.
 
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Stmall said:
So my z9 battery charger started flashing red and the info in the camera menu said calibrate. I was down to 10% on the battery. I calibrated and fully charged it overnight and used the same battery the next day. When I came to recharge it next time it asks to be calibrated again. Surely one calibration cycle is enough? Any ideas guys?
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Is it Nikon or 3rd party battery?
 
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Stmall said:
So my z9 battery charger started flashing red and the info in the camera menu said calibrate. I was down to 10% on the battery. I calibrated and fully charged it overnight and used the same battery the next day. When I came to recharge it next time it asks to be calibrated again. Surely one calibration cycle is enough? Any ideas guys?
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This happened to me. Genuine Nikon battery. I calibrated it a second time and it's been fine ever since. No idea why it needed doing twice.
 
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bleirer said:
So I guess the answer to the OP is to do it when it blinks to tell you to do it. Or if you have a model that doesn't tell you when to do it then do it on a schedule, like on the 31st day of every month that has 31 days or some easy to remember schedule, or to do it when the behavior of the battery in action makes you think something is wrong.

Now I'm glad I shoot Canon. Simpler.
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I have had my Z9 10.5 months. IIRC, there is at least one red light to signal need to calibrate. During normal charging, you place battery in charger and see only green lights to indicate charging level and progress. When red light appears when you place battery in charger, and you press the button to start calibration, there are red lights to show calibration progress, which proceeds more slowly than charging. My initial calibration took over 10 hours. Second calibration required about 5 hours. Of course if you charge battery only in camera, you get no signal to calibrate. Ignorance is bliss, but only until battery performance ebbs or fails.
 
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I got my Z9 last January and have 3 EN EL 18ds. I was photographing polar bears at a lodge north of Churchill Manitoba in November. Quite cold (temps as low as -10 F ambient, and much colder with windchill) so I tended to swap batteries out at lunch break. Not clear I had to — a full EN EL 18d might well have made the whole day. But I did not want to run short of power at a critical moment.

The lodge used a generator for power. About half way through the trip one of my batteries triggered the flashing calibration light on the MH-33 charger. I calibrated it once when I got home and it has worked fine since then.

Someone on the Perry forums suggested that a need for calibration could be triggered by erratic power supply during charging — something that could have happened with the lodge’s generator. No issues with my other two batteries on the trip. Or my EN EL 15s (of various generations) that I was using on my Z7I.
 
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I have found that I often get a calibration warning the camera when I use unstable electrical system (common in Africa, almost never in the US).
 
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The battery Info page will tell you when you need to calibrate. In this case, the battery is calibrated as indicated by the 2 dashes.

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Calibration is just to ensure the in-camera reported battery status is accurate. it is still safe to use the battery. On the Z9 the battery charger yellow calibration lamp comes on when a calibration is recommened, similairly on the camera battery info screen will show CAL rather than --. The calibration cycle does a discharge cycle before a charge cycle so can take a long time.
 
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I can't tell you about all the batteries and chargers but I can share some information about batteries. The Li batteries have multiple cells in series, typically two but they could have more. As the cells are used, if they are not perfectly matched, the state of charge of the cells will slowly drift apart. The equipment, trying to preserve battery life will not over-discharge the battery resulting in shorter and shorter use time. The charger will not over-charge the battery resulting in the the weak cell not being charged to full capacity. A battery management system will work to balance the cells to get them to fully charge yielding the greatest use time. I suspect that the calibrate function performs this balancing with the help of the chips in the battery and the chargers.
 
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Oddly, I’ve just had three EN EL 18d batteries show that they need calibration. Makes me wonder whether there is something wrong with my MH-33 charger or its power adapter? I have a second MH-33 charger and adapter and will try that to see if the results are different. (And the issue does not appear to be with batteries that I charged with my Anker power bank in a recent test discussed in another thread.)
 
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Stmall said:
Thanks. I’ll calibrate it again and report back. Might not be for a day or two though
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Update. I was in Malaysia so delayed a second recalibration till I returned home. By chance the battery then was at less than 5%. I used the camera until the battery ran out and then went to recalibrate. When inserted in the charger the red light flashed once and then the normal green charging light came on. I removed and reinserted the battery and only the green light lighted. I charged it for half an hour and then inserted the battery in the z9 and checked the battery status. The requires calibration symbol had disappeared and now showed - - .
Problem solved. Maybe the original recalibration in Malaysia didn’t quite drain the battery to zero before recharging?
 
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Since 2016, I've only had to calibrate a couple of ENEL18 batteries (as I recall). The calibration button didn't work on the Wasabi bought off Amazon, only on the OEM charger. And I had a costly lesson with this Wasabi and shortlived Hahnel ENEL18 clones, as recalibrating attempts failed with OEM charger. No more the 3rd party battery options to try save!

For the newer ENEL18 batteries, the MH33 charger gives us an all round improvement over the clunky MH26. Cheaper, lighter, smaller, and it uses USB C PD - mains unit(s) or a powerblock. See this useful thread on dpr, including the observation that Nikon opted for lower power out of the EH7P AC unit feeding the PD rated MH33. This is probably to tamp down the battery temperature.

In bush camps with more erratic power, the MH33 means I now only recharge batteries off a powerblock, which is in turn recharged on mains, when available, or I use the car 12v plug but I often carry a versatile bigger PSU on longer trips.
 
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