OMD EM5 spare battery (where to get it?)
- Thread starter skeletonman
- Start date
skeletonman
New Member
I called up a few reputable stores and they are all out of stock. Artworkfoto told me that more stock should come in this week, but they are not sure when. I hope I can get my hands on one before I leave for my trip on Sat.
If any kind soul bought the extra battery and is feeling buyer's remorse, I will be glad to take it off your hands for what you paid for!
As7eroidS
New Member
i would rather buy aftermarket batteries at $10 haha
skeletonman
New Member
Just checked with cathayphoto. In stock at 99 ......waitin for compatible ones now. Hdl6 350++ very ex lol
Evilmerlin
Senior Member
Why don't just order direct from Olympus? It's the same price and with free postage too. Ordered mine from them last week. Hopefully it will be delivered to me by this week.
Daniel Wee
Member
I see that a number of you are thinking of getting third-party batteries for your E-M5 and some of the e-bay deals are really tempting based on the price differential. An original battery costs around SGD100 at the moment in Singapore and e-bay seller DSTE is selling three-batteries for USD35. No matter how you look at it, it seems to represent quite a large savings. So, the question is if this is the real deal? Well, I set out to find out the answer, and to some other questions as well.
When I saw the e-bay deal, I grabbed the last (or second last) available set for at the aforementioned price. Shortly thereafter I received a message from the seller stating that the battery cannot be charged with the original charger and so they're throwing in their own charger for free. "Fair enough" I thought - and after just about a week the package arrived. Three batteries and one charger. Both the batteries and the charger are "DSTE" branded.
Okay, so far so good. The battery is exactly the right sized and fits and actually works in the camera. [Both the DSTE and the Olympus batteries weigh in at exactly 50g.] The charger looks interesting - charges with a bi-color LED that goes red/orange during charging and turns green at the completion of the charge. For those who are interested, the charging circuitry is quite interesting, using an MC34063 switching regulator with an opto-coupled mains feedback loop. The open terminal voltage is 8.4V which is about right for Li-Ion 2S cells. The charger also has a rather interesting design where the mains connector swivels out, saving some space. The internal design of this raises some reliability questions in the long run.
Putting the battery into the original charger fails to initiate charging, as expected. This is presumably due to something going on with the "T" tab, which is used, presumably, for temperature sensing. Other than that, so far, things seem to be working.
Now, the e-bay page:-
3PCS DSTE 7.6V 1450mAh BLN-1 BLN1 Battery Pack for Olympus OM-D E-M5 EM5 Camera | eBay
makes several claims about this battery. Namely that this is made of "100% A+ Sanyo Battery Cell; Real Capacity" which is indicated as 1450mAh on the battery itself and visible in the photos. [Note: Original Olympus is rated at 1220mAh.] Okay, so I decided to do some dissection here to see what is exactly under the hood. Here's what it looks like:-
What is most significant, however, are the cells themselves. They're 1020mAh cells, and do not appear to be Sanyo made either:-
The cell type is RHD633443ART1020mAh made in April 2012. These appear to be made by Zhongshan Tianmao Battery company in China - most definitely not Sanyo. So these batteries will only hold 84% of the charge of a real Olympus 1220mAh battery. (Assuming you get 250-shots out of an original battery, this will give you 209-shots before it gives up on you.) It is also only 70% of the claimed 1450mAh.
Apart from the cells, there appears to be some kind of protection and cell voltage balancing circuitry in the top PCB inside the battery. This is a good sign, meaning that the battery should stay balanced and deliver reasonable performance within the discovered specifications (1020mAh, and not 1450mAh as labelled, or 1220mAh of the original battery).
Update: I have cycled the cells through an analyzer and they measure around 1001mAh, which is close enough to 1020mAh when discharged down to 3.2V. Probably with more use, the capacity could improve slightly towards the rated capacity. This means that the cell rating is correct at 1020mAh and not better as hoped by some optimists.
Moral of the story - you get what you pay for. The DSTE batteries may still represent some value since it is far cheaper than an original battery. The total capacity of three of these batteries is 3060mAh, for about about SGD47 or 47% of the cost of an original battery.
There - you're the first to hear this breaking news! I have also made some other tests but will leave that to another post.
Daniel Wee
When I saw the e-bay deal, I grabbed the last (or second last) available set for at the aforementioned price. Shortly thereafter I received a message from the seller stating that the battery cannot be charged with the original charger and so they're throwing in their own charger for free. "Fair enough" I thought - and after just about a week the package arrived. Three batteries and one charger. Both the batteries and the charger are "DSTE" branded.
Okay, so far so good. The battery is exactly the right sized and fits and actually works in the camera. [Both the DSTE and the Olympus batteries weigh in at exactly 50g.] The charger looks interesting - charges with a bi-color LED that goes red/orange during charging and turns green at the completion of the charge. For those who are interested, the charging circuitry is quite interesting, using an MC34063 switching regulator with an opto-coupled mains feedback loop. The open terminal voltage is 8.4V which is about right for Li-Ion 2S cells. The charger also has a rather interesting design where the mains connector swivels out, saving some space. The internal design of this raises some reliability questions in the long run.
