# Fake LP-E6 Batteries



## Andrew Davies Photography (Jul 26, 2016)

Well first time for this but I have been caught out in the fake battery saga , bought 3 genuine canon lp-e6 batteries from ebay and paid a little less than shop price but seller seemed good and when they came all in packaging with holograms etc, no problem.

After a month of use i have noticed they are not lasting as long as i would have expected so got in touch with canon and they are fakes. Now i have the issue of chasing for a refund and repurchasing as well as knowing some idea sold me dangerous batteries which could even cause a fire. Not a happy bunny ( excuse the duracell pun ) 

Heres the pics , on comparison the only thing now obvious is the glossier finish to the casing. Everything else looks very well copied.















www.andrew-davies.com North East and Yorkshire Wedding Photography


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## Maximilian (Jul 26, 2016)

Pitty!

Thank you for sharing and I feel with you.

To avoid experiences like that people can also go to their local Canon HP to see the differences, e.g.
US:
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/explore/product-showcases/about-counterfeits/avoiding-counterfeits?cm_sp=AntiC-_-NewWeb-_-tab_avoidingcft
Germany:
http://www.canon.de/support/consumer_products/products/cameras/digital_slr/eos_5d_mark_iii.aspx?type=important&faqdetailid=tcm:83-1150281


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## kaihp (Jul 26, 2016)

Andrew Davies Photography said:


> Heres the pics , on comparison the only thing now obvious is the glossier finish to the casing. Everything else looks very well copied.



That is a very well executed fake. The difference in finish is either due to a different surface finishing of the molding tool, or that the tool simply is at a different stage during it's wear-cycle vs the original tool.

Since the seller was passing them as original batteries, I would imagine that ebay would like to know/take action on that.


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## kphoto99 (Jul 26, 2016)

How did Canon determine that they are fakes?


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## niels123 (Jul 26, 2016)

That's a bad experience 

Can you please check the serial number of the fake batteries in the menu of your camera? In the past I had some fakes too, and they had a 5-digit serial number whereas my original LP-E6 batteries had a 6-digit serial number.

I wonder how many digits the serial numbers of these fakes are...


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 26, 2016)

Andrew Davies Photography said:


> bought 3 genuine canon lp-e6 batteries from ebay



Unfortunate, but unsurprising. You may end up finding the seller also believed them to be genuine, after buying them wholesale, perhaps from a seller like Alibaba (sort of a clearing house for counterfeit and fraudulent items). 

Lesson hopefully learned – with easily counterfeited items (batteries, memory cards, etc.), buy only from manufacturer-authorized, reputable dealers.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 27, 2016)

Unfortunately, many purchase counterfeit items and never know it. They are a problem on Amazon due to Amazon's practice of co-mingling products from different sellers into one bin. This allows Amazon to ship from the warehouse closest to you, but it may also mean that you get merchandise that is not genuine, because it was submitted by someone different then the seller you purchased from.

I believe that Amazon now identifies the seller that submitted the merchandise in order to control the issue.

I sell on Amazon, but my products are branded with my name and no one else sells them. I have my own set of UPC numbers. I have also declined to let Amazon co-mingle my merchandise, just in case.


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## Andrew Davies Photography (Jul 27, 2016)

Hi , I am awaiting Canons letter at the moment and after approaching the seller they have agreed a refund so the search for a genuine battery will begin again ! anyone know the best priced genuine place to get an LPE6 or LPE6N ?

by the way one of the serial numbers reads as : bca8a8d

Wedding Photographer North East & Yorkshire


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## Maximilian (Jul 27, 2016)

Andrew Davies Photography said:


> Hi , I am awaiting Canons letter at the moment and after approaching the seller they have agreed a refund so the search for a genuine battery will begin again ! anyone know the best priced genuine place to get an LPE6 or LPE6N ?


I am glad to hear that you will get your money back. 
As I am from Germany I have no idea where to buy in the UK.
In Germany the lowest price from reliable retailers is about 63,- € plus p&p


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jul 27, 2016)

Andrew Davies Photography said:


> Hi , I am awaiting Canons letter at the moment and after approaching the seller they have agreed a refund so the search for a genuine battery will begin again ! anyone know the best priced genuine place to get an LPE6 or LPE6N ?
> 
> by the way one of the serial numbers reads as : bca8a8d
> 
> Wedding Photographer North East & Yorkshire



A authorized Canon dealer is your best bet. A few years ago, there was a rash of UK camera shops with faked batteries. They were sold them by a seller claiming that they were genuine but overstock. People and even businesses are often fooled and want to believe a story by a slick operator.

