T2i Battery not holding charge

[WilsonFlyer]

It could be that lens on that camera. You cannot dismiss the lens simply because it doesn't do it on a dissimilar model unless you have another same lens that does the same thing on the T2i.

Two words for you.

Firmware Update.

 

[PrincessInOz]

It could be that lens on that camera. You cannot dismiss the lens simply because it doesn't do it on a dissimilar model unless you have another same lens that does the same thing on the T2i.

Two words for you.

Firmware Update.

But....think of what fun it might be for Janet and me to be walking around DLR swapping lenses anyway.

Afterall, if you're generous enough to post her your spare lens, I'm happy to make the sacrifice to spend some time with her at DLR.

 

[mom2rtk]

It could be that lens on that camera. You cannot dismiss the lens simply because it doesn't do it on a dissimilar model unless you have another same lens that does the same thing on the T2i.

Two words for you.

Firmware Update.

That makes no sense to me, but that's sort of the thinking I'm going with right now too. (the THAT lens on THAT camera theory)

I actually need to use the camera (go figure!) next Monday for my daughter's first school volleyball game. So I decided to move on to the next level of testing. I put the Canon lens back on the T2i this morning again to see if it goes back to draining the battery on that camera again. More idle curiosity than anything else at this point I suppose.

I absolutely plan to update the firmware. I just wanted to see first if it did the same thing again before the update.

But....think of what fun it might be for Janet and me to be walking around DLR swapping lenses anyway.

Afterall, if you're generous enough to post her your spare lens, I'm happy to make the sacrifice to spend some time with her at DLR.

Yep. I do love your thinking!

I love the way everyone has been willing to help in their own way!

 

[WilsonFlyer]

This happens with my clients all the time. I want to know what CAUSED the problem. My clients want the problem FIXED. Sometimes I have time to figure it out and sometimes I simply fix it not really knowing exactly what fixed it. My clients don't generally care as long as "no harm is done."

My point is this. You're going to be at the end of the road once the FW upgrade is done, but you won't be there until it's done.

I'm a little surprised Canon support didn't demand that you do it. I'm even more surprised that apparently, they didn't even ask. Many times, support won't even talk to you on something like this until you're up to date on all your software.

I'm going back in my hole. Due respect, this is starting to look more like entertainment value than truly trying to fix a problem. As I said earlier in the thread, the FW update should have been the first thing you did after trying a new battery. It may not (and probably won't) fix it, but that lens on THAT camera needs to go back to Canon if it doesn't. That, or just resign yourself to not leaving that lens on that camera when you're not using it. That's not really that big of a deal anyway. You just have to remember.

My offer stands if you want it. PM me and let me know. I think I'll bow out now and just watch from the sidelines.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

<SNIP> It could be that lens on that camera. You cannot dismiss the lens simply because it doesn't do it on a dissimilar model unless you have another same lens that does the same thing on the T2i.<SNIP>

You know, the fact that it doesn't do it on the XSi points more and more to the FW now that I think about it. There's a good chance that lens got a FW upgrade when it was sent in too. I'm not sure about that particular lens, but I do know that some of them typically get FW upgrades when they are serviced, especially the higher end L/white glass.

Maybe THAT changed something that REQUIRES the next FW release on your camera. Again, even the first level support guys aren't privy to that kind of stuff many times.

Do the FW upgrade and prove that's not it. Pretty please!

 

[mom2rtk]

Do the FW upgrade and prove that's not it. Pretty please!

I think you make a very good point. And I plan to get there. REALLY.

And honestly, I'm not in this for the entertainment value. It's just how my brain works. Sort of like when everyone told me not to shoot Wishes with my UWA lens from up close because the bursts would all look too small. Of course I had to try it and see for myself. And sure enough. The bursts were too small!

I'm still determined to figure this out, but am less emotionally involved than I was initially. Why? Because it worked fine on the Xsi. In my mind that means that I'm not doomed to failure when I decide to go ahead and upgrade the body soon (which I was thinking about doing in the near future anyway).

I do like your theory though that maybe they upgraded some FW on the lens while it was there.

And no need to bow out. I've really appreciated you (and everyone else) helping me think this out.

 

[mom2rtk]

Well, I have a complete non-update update. If that makes any sense.

