Third party battery works with E-M5 but can’t charge on normal Olympus charger.
As you know yesterday there was that amazing (and suspicious) deal selling three E-M5 third party batteries for $11,3 each! The deal was available on eBay (Click here). Today the store “dstebattery” sent out that info: “Very sorry sir,before we sent the battery to you,our colleagues in the inspection department find that this battery can’t charged by your original charger,but can put the battery into your camera charged by AC adapter,or use our Brand charger.The battery work well in camera,can show battery level. In order to solve the problem, we can give you a $8.99 charger for free (battery is on eBay (Click here)).”
It’s really disturbing to learn about that kind of limitation AFTER having purchased the battery. As soon as some of you got the batteries let us know if it really works fine. Would be useful for 43rumors readers to learn if we can trust these third party battery resellers or not! Thanks!
TheVoiceoverman
2 years ago |There’s no 9 dollars extra, they offer their charger for free. But I cancelled anyway.
Anonymous
2 years ago |I bought a couple of these batteries yesterday and also got the same email this morning. He does say in the email that the charger will be free to fix the error. I tried to cancel my order but it looks like it already shipped. We’ll see what happens…
raines
2 years ago |To be fair, their charger is better looking than the olympus one
mclarenf3
2 years ago |I bought one battery from them (not the 3 pc deal) and they are only offering it at $4.99 to me. Kinda sucks, I’m not spending a penny more on this, so if they won’t send it for free, I’ll just take the battery and leave a negative feedback, because it doesn’t do as advertised.
Ross
2 years ago |That sounds a bit harsh as he is trying to please you by offering you a very cheap price for the charger & you only paid a small amount for one battery which included postage. For the other buyers that paid for three batteries & getting the charger free is understandable. He can’t afford to just give everything away at a loss.
When I check the ratings & complaints for ebay suppliers, I find sometimes the biggest whingers are the ones that bought something under $10 (or close to it). Please don’t join that list of people.
Bob B.
2 years ago |I never mix my chargers and batteries on third party and OEM batteries. Many times the 3rd party batteries may have different specs, so I will not take the chance of frying a battery. Sometimes the 3rd party batteries can provide more battery life than the original batteries. I have Wasabi batteries and chargers to complement my G3/GX1 DMW-BLD10PP- type Lumix brand batteries that were supplied with the cameras.
The Lumix batteries spec. is 7.2V, 1010mAh. The Wasabi spec. is 7.2V, 1500mAh. I NEVER mix the chargers and batteries. My Wasabi batteries last longer than OEM.
I just get those colored adhesive marker dots and for instance put flourenscent green dots on the Wasabi batteries and their chargers and leave the OEM batteries and chargers with none. Simple …I always notice that way, and have no problems.
Mike
2 years ago |No Thanks. Why chance a $1000 camera with a battery that is obviously not identical specs to the OEM part.
John
2 years ago |I’m buying the reduced price charger for $4.99 so we’ll see how it goes. I kind of wished they gave it for free to all people that bought the batteries.
Rhal
2 years ago |i am buying it at a reduced price aswell
slip
2 years ago |Buy a 7.6V battery to replace a 7.2V battery. I’m chocked that there were any problems.
Buying a cheap 3rd party battery for a 1000usd camera without checking the spec. Again, problem?
ginsbu
2 years ago |Where do you get 7.2V from? My BLN-1 is clearly labeled at 7.6V, like the 3rd party batts.
The various batteries do differ in mAh: Olympus is 1220, BestBatt is 1250, ebay is 1450.
BestBatt also says theirs cannot be charged by the Olympus charger.
David
2 years ago |I order the 3 pieces set. I sent an email asking if they are just going to send the charger for free, or do I need to order it somehow.
Anyone know?
Gabi
2 years ago |I asked them if they send the charger along with the batteries, and they answered “yes”. I think that is fair. They also told me that the charger also charges the original Olympus batteries and that the battery level indicator is working.
Bilbo Baggins
2 years ago |BOOM!!!!
AAAggghhhh!!!!!
My arms are on fire!!!! My Frickin’ arms!!!!!!!
AAAgggggghhhhh!!!!!!
; ) i told you so…..
Fan
2 years ago |I ordered the threepack and accepted their charger offer.
David
2 years ago |How exactly did you accept it? The email had a link to the $8.99 auction.
Did you just reply to the email?
Thanks in advance!
Fan
2 years ago |Yes
Gabi
2 years ago |Same here
hlbt
2 years ago |I imagine the next article to be something like: Third party battery works with E-M5 but camera stops working after 3 months.