In the US, Reputable Camera stores are a safe bet. There are lots of them besides the obvious B&H or Adorama. I'd say that Amazon is aware of the fake battery issue and is probably a safe place to buy as well, as long as its sold by Amazon. Stay away from ebay or other discount places that allow any seller to hawk their merchandise. Its not just Camera batteries, but memory cards as well. A lot of high end merchandise is counterfeited.


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## neuroanatomist (Jul 27, 2016)

Andrew Davies Photography said:


> anyone know the best priced genuine place to get an LPE6 or LPE6N ?



Try seller _reallygenuinecanonstuffcheap_ on eBay, with a name like that, the Canon stuff just has to be genuine...and cheap!! :

Seems you didn't learn from your experience, unfortunately.


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## drmikeinpdx (Jul 28, 2016)

I bypass the fake battery issue by purchasing LPE6 clones sold under the Wasabi brand. I've used them for a few years and they seem to last about as long as the Canon branded ones that came with my Canon bodies. About the same number of shots per charge too. I will emphasize my use of the word "about" since usage varies so greatly.

None have ever caught fire and I have seen no reports of such.

Canon did change their firmware for the 5D3 that caused the camera to say that communication was irregular with my Wasabi batteries, although they still worked. This went away after I purchased some new Wasabis. 

I also have one sold under the ProMaster brand which works perfectly.

Since nobody seems to do a formal test of any of these batteries, claims of one brand lasting longer than other are highly subjective, in my opinion.


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## niels123 (Jul 29, 2016)

Andrew Davies Photography said:


> Hi , I am awaiting Canons letter at the moment and after approaching the seller they have agreed a refund so the search for a genuine battery will begin again ! anyone know the best priced genuine place to get an LPE6 or LPE6N ?
> 
> by the way one of the serial numbers reads as : bca8a8d
> 
> Wedding Photographer North East & Yorkshire



A few years ago I had a similar issue with fakes. Canon confirmed that authentic LP-E6 will always haven an 8-digit serial number (I have 5 and they all do). So, this is a quick way to do an extra check


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## Labdoc (Jul 29, 2016)

drmikeinpdx said:


> I bypass the fake battery issue by purchasing LPE6 clones sold under the Wasabi brand. I've used them for a few years and they seem to last about as long as the Canon branded ones that came with my Canon bodies. About the same number of shots per charge too. I will emphasize my use of the word "about" since usage varies so greatly.
> 
> None have ever caught fire and I have seen no reports of such.
> 
> ...



I have been running a pair of Wasabi's in a 70D battery grip since 2012. Alternate with a pair of Canon LP-E6, not seeing any difference yet between the 2 brands.


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## Andrew Davies Photography (Aug 5, 2016)

Quick update : Paypal have refunded the transaction and the ebayer has stopped selling the batteries ( although they have sold 165 of them ! ) , I have received a confirmation from Canon of the fakes too which is good.

One interesting note : I have 6 original Canon LPE6 batteries , i weighed them on some digital scales and all came out around 74g each.

I weighed the fakes and they were all around 60g each , I knew there was a difference when holding them but this confirmed it and could prove to be a useful way to check them ? ....


Wedding Photographer North East & Yorkshire Northumberland & Wedding Photographer Cumbria


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 6, 2016)

The issue with fakes is much more serious than buying a third party battery from a seller who actually supports his product like Wasibi.

The issue with the non Canon batteries is one of being able to identify who is selling good ones, and who is cutting corners because no one will go after them in China. Some of the counterfitters are hunted by the police, they setup shop in a different location, sometimes every night. They take the fly by night term literally.\

Obviously, if third party batteries were exploding frequently enough, they would be banned.

The issue of harm coming to you or equipment is somewhat like hitting a baseball thru that small hole in the outfield fence. Counterfeit or poor quality batteries make that hole much larger, so there is more of a chance that you will have a issue. There is news almost daily of someone with a lithium battery that melts down. I read of a major manufacturer who is currently recalling their laptop batteries.