Putting the battery into the original charger fails to initiate charging, as expected. This is presumably due to something going on with the "T" tab, which is used, presumably, for temperature sensing. Other than that, so far, things seem to be working.
Now, the e-bay page:-
3PCS DSTE 7.6V 1450mAh BLN-1 BLN1 Battery Pack for Olympus OM-D E-M5 EM5 Camera | eBay
makes several claims about this battery. Namely that this is made of "100% A+ Sanyo Battery Cell; Real Capacity" which is indicated as 1450mAh on the battery itself and visible in the photos. [Note: Original Olympus is rated at 1220mAh.] Okay, so I decided to do some dissection here to see what is exactly under the hood. Here's what it looks like:-
What is most significant, however, are the cells themselves. They're 1020mAh cells, and do not appear to be Sanyo made either:-
The cell type is RHD633443ART1020mAh made in April 2012. These appear to be made by Zhongshan Tianmao Battery company in China - most definitely not Sanyo. So these batteries will only hold 84% of the charge of a real Olympus 1220mAh battery. (Assuming you get 250-shots out of an original battery, this will give you 209-shots before it gives up on you.) It is also only 70% of the claimed 1450mAh.
Apart from the cells, there appears to be some kind of protection and cell voltage balancing circuitry in the top PCB inside the battery. This is a good sign, meaning that the battery should stay balanced and deliver reasonable performance within the discovered specifications (1020mAh, and not 1450mAh as labelled, or 1220mAh of the original battery).
Update: I have cycled the cells through an analyzer and they measure around 1001mAh, which is close enough to 1020mAh when discharged down to 3.2V. Probably with more use, the capacity could improve slightly towards the rated capacity. This means that the cell rating is correct at 1020mAh and not better as hoped by some optimists.
Moral of the story - you get what you pay for. The DSTE batteries may still represent some value since it is far cheaper than an original battery. The total capacity of three of these batteries is 3060mAh, for about about SGD47 or 47% of the cost of an original battery.
There - you're the first to hear this breaking news! I have also made some other tests but will leave that to another post.
Daniel Wee
Last edited:
drafting88
New Member
thank you for your product review, daniel.
it comes just in time when i am contemplating whether to buy the spare batteries from e-bay.
it comes just in time when i am contemplating whether to buy the spare batteries from e-bay.
Daniel Wee
Member
On the face of it, there doesn't appear to be any particular problems with either the charger or the cell. The charger seems to be of a rather clever design - something that was designed with proper thought for power dissipation. I would not expect this level of sophistication from cheapskate fakes.
What I cannot say at this point, however, is how the quality of the battery cells are and if they will fail catastrophically. Zhongshan TMB makes batteries for a lot of people so I suppose they're not too bad. The components in the charger look okay on the surface as well. The one design aspect that looks quirky is the main-tabs swivel design, which could fail mechanically from repeated use. Apart from these, the setup should be safe to use barring component or cell failure.
Daniel
What I cannot say at this point, however, is how the quality of the battery cells are and if they will fail catastrophically. Zhongshan TMB makes batteries for a lot of people so I suppose they're not too bad. The components in the charger look okay on the surface as well. The one design aspect that looks quirky is the main-tabs swivel design, which could fail mechanically from repeated use. Apart from these, the setup should be safe to use barring component or cell failure.
Daniel
jamestan75
New Member
Well done Daniel,
i think for the price of $47 with 3 batteries and a charger is really value for money.
At one point i was thinking 'sian, must bring 2 charger for travelling' , but at a second thought, i think differently.
OMG, if must if this work, i can leave my original batt and charger at home, and bring only the 3rd party charger and 3 batteries.
i think for the price of $47 with 3 batteries and a charger is really value for money.
At one point i was thinking 'sian, must bring 2 charger for travelling' , but at a second thought, i think differently.
OMG, if must if this work, i can leave my original batt and charger at home, and bring only the 3rd party charger and 3 batteries.
Daniel Wee
Member
I can do some testing to ascertain the actual capacity but will need some time to do this.
Daniel
jamestan75
New Member
Hi Daniel,
maybe you can help us on the following:
1) test how long it takes for a full charge ( etc 2hr?)
2) test how many shots can we take for a full charge battery (without flash)
thanks.
Last edited:
Daniel Wee
Member
I don't think that will be very helpful since the charging depends on a number of factors - state of the battery when placed into the charger, the charger design, and so on. Likewise the number of shots - these are all subjective factors. I can, however, measure the absolute capacity and you can work out the relative performance you can get out of the battery. Besides, I'm very busy and don't have time to do shot-tests. Anyone else can do that.
Daniel
Daniel
jamestan75
New Member
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