3rd party batteries for Olympus Cameras

[Dave Nelson]

Before I found Rob Trek on the internets..... I bought some DSTE third party batteries for my EM5 ii........... Lo and behold!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!! They suck. Royally.... A

AVOID LIKE THE VIRUS!!!!!

DSTE battery.jpg (482.5 KiB) Viewed 1379 times

fter about 10 rechargings, besides only lasting for 20 yes TWENTY pictures, the POS batteries have now swelled and I was lucky to get the last one out of my camera. If it wasn't bad ecologically, I would give them the firepit test to see how long they last THERE!!!! The only batteries that go in my camera now are the expensive Olympus batteries or I have found Watson makes some good batteries..... So buyer beware!!!

[Rob Trek]

Thanks for sharing your experience. 3rd party batteries are very risky.

[rgonet]

After reading this post I checked my stash of batteries. A couple of Wasabi's, one of which I purchased last year, have swollen and don't want to come out of the camera easily. An old Olympus BLN-1 dated 2012 still works well and holds its charge. Thereafter, I went to B&H and ordered another Olympus battery. I would recommend B&H rather than Amazon because there is a danger of getting a counterfeit battery at Amazon, but I trust B&H to look out for its customers. In the process, I looked at the Olympus Charger, BCN-1, which is the one that comes with the camera. It is recommended that you use this charger and not one by Wasabi or one of the other third-party manufacturers, as the off-brand chargers may damage the battery. Indeed, the Olympus charger takes much longer to recharge a battery and I take that as a good sign.

In reading the comments to the charger, one person downgraded it because the cord that comes with it is so long. Indeed, it is six feet long, and at first I thought the commenter was being fussy, but on second thought it does take up a lot of room in a camera bag when you travel. The solution is an adapter that replaces the cord. It's L-shaped, about an inch in size, it plugs into the charger, and then into the wall socket, so the charger hangs on the wall. I just ordered one on signalandpower.com for $2.99 plus shipping. It was recommended by one of the posters on the B&H site. I'll let you know how it works when it arrives.

[fjhleger]

i mainly used Patona batteries as spare in the past with not too disappointing results. Of course, the capacity is lower and the discharge curve is not the same as the original ones, so you need to beware that the battery charge indication on the camera is not describing the proper value.
Hint: I try to never mix chargers, I do not charge Olympus battery on a Patona charger, nor do I do the opposite…

I found an interesting article of one person that did test various available batteries for the Fuji camera:
http://ultralightphotography.net/gear/f ... batteries/

[rgonet]

Just an update to my April 24 post about the right angle adapter for the Olympus battery charger. The adapter arrived in just a few days, I tried it, and it works perfectly. When I travel I can leave the six foot electrical cord at home and just attach the adapter to plug the charger into the wall socket. Great solution.

[Rob Trek]

Those little adapters are neat. Great for travel.