[Leica] Leica blocking 3rd party batteries in firmware?

[Geoff Hopkinson]

HI Sonny I don't have any personal experience with any non-genuine
batteries or chargers. Probably my always too long response to Kyle's
actual question should have just been:
Not that I ever heard of ;-)


On Tuesday, February 10, 2015, Sonny Carter <sonc.hegr at gmail.com> wrote:

> Geoff, you might be onto something when you suggest another charger.  When
> I changed to the new style charger that came with the M9, some of my
> after-market batteries would not charge at all, giving an error flash on
> the led.
>
> The remaining non-leica batteries seemed to be even less reliable than
> before.
>
> When I was shooting regularly with the M9, I carried 3 Leica branded
> batteries and never needed to go past #2 in a day.
>
> Maybe I would have had better luck with the aftermarket cells with an
> aftermarket charger.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> > On Feb 9, 2015, at 4:24 PM, Geoff Hopkinson <hopsternew at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >
> > To focus on your specific question Kyle, I have never previously read of
> > anyone's speculation that any version of their genuine batteries were
> > 'chipped'. I did provide the official explanation for the changed camera
> > behaviour from the firmware update for whatever you want to make of that
> > ;-).
> > That model has been used and available since 2006 and is still in use
> with
> > some current models of course. You will see subtly different marked
> > versions in circulation and genuine production has come from at least two
> > different manufacturers/countries that I am aware of. There are different
> > power ratings markings (on some non-genuine ones) too. There are many
> tens
> > of thousands of the originals in circulation, there having been 30,000+
> > M9's for a start. Those numbers are tiny compared to the volume
> production
> > for the big brands of course.
> > One recent comment elsewhere I saw was that leaving the (non-genuine)
> > batteries for longer on the charger past the nominal fully charged
> > indication made them then show as charged fully in the camera. You could
> > try another charger too if you were in a mind to investigate?
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> > Geoff
> > http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman
> >
> >> On 10 February 2015 at 06:25, Geoff Hopkinson <hopsternew at gmail.com
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >>
> >> Kyle due to some publicised reports of write errors one of the changes
> in
> >> later firmware for the M9 was to make the camera less tolerant of
> marginal
> >> power levels from batteries. One indication of that was for when you
> want
> >> to perform a sensor clean. The camera would not start that unless the
> >> charge was nearly full. They also noted that all batteries have a finite
> >> life (limited number of charge cycles before they become much less
> >> efficient). Voltage levels of course are not the the sole
> >> measure/indication. Their instructions also include noting about a
> number
> >> of cycles before the units are most efficient initially and recommend
> >> periodically running them 'flat' (not shorting them out though.
> >>
> >> Including those originally included I think I had four (genuine) units I
> >> used over 6 years (maybe 25000 exposures? or so with the two cameras
> that
> >> got randomly rotated and I never saw any problems with them personally.
> As
> >> far as I know two or three of those are still in service now with
> Lluis. I
> >> would typically change the battery with the SD card after ~400
> exposures or
> >> whenever I forgot to turn the camera off before putting it in my bag,
> >> whichever came first.
> >>
> >> I think on this list at one point different people reported varying
> >> experience with different non-genuine batteries. They might chime in?
> >>
> >> For sure the Leica ones cost a lot. I guess that the one for the M8/9
> was
> >> easy to clone or whoever actually made the originals produced a lot of
> them
> >> to different standards? It's interesting that the battery for the M (typ
> >> 240) is actually two of the earlier assemblies in one case, but I've not
> >> heard of a single non-genuine version anywhere.
> >>
> >>
> >> Cheers
> >> Geoff
> >> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman
> >>
> >> On 10 February 2015 at 01:19, kyle cassidy on the lug <
> >> leicaslacker at gmail.com <javascript:;>> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Howdy folks --
> >>>
> >>> I've been using 3rd party batteries in all of my cameras since
> >>> Australopithecus started banging rocks together -- in Panasonics,
> Nikons,
> >>> and various Leica's with no problem. In fact, I've often wondered if
> >>> workers from the OEM shop sneak back in at night and continue
> production
> >>> without labeling them.
> >>>
> >>> I recently got four off-brand M9 batteries (from two different
> retailers)
> >>> and notice a curious behavior -- when they're fully charged often the
> camera
> >>> will give a "battery low" warning and shut down -- however voltage
> meter
> >>> shows the batteries are fully charged. I'm wondering if Leica has
> possibly
> >>> chipped it's batteries and instructed the camera not to work with 3rd
> party
> >>> batteries (in the same way that the Keuring coffee-machines recognize
> >>> imposter K-Cups and refuse to work with them.) I can think of several
> >>> possible reasons for this, but chipping the batteries I think is the
> most
> >>> likely. Another option is that only 3rd party manufacturers who make
> >>> batteries for Leica cameras are hucksters, but it seems less likely.
> >>>
> >>> Any thoughts on this? $130 for a battery is $120 that I could use
> toward
> >>> a plane ticket to photograph something with a battery that's worth $10.
> >>>
> >>> Kyle
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Leica Users Group.
> >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>


-- 

Cheers
Geoff
http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman