Canon XH batteries / battery thread

[Bill Busby]

It seems several 3rd party batteries are just a tad too large.

See my post here with a photo of how I use gaffer tape to make a pull tab. Scroll to bottom.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=93854

Bill

[Jerry Neal]

Thanks for the info. I greatly appreciate it.

[Bill Doyle]

I also saw a good tip before of using one of those window suction cups to help pull the battery out.

[Don Palomaki]

Some Lenmar's fit, and some are just a wee bit too tall. One of these days when i have time I will try using a belt sander on one of my older batteries to see if I can take off enough plastic to get a workable fit. Will have to take care not to leave dust on it that can get into the camcorder.

[Gert Kracht]

Originally Posted by Don Palomaki

Some Lenmar's fit, and some are just a wee bit too tall. One of these days when i have time I will try using a belt sander on one of my older batteries to see if I can take off enough plastic to get a workable fit. Will have to take care not to leave dust on it that can get into the camcorder.

I can picture it: making the Lenmar fit with sand paper :-)

Does de Lenmar have the same capacity as the original Canon battery, and is the price much lower than a BP950 or 970?

[Bill Pryor]

Re: sandpaper. Back in my PC days (ie., before Avid and Mac) I needed to add memory to my state-of-the-art 286. I got a memory chip from one of the big computer stores, but when I tried to install it, the plastic card that contained the electronics was just a little too big.

I filed it down with an ordinary fine household file. Worked great.

[Gert Kracht]

Don't try that with the new memory modules they have these days. You might end up with a heavy case of ESD (Google on the subject: Electrostatic Discharge)

But comming back to the subject: Personaly I think I will stick to the original 950 or 970 battery. From what I heard, the 970 is a pretty good battery. Expensive, but good enough for 6-8 hours of power.

Does that apply to the other too?

[Bill Pryor]

The 950 that came with the camera holds up for an exceptionally long time, and the 970 goes for a couple hours longer. I notice they have a higher mAh than some of the equivalent cheapos. Tapes and batteries are two things I wouldn't skimp on.

[Don Palomaki]

Does de Lenmar have the same capacity as the original Canon battery, and is the price much lower than a BP950 or 970?

The Lenmars are significantly lower price (typically less than half) than the nominally equivalent capacity Canon batteries. The LIC941 in question was marketed as a 6000 mA-hr replacement for the Canon BP945 (4500 mA-hr) and BP941. Lenmar has released a LIC950 (5200 mA-hr) that is marketed as a replacement for the BP950, and a LIC970 (7200 mA-hr) replacement for the BP970. The LIC 950 and 970 may fit the XH A1 better, but I've not tried them yet.

I've used a number of LIC941 with XL1 and GL1, with success. They appear to hold up for 3-5 years of use before objectionable capacity loss, at least for the type of shooting I do. YMMV.

[Gert Kracht]

Cewl, thanks for the information Don.

So the choice is down to buying a 970 or a Lenmar (with or without the sandpaper).

Well...first I'm going to get an external monitor for my A1 this afternoon. I'm going to sleep a night over the decision about buying which battery I'm going to buy.

I appreciate the info.

[Jeffrey Brown]

i just came into the same situation with a Lenmar LIC941

I decided to just call Lenmar's customer service line and see if they had any ideas. come to find out the LIC941 is NOT compatible with the XH A1 at all. any reseller that recommends it is liable for getting it out of your camera, not Lenmar.

awesome.

edit:/ as an update, a little bit of strong double-sided tape on the back did the trick of getting it out.

[Don Palomaki]

FWIW: The Lenmar LIC950Gs I recently purchased fit nicely in the XH A1.

I spoke with the Lenmar folks about 2 weeks ago, they were interested to hear that the LIC941 was not a reliable fit, and they were going remove the LIC970 from the A1 compatible list until they could confirm whether or it fits.

FWIW, I have a number of LIC941 that I used with an XL1 and GL1, of them, about 20% fit nicely, and 80% are either too snug to self-eject and some just plain do not fit at all. It is a matter of a few thousands of an inch in the plastic case dimensions, with later production appearing to be slightly larger than the earlier production. Go figure...

[Gert Kracht]

Last week I visited a Canon dealer in the neighbourhood. He tried to sell me a cheap replacement battery for the Canon. But it had a problem: the bottom was loose and I could see the batteries on the inside. Both + and - connectors did not look very good too and the two contacts in the middle were missing.

I decided to leave and look around for a good deal on the internet. Found one in Groningen. With any luck I hope I can get my original Canon BP970G for 239 Euro's.

With so many stories about 'the good and the bad' batteries, I decided for the original. And I really hope it will bring many hours of filming. At least 7-8 per load.

Next week we leave to London. Taking two camera's with us and a huge amout of tapes. I'm sure I test the new battery and will let you all know about it.

[Gert Kracht]

I have my brand new BP-970G.

First I had it ordered online. They sent me an email: 'Sorry, this item is discontinued.....'

I discontinued the order and got one in a store.

And it's really a BIG battery :-)

7200 mAh. And it fits! And it has lots of space left between the battery and the inside wall. It also has three extra connectors so the camera can read 'inside' the thing.

The only negative thing: price

Will post a message in the future about the 'user time'

[Oren Arieli]

Thanks Bill, I've been meaning to make the switch to gaffers tape, but your warning was the much needed kick-in-the-pants. Does anyone know which aftermarket battery WILL fit the XH-A1 without this issue (large capacity, of course).