The BP-422 is not compatible with the XL1. It's for an Elura.

Try either the Lenmar or Power 2000 BP-945-compatible batteries. Both pack more capacity than the Canon brand and are good, long-term values.

I can vouch for Lenmar. I have a 945 equivalent here and it has
been working great!

Batteries deplete in hot car?
 

The scenario. Two brand new batteries, fully charged. One of them on the camera lasts for a long time. I go to my car to change it, and find the inside of the car has become an oven (even though it's only a comfortable mid-70s outside). The replacement battery, left in the car the whole time, shows up as being almost entirely depleted. Is this usual? If so, I'll have to make it a point not to let my batteries bake any more.

Heat and humidity are a batteries worst enemy. If the battery was fully charged, it's a little odd it drained so quickly. But these things happen, it's not unheard of. Camera and video equipment should be stored in the same conditions as people. If your uncomfortable, so is your equipment.

Robert

Any info on the brand of the battery? I've had similar results with generic batteries--without any heat.... new "5 hour" batteries that went from from fully charged to empty in minutes. I'm not discounting the heat theory, just trying to eliminate other options.

Barry

The mystery became less mysterious upon closer examination. The "fully charged" 2nd battery was actually a 3rd battery that had not been fully charged. It's so hard to tell these things apart--they're all black and the same size and shape! Sorry for the alarm, but my original post was bunk.

As I use numerous batteries during my wedding/reception shoots, I just stuff the charged battery in a sandwich bag to identify it as charged. May not seem like much, but in the typical rush that happens during these events, nice to know the battery you just grabbed is good....

Good tip; thanks Mark.

Many batteries have a little switch that when moved reveals a red dot. This dot is meant to indicate either charged or discharged.

Unfortunately the canon BP-style batteries don't have that feature....

Many third party batteries do. The Lenmar batteries I have for the XL1 do have this feature.

Another tip is to have a rubber band (a tough one, not those wimpy little ones) around charged batteries.

I see the rubber band and "upwrap" it as new when I'm rushing. If it doesn't have a rubber band...it's been used and abused!

Murph

Same experience here with Lenmar batts: they work great.

Question for Rick Bravo or anyone else who might know the answer...
 

Hi, perhaps I should have post this in the support forum so feel free to move it.

I would really want to know where to find the "Canon Battery adapter" that Rick Bravo use to modify his GlideCam V-8 Sled.

Look to this adaptor on the two last pics of the Rick's Web site:

http://home.mindspring.com/~ricks-pi...pedglidecamv8/

Please help me to find this thing!

It looks like a battery charger he has adapted for use on the Glidecam.

Yeah, you are probably right Jeff, thanks!

I could take an inexpensive third party charger and dismantle it to make my adapter.

Jean-Phillippe

Actually it looks like the monitor power adapter from nebtek...they offer a lcd monitor series that uses canon batteries. You can also buy the adapter separately here.

http://www.nebtek.com/poweropt.html


Barry

Thank you very much Barry!

That's exactly what I need!

Jean,
 

Sorry I haven't been checking lately, I'm delivering my daughter to the Universtiy of Florida for her first session and just now got her computer up and running.

Barry is correct. The adapter is made by nebtek and it is made specifically to use a Canon battery on a variety of items. This one came attached to the monitor shown. I had it removed and place on the bottom of the GlideCam for better balance.

They also make one for SONY batteries.

Regards, RB

P.S.
Thanks for the heads-up, Hugh!

3rd party battery chargers
 

Has anyone used a third party battery charger for their canon batteries? Like the ones that are being sold on ebay and claim to charge in an hour.

I bought one of those doulbe battery chargers... but I just got my XL1s today, so haven't had any chance to test it yet.

I will post in some days when I have charged the batteries some few times...

Here is the product, but I bought it from 47st Street Photo, New York

http://cgi.ebay.ch/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22788&item=3825028481&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I bought a cheapie Ambico charger, and it works ok. It's best feature, aside from being only $25, is that it comes with a power cord that will plug into the cigarette lighter, allowing me to charge in transit and remote locations.

I have 3 of these as well as 2 canon ones and I see no difference what so ever in the usage time. Cost a third of the price of a canon original.

XL-1 battery
 

I lost my friend's XL-1 battery in my move. D'oh! Can anyone recommend a good replacement that won't cost too much? Her camera is a few years old, so a new battery is probably in order.

Thanks,

heath

Try E-bay, there's always loads on there. I have purchased a few and never had any problems with any of them. Reasonable prices and brand new.

Heath, you know how to use the search! <g>

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=27342

Lenmar is cheap and I had good experience with a battery of theirs.