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## midluk (Aug 6, 2016)

I tried an officially non-Canon LP-E6 clone once. I haven't noticed much difference in capacity (It too much depends on usage to be able to tell a difference during occasional use), but the capacity indiator was very unreliable. Removing and reinstalling the battery made it jump by up to 15%, including jumping from 15% to 'camera turns off because it is completely empty' without warning. I got a replacement with the same behavior and then a refund.
Bought a new LP-E6N which was available for less than a month back then instead of a LP-E6, because I doubted counterfeiters had a chance to copy the LP-E6N in the limited time and I didn't want to take a risk with a LP-E6 (even though it was cheaper).
If I need a new battery again I will likely buy Canon again from a seller that existed for a few years and that ideally also has a physical store, but definitely not from eBay.


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## insanitybeard (Aug 6, 2016)

niels123 said:


> A few years ago I had a similar issue with fakes. Canon confirmed that authentic LP-E6 will always haven an 8-digit serial number (I have 5 and they all do). So, this is a quick way to do an extra check



Which number is the serial number? I assumed it was the one within the silver box on the battery (though looking at it now this looks like it's a date of manufacture) but if that's the case my battery only has a 6 digit code, and this came from the same authorised Canon agent that I bought the camera (7D original model) from!


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## insanitybeard (Aug 6, 2016)

Ok, my error- it's something you access via the camera menu, I just thought there might be something physical on the battery itself!


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## 1kind (Sep 2, 2016)

Andrew Davies Photography said:


> Hi , I am awaiting Canons letter at the moment and after approaching the seller they have agreed a refund so the search for a genuine battery will begin again ! anyone know the best priced genuine place to get an LPE6 or LPE6N ?
> 
> by the way one of the serial numbers reads as : bca8a8d
> 
> Wedding Photographer North East & Yorkshire


I think I have the same serial number on my SterlingTek clones. I have SterlingTek and have no problems with them. I would trust Wasabi as well.

NEVER go on eBay for OEM/Genuine batteries no matter how cheap the batteries are. #1 place for fakes. Even if the price is a few bucks. You're better off buying from an authorized store..after all, its a few bucks. If you want genuine products, buy from an authorized dealer or an actual camera store.


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## 1kind (Sep 2, 2016)

This is one reason why Canon is fighting hard to inform camera buyers about the fake products. It can be batteries, grips, chargers and even flashes. For some who are smart will know they are fakes. Some who are not as knowledgeable will think its a real Canon battery and blame Canon when in reality, its a fake. But because it has Canon's logo on it and look like a Canon product, people would not buy from them again.

This goes for Fuji, Nikon, Sony, etc. These companies will do anything to make a quick buck.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 2, 2016)

1kind said:


> buy from an authorized dealer or an actual camera store.



Numerous "Actual Camera Stores have had issues selling fakes, they took shortcuts buying from a distributor who got a supposedly good deal on batteries that turned out to be fakes.

Buying from a real camera store is not enough, they must be a authorized canon dealer, and even then, some will be sneaking in counterfeits. A buyer is at the mercy of the wolves.


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## pwp (Sep 2, 2016)

drmikeinpdx said:


> I bypass the fake battery issue by purchasing LPE6 clones sold under the Wasabi brand.



I've posted this before, but it seems relevant to this thread. I bought a pair of Wasabi's for my gripped 7D MkII. Weird things happened. The most irritating was the camera would go to "sleep" after the regular default one minute but would take anything between two and ten seconds to "wake up" again. You can lose a lot of important shots with delays like this. I thought it was my new 7D MkII but it was suggested by Mt Spokane (from memory) that it could be third party batteries. I switched to genuine LP-E6 batteries and problem solved. 

FWIW the Wasabi's work ok in my 5D MkIII, but have markedly fewer shots per charge than the genuine LP-E6 batteries. They're emergency-only spares. 

Over time my experience with third party batteries has been mixed. Back when we used the old BP 511 batteries, clones seemed to work fine and lasted for years. Clones for any 1-Series body I've had have been complete rubbish. I've well and truly learned my lesson with clones & fakes with batteries, cards, lens filters and grips. Pay full retail from a genuine authorised seller and avoid potential irritations and full-on loss of ability to work.

-pw


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## RunAndGun (Sep 2, 2016)

I've lost track of how many times I've said this…

Why do people spend THOUSANDS of dollars on a camera and then worry about saving a few bucks on a battery? Especially with all of the potential problems that come with using a knock-off or fake vs. a real one.


