M9 battery issue

R

rod64

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I have both an original Leica battery and a more recent 3rd party battery. Both units were working fine. Charging to 100% and keeping a good charge. Suddenly, both started having issues. The Leice one only charges to 25% tops and I get the low battery message quickly. The other one charges to 75% tops. I suspected the charger was at issue because the yellow charging light would go out after a few minutes. I got the newer style charger from b&H and still I cannot push the charges to higher levels. Any thoughts? Battery issue? Firmware? Everything was working fine up until about 2 weeks ago. Find it strange that both batteries would go at the same time with minimal use.
Thanks
 
It means they were not as good as you thought. The latest firmware has better power management to prevent malfunctions. The downside is that dodgy batteries don't work too well any more.
 
Sounds like your Leica battery needs to rest in peace i'm afraid. As for the generic, i wonder if you discharged it totally in the camera before recharging it. Such a total dischage is mandatory to avoid false meter readings with M8 and M9 generic batteries.
 
I will try and drain the generic to 0 and recharge. Makes sense that the Leica may be in its final volts.
Thanks
 
Leica recommends to discard batteries before they are 3 years old, from the manufacturing date not usage date. You can find the manufacturing date imprinted on the battery in week and year format. For instance if the number reads 5011 (my actual battery number) it means week 50, 2011. It would be interesting to know how old is your Leica battery.
 
Well, it depends. I have a six year old M8 battery and four three to five year olds that work flawlessly under the new firmware. It is a matter of maintenance too. I try not to run them down under 75 %. A habit of fully discharging Li-Ion batteries will shorten their lifespan considerably.

I had four generic ones that I used as backup when traveling far from civilization read electricity.Those I had to dispose of.
 
My Nikon Coolpix batteries are fine after 8 years. Not lasting 3 years would annoy me considerably with the cost of Leica batteries. Mine is 9 months old. I never let it get much below 50% and it has never been fully discharged and it works extremely well. I didn't upgrade to the current firmware. I will get another battery some time next year.
 
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