Giulio Sciorio
2 years ago |I’ve been dealing with this on and off all morning. I got off the phone with Olympus and was told that some aftermarket batteries don’t have a controller in the battery and that could cause problems with charging and the battery level indicator on the camera.
I think mine had shipped out so I’m probably going to get the charger. FYI I already have this type of charger for some Sony batteries and it works fine but I only use the Sony batteries to power some LED lights.
bru
2 years ago |the question is, can the 3rd party charger charge the OEM battery? I don’t want to have to bring two chargers on a short trip.
Gabi
2 years ago |They told me that the original batteries are also charged with their charger.
Brubru
2 years ago |Thank you for clarifying that. Guess I will be getting one with the charger. I do like the built-in plug in these 3rd party charger.
pn
2 years ago |Did you ask Olympus what sense there is in putting “a controller” into the battery that could just as well be part of the camera?
It’s not like two cells would require more than 4 pins to control both of their voltage easily from the outside…
Ranger 9
2 years ago |Rather than just quacking randomly, you could read this article to see why lithium-ion batteries need an internal controller:
http://www.ladyada.net/learn/lipoly/
Anonymous
2 years ago |Nice little article Ranger 9. I’ve been around electronics for close to a million years, but I still learned from it.
Admin, you should put this up as recommended or even compulsory reading for all.
JimD
2 years ago |Nice one Ranger 9. I have been fiddling with electronics for about a million years but still learned from it.
Admin, you may wish to consider put the link up as required, or even compulsory reading.
pn
2 years ago |If you had read the article you linked, you might have noticed that it doesn’t even contain the the word “controller”.
And if you had graduated in physics and had been working working on electronics for a decade like I did, you would not jump to such naive conclusions.
The circuit to protect a Lithium Ion or Polymer cell against over/under voltage or over currents can very well be built into the non-expendable part of the hardware. And even if one wishes to protect a cell against accidental short circuiting outside the camera, that only needs very simple passive elements, but by no means a “controller”. Thermal resistors can also be built into the housing where a cell is charged or used, and they are simple passive parts, too.
The FUD spread by companies to scare their clients into their overpriced batteries is unbelievable, if is was really the security of their customers which they had in mind, they would have any reason to not ask a ten-fold price for their “original” batteries, as this is what leads some to buy from questionable sources.
Anonymous
2 years ago |Did ya’ll just reply to them asking for them to send the charger? Or did you have to do anything else? I just sent them a reply saying that was okay and to include the charger, and was there anything they needed me to do for that.
So long as the batteries work in the camera okay, that is fine with me. Worse comes to worse and they work fine, but the charger only works on these batteries and not the Olympus original…I can just use the 3 new batteries and leave the Olympus as an “at home spare” when traveling. Now of course if the batteries don’t work at all in the camera…
Sigh, I guess maybe I should have just waited another week or two.
Gabi
2 years ago |This is what they answered to me:
“OK,I will sent the charger(with EU plug) an 3 battery to you in one package.later I will tell you track
…
by the work our charger also work well for your original battery”
Jessy Plames
2 years ago |The major companies want you to think off brand batteries will destroy you. That’s how they can justify charging outrageous prices for their batteries. Don’t believe the hype.
Camaman
2 years ago |what is a band charger?
Anonymous
2 years ago |I am sure he/she meant brand and not band.
pn
2 years ago |For about 6 years now, I’ve been traveling with >= 3 different devices powered by rechargeable Lithium batteries (different cameras, dive lamp, phone) all of which I recharge using the one same generic charger, and of course I don’t buy the outrageously overpriced / dongled batteries some manufacturers bring upon us as a “usage tax”.
A good generic charger is likely to employ much more sophisticated electronics to control the loading process than the “original ones” do, the one I use for example auto-detects different types (one cell or two cell, LiIon or LiPoly) and auto-detects polarity.
While I once experienced a battery becoming bloated with an original charger and battery (that was from Sanyo), my generic loader so far never failed to load a battery without adverse effects (it, of course, also loads “original” batteries, if required).
Certainly, if you are buying cheap chargers or batteries, there is a certain risk of getting low-quality stuff – but don’t think that the manufacturers don’t try to sell you low-quality stuff as well. Just look at the many recalls, and how Nikon just recently needed to recall its already recalled batteries…
I have more trust in the brand-manufacturers of general-use chargers and batteries than I have in the quality of batteries that camera suppliers ship with their products.
Ranger 9
2 years ago |“Would be useful for 43rumors readers to learn if we can trust these third party battery resellers or not!”