Hi Heath,

Try this battery from Optex (I'm assuming they deiver to USA). I have had people recommend it, and have placed an order for one. It is yet to arrive so I cannot tell you how well it functions, but as soon as I've tested it, I'll let you know!

https://secure.xl1s.com/cgi-bin/shop/commerce.cgi?pid=502

If anyone else has this battery, could they provide an insight into it's run time, durability etc.

Thank You!

Hi Heath

I have purchased a Power2000 battery recently from www.bugeyedigtal.com for XL1
(see http://www.bugeyedigital.com/product_main/ide-acd.html)

This time around their service was excellent and I am very happy with the battery. Price is good and shipping costs very low!

Regards
Danie

XL1s batteries
 

I have read a lot of posts concerning batteries. Here's my question. Our XL1s is used for an outdoor fishing show called "The Christian Angler". What is the best extended life battery?/ time, cold weather, etc. It's no problem for us to change out batteries. I've read- Power 2000/BP945, Lenmar/BP945. Also, where is the cheapest place to purchase- cost, warranties, etc? Thanks- new to the forum

I've used the Lenmar replacement for the BP945 and it worked
fine. I haven't used it in very cold weather though (which will
influence the running time of the battery).

I've had reasonable success with the Lenmar 945 batteries.

Cold weather will reduce battery performance, as will very hot weather. Expect usable battery life to be 3-5 years if not abused. Beyond that is luck.

I buy batteries from www.dbldistributing.com, a real wholesaler, but you will need to establish a business account with them. They are in Scottsdale, AZ.

Battery Problem
 

I bought some Power 2000 batteries from B&H to use on my XL1 only to find that my canon charger takes almost 2 full day to charge them they are rated at 6000 ah

Can anyone tell me if this is normal

Possible that the Canon charger has difficulty in detecting the charge state of the batteries, and that may be due to the fact that they are substantially larger than the Canon batteries, and may have somewhat different internal characteristics as seen by the charger.

I had a 7500 (?, 7200? somewhere in the 7000 range) mAh battery
from Lenmar that charged in 4 hours or so (don't remember for
sure, and I don't have the setup anymore, so can't test), it was
definitely in under 12 hours!

Testing Batteries
 

I have three Canon cameras; 2 - XL1s and 1 - GL2. The XL1s cameras are 3 years old, and the GL2 is 2 years old.

All three cameras have their CCD prism replaced. This was to resolve dead pixels.

One XL1s had the CCD prism replaced 3 times, the other XL1s had the CCD prism replaced 2 times, and the GL2 had the CCD prism replaced once.

I only shoot about 12 weddings per year with these cameras. So they're not heavily used.

I purchased a bunch of Lenmar batteries three years ago and share those batteries between all cameras. I'm suspicious they may be the reason the dead pixels issue keeps coming back.

Is there any way for me to test these batteries to make sure they are all within spec?

Thanks,
Ron

I have no idea, but if you suspect these (I'm not really sure how
these could be responsible for it, since the XL1 has a fuse etc.)
perhaps get a Canon brand battery?

Not likely to be a battery problem, but high altitude could be an contributing factor due to higher cosmic radiation than at low altitudes. The only time I've seen hot pixels in my GL1 image were after several hours of shooting near of Denver (at The Fort).

Two simple home tests for a battery - check voltage - it should be close to the canon battery voltage at the same charge condition. Then put in a fresh charged battery, stick in a scretch tape and let it roll recording, see how much you can record before it shuts down on low battery. You may have to rewind and re-record on the tape if it is a reasonably high capacity battery. Early shutdown (time wise) implies an old, tired battery.

High Altitude
 

Don: I'm not sure that's the problem. I live at 8,500' elevation and I shoot at higher elevations routinely. My XL1s is nearly three years old and I've never had a problem like that.

But, come to think of it, I have never shot a single frame without a UV filter on the lens. So maybe...

Ron, Like Charles I shoot in the Rockies a lot. My inlaws live at over 8,000 ft. down by Wolf Creek Pass. I have never had a pixil problem. However, like Charles I always use a filter. To you shoot toward the sun much? Bob

I do live in Denver, have a UV filter (not an expensive one), and do not shoot at the sun. I shoot weddings, so I do shoot while photographers have their flashes going off, and I also shoot into DJ colored lights for a nice effect.

Do some UV filters protect better than others? If so, I'll replace mine. The ones I have are from Quantaray.

I spoke with a Canon rep in Irvine who didn't believe photography camera flashes or DJ's colored lights would cause harm to my video cameras.

I did measure the voltage of the batteries fully charged, and they are identical to the Canon batteries.

At this point, the Canon service rep and I feel I'm just having a streak of really bad luck. Fortunately, these cameras are covered under an exteneded warranty which has paid for itself several times. However, if this problem continues after the extended warranty expires, I will probably have to sell these cameras and look at Sony or Panasonic.

Thanks for all of your input. If anyone else has any suggestions, I'd sure appreciate it.

Ron