I swapped the lens back over to the T2i last Wednesday. Monday was a full 5 days on that battery charge.... and no change. When I packed it up to take to my daughter's volleyball game yesterday afternoon it still showed a full charge. I did swap lenses a few times during the game, but left the 17-55 on when I was done. Still at full charge this morning.

I'm about to close this out and officially give up. WilsonFlyer, I promise I'm going to update the firmware in the next few days. But I'm not going to send the lens in to Canon. Heck, if I can't even replicate the problem now, I'm not sure what I can expect them to do.

This is similar to my experience last year with the flash issue I had. It happened a number of times over a short period of time..... then it stopped. I will say that I did clean the contacts on the flash at some point before it stopped, so maybe that did the trick. And I have wiped the contacts on the lens now, so maybe that helped. I guess we'll never know. Maybe this is just the sort of thing that starts to happen when a camera gets to be a few years old?

Can anyone tell me how to figure out how many shutter actuations it has on it?

 

[WilsonFlyer]

http://www.direstudio.com/shuttercount-for-windows-released

http://www.eoscount.com/

That's it. Everything else is junk or virus infected.

Upgrade the FW and use the camera until it does it again. You're spinning your wheels sending that lens back.

 

[mom2rtk]

http://www.direstudio.com/shuttercount-for-windows-released

http://www.eoscount.com/

That's it. Everything else is junk or virus infected.

Upgrade the FW and use the camera until it does it again. You're spinning your wheels sending that lens back.

Thanks! I'm see if I can figure it out then I'll report back.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hope it doesn't happen again. Thanks for the fun!

 

[mom2rtk]

http://www.direstudio.com/shuttercount-for-windows-released

http://www.eoscount.com/

That's it. Everything else is junk or virus infected.

Upgrade the FW and use the camera until it does it again. You're spinning your wheels sending that lens back.

Thanks for the links. I used the second one. It was pretty easy. I liked that it also gave an actual battery level, so I bought the endless checks for $5.29. I'm a little skeptical though since it showed my first battery at 80%, then I swapped out for one that just came off the charger and it also showed 80%. Hmmmm..... regardless, I got my shutter count of 58,440. If anything I'm surprised it's not higher. I might buy a one time license (1.79) to see where my old Xsi is at. I imagine it's lower since I upgraded to the T2i 2 or 3 years in.

I also updated the firmware. Not too difficult. Although I did watch a youtube tutorial first and they cautioned to be sure to use a full battery, because if the camera died mid-update, it would become a useless brick. OK. LOL. I have to confess that did make me a little nervous given the unpredictable battery issues I've had lately. But it's done.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and help.

And I already decided not to send the lens back. I'm going with what I have right now. At least I'm on record calling them in case it comes up again.

Hope it doesn't happen again. Thanks for the fun!

Thanks for riding along on this journey with me! I wish it had a more clear cut ending, but it is what it is. I'm glad volleyball season has started so I'll get to use it a bit more to see if it's going to be an ongoing problem.

 

[bob100]

Thanks for the links. I used the second one. It was pretty easy. I liked that it also gave an actual battery level, so I bought the endless checks for $5.29. I'm a little skeptical though since it showed my first battery at 80%, then I swapped out for one that just came off the charger and it also showed 80%. Hmmmm..... regardless, I got my shutter count of 58,440. If anything I'm surprised it's not higher. I might buy a one time license (1.79) to see where my old Xsi is at. I imagine it's lower since I upgraded to the T2i 2 or 3 years in.

I also updated the firmware. Not too difficult. Although I did watch a youtube tutorial first and they cautioned to be sure to use a full battery, because if the camera died mid-update, it would become a useless brick. OK. LOL. I have to confess that did make me a little nervous given the unpredictable battery issues I've had lately. But it's done.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and help.

And I already decided not to send the lens back. I'm going with what I have right now. At least I'm on record calling them in case it comes up again.




Thanks for riding along on this journey with me! I wish it had a more clear cut ending, but it is what it is. I'm glad volleyball season has started so I'll get to use it a bit more to see if it's going to be an ongoing problem.

so the battery now holds a charge. you can also get shutter counts with the free magic lantern software

http://www.magiclantern.fm/

 

[mom2rtk]

so the battery now holds a charge. you can also get shutter counts with the free magic lantern software

http://www.magiclantern.fm/

I've decided the camera is haunted. This is not the first time I've had an issue for a while then it just stopped.