Actually, based on previous experience with third-party resellers, I doubt if it WOULD be useful. The resellers tend to buy their batteries from whatever OEM submits the low bid. So even if the previous battery you bought from Reseller X was fine, there’s no guarantee the next one will be. It may have come from a completely different manufacturer, with different internal components and specifications.
JimD
2 years ago |The cheapest battery is the next in house battery, yes that’s the way it works.
There is also the Chinese factory phenomenon. This dictates that unless you have a quality person in the factory full time, your specified parts and specific manufactured items will be changed to the factory owners mates special supplies (cheaper). Your product may be well designed and well specified and what you get may well look the same, but will not have the correct specifications or build quality. Different capacitors, different plastics, different this, different that, it all ads up.
And then there is the ‘we made batteries last week, this week its xxxx’, so wholesalers just can’t get consistent product.
slomo
2 years ago |“Very sorry sir,before we sent the battery to you,our colleagues in the inspection department find that this battery can’t charged by your original charger,but can put the battery into your camera charged by AC adapter,or use our Brand charger.”
Same thing with GH2 battery, before it was decrypted. GH2 is now decrypted and can be charged by Panasonic charger, but still won’t give remaining charge information in the camera.
Nelson
2 years ago |well GH2 battery is the exception to the rule here, other third party batteries work perfectly on other Pana body except the GH2
Jorginho
2 years ago |May be I don’t get this, but I have an OEM for my GH2 and it works fine. Sadly the battery status is not displayed.
Mr.NoFlash
2 years ago |In short: The Temperature sensor.
Longer version: I think Oly was forced by japanese law to protect against overheat in the charger. The new battery ( original from Oly ) has 5 contacts.
In dpreview we found out, the 2 additional contacts are probably a temperature resistor.
These 2 contact are not connected to the camera, so third party batteries without that probable temperature resistor work in camera, nut not in the original Oly charger.
I can live with that. 10 times better than chipped batteries.
Doug
2 years ago |I just called my local big camera store, and they have 3rd party batteries and chargers now…. Ironic
Notice how the eBay ad has not changed to mention this issue?
Ross
2 years ago |If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
xshadowhk
2 years ago |I have ordered two batteries. Knowing the problem of charging, I have contacted the seller, and they can send me the charger free of charge, so I decide not to cancel the order, and give it a try.
Hope that the battery can work fine with problem….
Matt
2 years ago |Yes, there could be 2 issues here, battery with a chip which advice camera and charger about the charge status and/or an NTC temperature proe which cut the current while an excessive temperature is detected in the battery.
When I use on my canon a non original battery (which came with the charger) the camera says it cannot get info on the battery charge status, and indeed no bars appears *(for sure canon uses chipped battery, dunno about the NTC).
I think near for sure Olympus has on this camera additional contact for temperature probe
Mizu
2 years ago |Is it worth to risk a $1000 camera with a cheapo battery of unknown quality?
Mar
2 years ago |This one seems like it can be charged by original charger?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DSTE-7-6V-1450mAh-BLN-1-BLN1-Full-Coded-Battery-for-Olympus-OM-D-E-M5-EM5-Camera-/110873924706?pt=UK_Camera_Batteries&hash=item19d099d462
jazzcrab
2 years ago |Probably not. It is the same battery.
Anonymous
2 years ago |So long as the camera is doing it right, battery remaining charge is simply a function of measured voltage. Now, granted the measured voltage might be read out from the battery and being reported to the camera, and not something that the camera is reading directly.
As for it if can be charged, I figure it should be able to charge both the OEM Olympus battery and the new generic ones. The generic charger I have will charge both the Olympus BLS1 battery for my wife’s E-PL1 and the generic I got for it, though granted the Olympus charger will charge both batteries as well, but the Olympus charger is a 4 contact (IIRC) and the generic is a 2 pin.
John
2 years ago |I just got an email update after i expressed my extreme displeasure in the fact that I bought 2 batteries and had to pay for a charger. I said that I would buy the charger at half price, but would probably be reporting it to Ebay. They just sent me this reply:
“Hi
OK,I will sent the charger an 3 battery to you in one package.later I will tell you track NO and refund you,I apology for the inconvenience bring for you.
by the way, our charger also work well for your original battery
Yours Sincerely,
assa
- dstebattery”
Looks like i’m getting 3 batteries and a free charger now! AND he says the charger they send will work with the original Olympus Battery. Pretty good news if it’s true….
43shot
2 years ago |I got the same email. They are pre-typed responses.
JASE3d
2 years ago |I did the same … after saying I want a full refund on the battery, they offered me a free charger.