how long does your oly BLM-1 last

[wind30]

just curious,

For those old birds who has owned the E1 for a long time, I am wondering how is your BLM-1 batteries holding up?

Do they deteorate with age and use a lot?

[drakon09]

All rechargeables lose capacitance over time.

Lithium-ions in general stay good to at least 500 charges. From there, deterioration is noticeable, and should die close to 1000 charges.

At least in theory.

[Blu-By-U]

So judging from that, If I were to charge once a day, then it would last me about 3 years.

Would it last longer since I only use my camera about 1 in 2~3 months and in between that time it sits in my dry box?

[drakon09]

To make it clearer, capacitance is lost over time (due to heat, humidity, etc) AS WELL AS repeated chargings.

I know of some who keep Li-Io batts in the freezer if they don't plan to use them over a long period of time.

[wind30]

But the batteries deteriorate even when unused. Supposely after 2 years they drop capacity significantly.

I am just curious whether anyone has noticed this in everyday usage? My sony laptop battery deteriorate to like 50% capacity after 1.5 years... and it is very obvious.

[Mikefellh]

Some info about batteries...an interesting issue is the TEMPERATURE that you store batteries at (especially in higher temperature parts of the world):
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

[Blu-By-U]

Just questions on the freezer part....Should I full charge it then store? and when I need to use them, should I recharge before use? If recharge, should I thaw it to room temperature first or just straight into the charger? What about the condensation will it have an adverse effect on the charger or the battery?

[wind30]

Originally Posted by Blu-By-U Just questions on the freezer part....Should I full charge it then store? and when I need to use them, should I recharge before use? If recharge, should I thaw it to room temperature first or just straight into the charger? What about the condensation will it have an adverse effect on the charger or the battery?

no need to freeze lah.

The thing is don't store battery at full charge. Store at 50% charge.

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by wind30 no need to freeze lah. The thing is don't store battery at full charge. Store at 50% charge.

There are differnt schools on that, some say batteries must be stored charged. To freeze them is not a good idea. They are usually not made for that storage temperature.

[drakon09]

Putting them in cold storage means you're not going to use them for a loooong time.

For me I keep them charged (I use Eastgear BLMs - so they are quite replaceable) so they are ready for firing when I need them.

If they are unused for a couple of months then I normally recharge them before use.

I have been using the four BLMs for a couple of years now, so far so good.

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by Mikefellh Some info about batteries...an interesting issue is the TEMPERATURE that you store batteries at (especially in higher temperature parts of the world): http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

Ah thanks for the link Mike, I did see something similar to this previously.

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by drakon09 For me I keep them charged (I use Eastgear BLMs - so they are quite replaceable) so they are ready for firing when I need them. If they are unused for a couple of months then I normally recharge them before use.

Me too, I always keep them charged. In fact, if I am not using a set of any rechargable batteries for a couple of weeks I always give them a charge up. I don't know about a couple of months unused bits, never happened that I did not use my camera for that long, but if I haven't used it for a couple of days I always charge before I leave the house with the camera. I hate surprises, even if I have a set of Lithium batteries in my BLM-1 just in case... It is for me impossible to keep in mind when I charged the battery last time and the E-500 has such a lousy battery level indicator.

OT, Actually, the FL-50 is even worse. The first time I saw the two LEDs blinking I thought "O my God, my flash is already broken" because it happened the second day of its life. I was looking in the manual but could not find anything about that. So, after a few minutes I just changed to a new set and the flash worked again. So I figured that the blinking was actually a good bye from the flash. Haven't seen any battery level indicator yet on that flash.

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by OlyFlyer Me too, I always keep them charged. In fact, if I am not using a set of any rechargable batteries for a couple of weeks I always give them a charge up. I don't know about a couple of months unused bits, never happened that I did not use my camera for that long, but if I haven't used it for a couple of days I always charge before I leave the house with the camera. I hate surprises, even if I have a set of Lithium batteries in my BLM-1 just in case... It is for me impossible to keep in mind when I charged the battery last time and the E-500 has such a lousy battery level indicator. OT, Actually, the FL-50 is even worse. The first time I saw the two LEDs blinking I thought "O my God, my flash is already broken" because it happened the second day of its life. I was looking in the manual but could not find anything about that. So, after a few minutes I just changed to a new set and the flash worked again. So I figured that the blinking was actually a good bye from the flash. Haven't seen any battery level indicator yet on that flash.

The battery indicator on the Olys (not just your E500) is quite, lets just say, inaccurate.

When it displays half-charge it means you got 40 shots or less left.

Let's hope the fixed that bit in the new bodies.

[wrx_sti_22b]

Originally Posted by drakon09 I know of some who keep Li-Io batts in the freezer if they don't plan to use them over a long period of time.

That seems so crazy & stupid to me...

[cyuxiang]

Originally Posted by drakon09 The battery indicator on the Olys (not just your E500) is quite, lets just say, inaccurate. When it displays half-charge it means you got 40 shots or less left. Let's hope the fixed that bit in the new bodies.

I'm not very sure about other camera systems, but are there accurate battery indicators around? I know my Canon Powershot works in the same way (half-charge means dying), & the only (quite) accurate solution I've heard of is from Sony. Other brands I'm not sure.

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by wrx_sti_22b That seems so crazy & stupid to me...

Not if the Li-Io batts cost 240 bucks a pop (BLL-1).

[drakon09]

Originally Posted by cyuxiang I'm not very sure about other camera systems, but are there accurate battery indicators around? I know my Canon Powershot works in the same way (half-charge means dying), & the only (quite) accurate solution I've heard of is from Sony. Other brands I'm not sure.

It shouldn't be too difficult to engineer an accurate indicator (IMHO, but then again I'm no engineer). Where my Olys are concerned, a half charge display just means "CHANGE ME NOW!".

[Blu-By-U]

So far, the 2 BLM that I have are still ok. 1 is already 4 years old while the other is only 8 months. Both do not indicate any less holding charge.

[OlyFlyer]

Originally Posted by drakon09 It shouldn't be too difficult to engineer an accurate indicator (IMHO, but then again I'm no engineer). Where my Olys are concerned, a half charge display just means "CHANGE ME NOW!".

No, it is not difficult to have a more accurate indicator but it is always all about cost saving novadays. On my old OM2n the LED started flashing when the battery was tested and that showed there was enough juice left for at least one roll of film and I could rely on that. I think that kind of precision should not be difficult to make. Now, I change as soon as the led shows red if I am outdoors because it will definitely not last long after that. At home I occasionally run it until the camera dies on me, or put it on charge over night. Between red and dead there are a few shots, but definitely not corresponding a film roll of 36 images.

That was the camera. But is there any battery level indicator at all on the FL-50? That is the most irritating one. That flash is so expensive and it has a fancy display but no battery level indicator. If I could at least check the number of flashes since last battery change or something like that. No, it just dies. That must be a real nightmare for every pro.

[drakon09]

Yes, the flashes do require a little more sophistication.

Let's see what Oly is offering later in the year.