Third Party batteries for the Leica M9, M Monochrom, M8, and M-E (CCD)- Under $20.

Sonnar Brian

Sonnar Brian

Product of the Fifties
Staff member
Local time
4:45 AM
Joined
Jan 12, 2004
Messages
19,780
View My Gallery
https://www.ebay.com/itm/314110975449

I bought three of these- all worked with my Leica Charger and cameras. The charge level is being correctly reported. The battery is advertised as "Fully Decoded" by one seller who charges double.
The original Leica batteries use a Dallas Semiconductor DS2438a battery management part, Onewire bus protocol.

This part has a 69 week delay on availability. SO- I do not believe that Leica purposely discontinued the 14464 battery, but is a victim of the global parts shortage.

The "first gen" 3rd party batteries that I bought with the M8 would not work in my M9 after version 1.176 of firmware. These batteries were sold with a dedicated charger. They include an older version of the Dallas Semiconductor part, but something is not quite compatible. The newer batteries- seem to have corrected the problem.

I've done "Onewire" using a Microchip PIC microcontroller.

https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/appnotes/01199a.pdf

A PIC12F675 could probably be made to emulate the Dallas Semiconductor part.
 
M9 batteries are another reason I am changing my mind about Leicas... The real problem will come when my small stock of them dies the inevitable death.

Regards, David

PS But the CR-V3 story is worse.
 
At under $20 a battery, for ones I know that work- I bought four. More than enough to get through the 69week leadtime for the Dallas Semiconductor part.
 
David Hughes said:
My problem is this line on many websites:-

Shipping: Does not ship to United Kingdom

Regards, David
Click to expand...

Lithium Ion Batteries are difficult to ship.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/151567020626

This is the same BLI-312 battery, seller is in the UK.

According the the packaging, this product is approved for use in the UK and European Union.
 
The demise of the M8/M9 batteries has been a worry for me. I have a bunch against failure. At my age I worry just as much about my own demise. Everything wears out eventually. Losing the M8 and M9 would be a disappointment. OTOH by that time hopefully the BSI CMOS will be great and many will have tuned it for use in their cameras.
 
At $20 a battery, I'm not worried.
I do note that the seller in my first link has some very recent sales.

I've also learned that I could probably hack a fix after taking apart a failed Leica battery and retrieving the circuit board and battery module.

For the BSI CMOS- if Leica had put a real meter in the camera, i'd probably just buy one to test the UV/IR leakage issue. The woman that posted the issue on Youtube replied back- these days most people would rather correct the color in Photoshop instead of finding out what the real problem is. She is picking up a UV/IR cut filter for her camera, my work was done.

On the M9- most people complained about purple fringing rather than just using a UV filter to correct the problem.
 
Trying to remember which decade I purchased my M9? Original battery still going strong. Bought a second one around the same time I bought the M9, still going strong also. I really doubt that the supply of batteries will disappear before I run out of juice.
 
My originals- if I charge them up right before use, get about 1/2 the number of shots as when they were new. I've started writing on the batteries which ones hold 1/2 charge, and new ones- when they were bought.
 
Sonnar Brian said:
My originals- if I charge them up right before use, get about 1/2 the number of shots as when they were new. I've started writing on the batteries which ones hold 1/2 charge, and new ones- when they were bought.
Click to expand...

Can't say I'm a high volume shooter (still wedded to 4x5 and 35mm Kodachrome mentality) but my M9 is sort of a constant companion. Had the sensor replaced and have no plans to upgrade to another M digital. Still over 10 years on the same two batteries they should start showing their age. The M9 in camera battery seems to last for weeks and weeks compared to my Fujifilm cameras that a new battery is lucky to make it through a day of shooting.

You've convinced me to buy a new battery. If it explodes in my camera I'll come looking for you -🙂
 
I have an original Leica battery, each, in my M8 and M9 plus I have a newer Leica battery that floats in between the two cameras plus I have a brand new Leica battery for those two cameras, which I purchased from B&H early this year and is still sealed in the box.

But honestly, I am so impressed with my Leica M10-P purchased this past May, I really don’t use the other cameras much.

I think Leica expects the majority of users to eventually upgrade sooner or later so not much deep concern whether there is a strong supply of batteries for M9 cameras.
 
Hi Brian,

Thank you for sharing this information about 3rd party battery that work correctly with Leica M9 charger. Last week my Leica M9 charger did not work ( not able to charge battery ), is there a 3rd party charger you would recommend?

Thanks
 
Sonnar Brian said:
Lithium Ion Batteries are difficult to ship.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/151567020626

This is the same BLI-312 battery, seller is in the UK.

According the the packaging, this product is approved for use in the UK and European Union.
Click to expand...