 

[exculpator]

All,

Registered for this reason to comment here... awesome tests performed by mom2rtk!

I have a 4/2011 T1i and have had the stock battery since. It has always performed EXCEPTIONALLY well, would go weeks/months without shooting and easily got 700-1000 pics per charge. Lens is stock EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6.

Bought the wide angle lens 9/2014: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5

Attended a wedding in 10/2014 and a friend was doing time lapse night shots on his Nikon. Canon T1i camera doesn't offer this but then found Magic Lantern. ZFirst needed to upgrade Canon fw to 1.1.1 from 1.1.0 per ML. Upgrade without issue, then installed ML without issue.. Saw the additional menu's but never really used them for anything. Right of, the camera booted and could take pics... after a couple of hours being off, battery died. Camera would not come on at all. Probably left the camera on right? (never an issue before actually).

Charged it, took some pics just fine, next morning... dead again!! Not even low... camera would just not switch on.

Read some posts... ML indicted thus uninstalled ML (don't delete card, format in body check off to remove ML)

Battery seemed to hold charge again, at least overnight but hard to say if it was back to normal

Since I have been shooting and storing the T1i with wide angle lens (awesome) since I got it and my gut feeling is that doesn't seem to hold quite charge as much. Then 2 days ago I check and voila, batter is on 3 bars.. switched it on today and dead!

So I am going to try the lens theory proposed here: I will store it with the stock lens. I don't think I can downgrade to Canon fw 1.1.0 so its ob 1.1.1 (and some remnants of ML maybe? yikes?!) and all other things are equal.

I am charging it now 10/28 and will shoot 100 or so pics (RAW) per day and report back in the 31st with my findings.

 

[exculpator]

Update on my tests witj a T1i and just the skit lens attached

1) took about 500 pics in both raw and jpg format
2) took about 25 flash pics
3) took about 5 min of video

All of this over a period of 4 days... Battery said it was still at 100%

Then Saturday I helpa friend with some photography basics... I am showing depth of field and put my zoom lens on (250mm) and take a couple of shots.. I put the camera down and 30 min later pick it up.

It's dead in the water!!!! This has never happened before. I am beginning to suspect the firmware 1.1.1 version, that's reallly the only thing that is now different. Or there is lingering ML software but that's hard to say.

I am getting a spare battery since I am going on a trip of a lifetime and can't risk it!

 

[mom2rtk]

Update on my tests witj a T1i and just the skit lens attached

1) took about 500 pics in both raw and jpg format
2) took about 25 flash pics
3) took about 5 min of video

All of this over a period of 4 days... Battery said it was still at 100%

Then Saturday I helpa friend with some photography basics... I am showing depth of field and put my zoom lens on (250mm) and take a couple of shots.. I put the camera down and 30 min later pick it up.

It's dead in the water!!!! This has never happened before. I am beginning to suspect the firmware 1.1.1 version, that's reallly the only thing that is now different. Or there is lingering ML software but that's hard to say.

I am getting a spare battery since I am going on a trip of a lifetime and can't risk it!

I totally understand your frustration! I never did pinpoint the problem on mine. Because I have had a couple other phantom problems with mine that came and went over the past year, I gave up made the assumption there is a short in it somewhere. I upgraded to a new 6D. I'm keeping the T2i as a backup camera and for my teenage daughter to learn on.

I would definitely invest in a spare battery (or 3!) before going on your trip. And I bet you'll be fine.

I would be curious to hear how it does on your trip, and whether you are ever able to figure out the problem.

 

[bob100]

Update on my tests witj a T1i and just the skit lens attached

1) took about 500 pics in both raw and jpg format
2) took about 25 flash pics
3) took about 5 min of video

All of this over a period of 4 days... Battery said it was still at 100%

Then Saturday I helpa friend with some photography basics... I am showing depth of field and put my zoom lens on (250mm) and take a couple of shots.. I put the camera down and 30 min later pick it up.

It's dead in the water!!!! This has never happened before. I am beginning to suspect the firmware 1.1.1 version, that's reallly the only thing that is now different. Or there is lingering ML software but that's hard to say.

I am getting a spare battery since I am going on a trip of a lifetime and can't risk it!

yes, that is strange. did you turn the camera off?
I have heard sometimes a lens will cause battery drain problems