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## AlanF (Sep 2, 2016)

RunAndGun said:


> I've lost track of how many times I've said this…
> 
> Why do people spend THOUSANDS of dollars on a camera and then worry about saving a few bucks on a battery? Especially with all of the potential problems that come with using a knock-off or fake vs. a real one.



Because they don't like paying rip-off prices for branded accessories.


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## pwp (Sep 2, 2016)

AlanF said:


> RunAndGun said:
> 
> 
> > I've lost track of how many times I've said this…
> ...



Because maybe those full priced genuine branded accessories may in fact be best value in the long term. A lot of people have found this out over time, myself included!

-pw


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## AlanF (Sep 2, 2016)

pwp said:


> AlanF said:
> 
> 
> > RunAndGun said:
> ...



Maybe, maybe not. It so happens I use only Canon original LP-E6 and E6Ns. 

It is absurd that the list price for the Canon NB-10L, which is used in a wide range of Powershots, is £69. You can buy from Amazon equivalents at a 10th of the price or Duracell for a 5th. I always buy non-Canon batteries for the cheaper little Canons, have never had a problem, and they seem to last about the same.


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## Act444 (Sep 6, 2016)

Man, that sucks...

What's the best way to verify authenticity in this case?


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## Otara (Sep 6, 2016)

pwp said:


> AlanF said:
> 
> 
> > RunAndGun said:
> ...



This is a FUD argument though, you are overemphasising your Individual experience vs how many unknown people have had no problems - like deciding never to buy a Canon camera again simply because one of them was a dud when you bought it. If you choose to be conservative thats your right, but it's really a preference rather than something based on hard economic data.


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## RunAndGun (Sep 9, 2016)

$62(US) for a genuine, guaranteed battery going in a multi $K camera seems like a small price to pay knowing that the manufacturer is there standing behind it if something does go wrong. Would I like them to be $20 less(going off a quick search of non-genuine Canon batts)? Yes. But I'll play the odds and safety net of Canon. Besides, it's not like you're buying batteries like this daily or even in huge quantities. Even if you shoot a lot, two to three per body should be more than sufficient. A single battery should last YEARS in service. I have an original batt from my 5DmkIII from 2012(day one) that is still alive.


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## 1kind (Sep 12, 2016)

Act444 said:


> Man, that sucks...
> 
> What's the best way to verify authenticity in this case?


Buy from authorized dealers


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## Zen (Sep 18, 2016)

Does anyone know what Canon's position is on the interchangeability of the LP-e6 and LP-e6n batteries? Can they be used and re-charged interchangeably in the 5d3 and 5d4 and the appropriate re-chargers?

My problem is that I now own both a 5d3 and 5d4, so how careful must I be with the batts?

Thanks for your help.

Zen


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## Labdoc (Sep 18, 2016)

Zen said:


> Does anyone know what Canon's position is on the interchangeability of the LP-e6 and LP-e6n batteries? Can they be used and re-charged interchangeably in the 5d3 and 5d4 and the appropriate re-chargers?
> 
> My problem is that I now own both a 5d3 and 5d4, so how careful must I be with the batts?
> 
> ...



No problem both batteries interchangeable and work in the Mark3 and Mark4 according to Canon.


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## arthurbikemad (Sep 18, 2016)

No care is needed, I use the LP-E6 and LP-E6N on loads of models, have done for years. As for fake, the only way to avoid them is as said by others buy from a trusted authorized Canon seller.

Also I use Hahnel Pro Cube charger, charge two LP series batteries at the same time with LCD progress indicator. Oh and it does AA's too as well as other Canon batteries.


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## Zen (Sep 18, 2016)

Labdoc said:


> Zen said:
> 
> 
> > Does anyone know what Canon's position is on the interchangeability of the LP-e6 and LP-e6n batteries? Can they be used and re-charged interchangeably in the 5d3 and 5d4 and the appropriate re-chargers?
> ...




Thanks for the reassurance. I had assumed the same, but didn't want to take the chance just based on assumption.

zen ;D


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## Canonbobbleboi (Jul 24, 2018)

Well I just got done as well but luckily I did my research first and knew straight away that it was a counterfeit. Luckily it came in packaging which was actually the giveaway but if it had been classed as used I honestly would never of known, these fakes are scarily good. Canon needs to add some type of fullproof security feature to its new batteries actually on the body itself.


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