The problem that applies to me, that I mentioned, is that they are dangerous and banned in the international post and in the UK post unless they are in the original packaging or else fitted in the camera or whatever it is. A lot of people (sellers) seem unaware of this but I am usually asked about the contents of any parcel I send and if it has a battery in it they will put a special sticker on it. Other carriers here use warning stickers for lithium batteries.

FWIW I have always regarded batteries as dangerous but in reality have been in more dangerous situations from back up generators and so on; at the worst I had to order the evacuation of a 5 storey building during one fire... Weird coincidence; I mention one of the buildings I was in once where we'd had a panic etc and my father said that he'd been carried out of the battery room on a stretcher during the war. It seems to be a family tradition that they cause us trouble.

Regards, David
 
swatch said:
Hi Brian,

Thank you for sharing this information about 3rd party battery that work correctly with Leica M9 charger. Last week my Leica M9 charger did not work ( not able to charge battery ), is there a 3rd party charger you would recommend?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I use this one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/271183416186
Have had it for years.

SO: "Catch-22" of the Leica Charger- if the battery is completely discharged to the point the battery monitor circuit will not power up, the Leica Charger will not start to charge it.
This 3rd brand charger does.
SO: I put the battery in this charger for a ten~15 minutes or so, then try in the Leica charger, The brand-new Leica original battery that I just bought from B&H required this process. It worked. Otherwise- appeared to be defective.
 
David Hughes said:
The problem that applies to me, that I mentioned, is that they are dangerous and banned in the international post and in the UK post unless they are in the original packaging or else fitted in the camera or whatever it is. A lot of people (sellers) seem unaware of this but I am usually asked about the contents of any parcel I send and if it has a battery in it they will put a special sticker on it. Other carriers here use warning stickers for lithium batteries.

FWIW I have always regarded batteries as dangerous but in reality have been in more dangerous situations from back up generators and so on; at the worst I had to order the evacuation of a 5 storey building during one fire... Weird coincidence; I mention one of the buildings I was in once where we'd had a panic etc and my father said that he'd been carried out of the battery room on a stretcher during the war. It seems to be a family tradition that they cause us trouble.

Regards, David
Click to expand...

The batteries shipped to me by B&H were clearly parked as Batteries with a big red warning label.
The thirs party batteries in the Link that I posted were in original packaging.
The UK Seller has sold more than 90 of these batteries.

I've had custom battery packs designed for embedded systems, for a long time stuck with NiMH.More and More- Li Ion is in everything. It is unavoidable unless you stop using portable devices like computers, cellular phones, pads, etc..

At work- there used to be a long procedure to turn in old Li batteries. Easy for everything else. Guess what- no one went through the process. New equipment custodian comes in, puts up a sign "Turn in Li Batteries here" and all of a sudden 20 years of battery packs get turned in like that. I had packs from 1998 Laptops that still held a charge, but retired the computer.
 
ZivcoPhoto said:
I think Leica expects the majority of users to eventually upgrade sooner or later so not much deep concern whether there is a strong supply of batteries for M9 cameras.
Click to expand...

I think the problem is outside of Leica's control and is due to unavailability of parts. I do not know what battery monitoring component was used in the other battery packs. That is the "Achilles Heel". If the part chosen during M10 production is back-ordered as well, then there will be a shortage. I've had circuits redesigned for my projects due to parts shortages. This is not cheap.
For the battery - this means responding exactly as the original part. The old 3rd party battery that would not work in my M9- used an older version of the Dallas Semiconductor part in the Leica original batteries, hence the problem.
 
Sonnar Brian said:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/314110975449

....

The "first gen" 3rd party batteries that I bought with the M8 would not work in my M9 after version 1.176 of firmware. These batteries were sold with a dedicated charger. They include an older version of the Dallas Semiconductor part, but something is not quite compatible. The newer batteries- seem to have corrected the problem.
...

A PIC12F675 could probably be made to emulate the Dallas Semiconductor part.
Click to expand...

Hello Brian,

By any chance the "first gen" battery that you mentioned looks like this? (I just ordered two pieces from China:bang🙂
52388290234_ac3b02d516_z.jpg - Click image for larger version Name: 52388290234_ac3b02d516_z.jpg Views: 0 Size: 51.4 KB ID: 4803462
I am using two original Leica batteries with my M9 Monochrom, firmware version is 1.022.
 
yossi said:
Hello Brian,

By any chance the "first gen" battery that you mentioned looks like this? (I just ordered two pieces from China:bang🙂

I am using two original Leica batteries with my M9 Monochrom, firmware version is 1.022.
Click to expand...

No- and your charger has Four contacts, my 1st gen charger has only two. Yours is newer and probably more sophisticated.

SO: When the batteries come in, try them out and report back here!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom