Sudden Death of Nikon EN-EL15!

Alpha Delta 210

Alpha Delta 210

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I have a D7000 and a D610, which both use the EN-EL15 battery. I have read various theories about the "programmed" life of these batteries, and not really believed them! However I have just had an experience that makes me wonder whether there is some truth in the theory that there is a chip in the battery that programmes it to die after a certain number of charging cycles/shutter actuations!

Last weekend, one of my batteries refused to charge beyond 35%, but still showed an age of "0" (New). I decided to try to condition it by letting it discharge to 1% before charging it. The charger flashed for hours and when I eventually removed the battery in exasperation, I was surprised that it showed 2% remaining, but the age meter had jumped to "4" (Replace).

Has anyone else experienced this jump from 0 to 4 in one go, rather than the expected incremental rise?

I would be interested to hear your experiences.
 
I have an EN-EL4a (D3s) looking at me now that just died.
I have two which I used to alternate. One day this one just wouldn't charge, nor would the camera or charger recognize it as being installed.
It was out of guarantee but I emailed Nikon for their comments.
"It sounds as though it's died, you will need to buy a new one"!
 
Graham W said:
I have an EN-EL4a (D3s) looking at me now that just died.
I have two which I used to alternate. One day this one just wouldn't charge, nor would the camera or charger recognize it as being installed.
It was out of guarantee but I emailed Nikon for their comments.
"It sounds as though it's died, you will need to buy a new one"!
Click to expand...

Hmm, it does make you wonder if the speculation about them being programmed to die is true, doesn't it? Surely there would be a gradual deterioration which would show on the age scale in the Battery Info menu if the battery was growing old gracefully? :)
 
No deterioration on mine, just apparent instant death and the age scale thing showed no indication of end of life.
Very disappointed in Nikon's lack of interest. They should arrange a works outing to Fuji to see how customer service should be done.
I suppose the obvious answer is to buy third party!
 
Thats what I'm going to do. Got a D3 recently and came with battery that is not in a good life. Lucky I've got a third party one on my D700 that will work on the D3. I got 2 sport shoot coming in the june and july and I think I will be buying a few third party one. As long as they work thats all I care. Not paying £60-80 for a battery ......
 
I bought a compatible battery from 7dayshop.com, which seems fine (and displays the Battery Info like an oem one), but I have also taken a risk and bought 2 used oem batteries from eBay. I will weigh them when they arrive to check they are genuine.

I notice that Nikon has a list of known fake items on their site, but surprisingly, they don't list any batteries.
 
I've been using 2 x EN-EL15 from 7dayshop for 2 years..

The Nikon versions are better (last MUCH longer) ---but the 7DS work fine.
 
There was one battery from ebay that members where recommending,i thought i had saved it in my watch list but didnt,any one an idea as to which one it might be.
 
I've had to return one of my eBay purchases because it wouldn't hold a charge even though the Battery Info menu showed the age as "0". I don't think it was counterfeit, based on the information from the website kindly identified by Sphinx above.
 
If I remember correctly, I think Nikon issued a firmware update on the camera, which mean 3rd party batteries could no longer be used in the cameras.

I will see if I can find the link...
 
One of the reasons i think hard and long before trusting a Nikon firmware update
 
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