Aftermarket batteries and charger

[P1505]

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Hello.

 

I'm looking for an extra battery for the M9 and a second charger. The official Leica charger is almost £100, plus nobody has stock. I also can't find anyone with stocks of OEM batteries. Any suggestions on what aftermarket batteries and chargers are worth buying?

 

Thanks.

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[lucerne]

Plenty of options to buy non-OEM batteries for the M9.   Use the search facility on this forum to get started.  Not sure where you are located, but you should be able to order from USA or European suppliers, or alternatively from china.

[lucerne]

I see you are in the UK.

Ffordes photographic, and Clifton cameras are both stocking genuine M9 batteries.  THere will be others I'm sure!

I recommend that you do a search for - and keep - a list of UK Leica dealers so that you can shop around next time.

[Paul J]

I have 3x Delkin Dual Universal Charger with Leica M8 plate adapters. It allows me to charge 6 batteries very quickly at the end of a day for the next days shoot.

 

They are dirt cheap, work perfectly and never let me down.

[Berlinman]

I have the same for my Q. Works perfekt

 

 

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[pico]

I use an M9, too.

 

Batteries are a gamble. I got two *almost look-alike clones and neither would last more than a few minutes. I threw them in the recycle bin. * By almost  I mean the C E marking was different. It supposedly stood for China Export rather than "Conformité Européene", and can be distinguished by the deviant spacing. See this image to distinguish the two.

 

On another gamble, I bought two other economy batteries reported here. They worked, and still work. Very surprised, but whether more recents work, I cannot guarantee.

 

EDIT: I just tested all five spare batteries that were put in storage at 100%.  The two genuine Leica batteries are still 100%, the three economy batteries mentioned in the first paragraph are all at about %50.

[raemin]

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I came to this post after my non-genuine Leica Battery had the "low battery" symptom while I was on a trip in an isolated island... I can only thanks all the feedback I could find in this forum on how to "revive" this battery and finish my trip! All in all here is my feedback after one year using a mix of genuine and after-market batteries.

 

I actually have 3 batteries:

1 original Leica Battery (2012)

1 vbhw Battery (2015)

1 powersmart battery brand new (cycled twice).

 

In terms of construction the vbhw feels nice: the casing is thick, the labels do not fade, everything is properly aligned and last but not least the glue used to join the two halves of the casing is applied very cautiously. Indeed the casing assembly is slightly better than the leica. The construction of the powersmart battery is inferior: the plastic is very thin, so thin that with two fingers it is easy to "squeeze" the battery by 1/2mm...

 

In order to perform a proper benchmark,  I also bought a powersmart charger. I ditched the electronic so as to connect the pins directly to a Schulze charger/discharger.

 

At 2amps discharge , the powersmart battery is rated 225mohm while the both the VBHW and Leica battery cannot hold the voltage, my battery analyser basically stopped the test saying that both batteries IR was higher than 999mohm. I know I was comparing apple to orange as the internal resistance of a battery that is brand new cannot be compared to batteries that are several months old. Still the first conclusion of this test, is that a brand-new cheapy battery will deliver more amps than an older Genuine battery.

 

At a more regular discharge rate of 0,5A, the 4years old Leica battery delivers 1690mah (it is rated 1950mah), the 1 year old VBHW delivers 1705mah (it is rated 1700mah) and the brand new powersmart delivers 1800mah. This discharge test was made at 0,5A untill the battery voltage could not hold 3,02v anymore. I was impressed by the VBHW that still has it's full "rated" capacity after 1 year. Same story for the Leica: a 4 year old battery that still holds most of its charge is just unusual. The powersmart is the more powerfull of the three.

 

A word of caution regarding the powersmart: when I initialised the test I noticed the the starting voltage was quite high for a Li-Io battery: 4,12v for the powersmart, while the other two batteries where at 4,02v. I suspect that the powersmart accumulates more energy by pumping up the voltage a bit. This practice is acceptable but the higher the voltage, the higher the deterioration rate of the battery... These battery should not be left for months fully charged.

 

Conclusion:

1) if you are looking for the highest performance out of a cheap battery, just go fo the powersmart, but bear in mind that it should not be left fully charged for long periods

2) if you are looking for a reliable and nicely built battery, go for the vbhw.

 

As far as I am concerned, I will salvage the the power-smart battery and will re-cell the Leica with the salvaged.

[Frase]

I've tried third party batteries a few times and just couldn't get any reliable ones so just bought another Leica original. It's not like you need a lot of them I have three one that came with my m8! Which is still working and that's enough for me.