EN-EL15 Battery 'Recall'

IanG

When I purchased my D500 I thought I might just as well benefit from the recall of the EN-EL15 batteries - I had 5 and after contacting NIKON here in France, I sent the first three off to Paris. (Keeping two back to use...)

In less than two weeks I had received 3 brand new (2016) Li-ion20 batteries. So I sent off the remaining two.

I received them back today - however, much to my dismay, one of them hadn't been exchanged as it was considered counterfeit.



As far as I can tell everything was identical to the other batteries (except, obviously, the serial number) - I admit to having purchased this online (not from a shop) so I've been had. Beware!

So, moral of this story - even 'official' Nikon EN-EL15 are being counterfeited...what is the world coming too...

kanuck

That's not surprising actually. I have had seen many counterfeits in shops around Asia and they are very close to the real thing even with holograms on them, paperwork from the Nikon factory and real sealed Nikon boxes. I bet some of the counterfeits fool the Nikon Corp occasionally even. Another difficult Nikon item to differentiate from fakes are lens caps both front and rear. Remote cable releases and filters from B&W are another popular target at least when I was living in Korea. Shops abroad (and especially Ebay) also love selling grey market gear so that you get screwed out of the warranty coverage.

IanG

I guess I was naive enough to think that EN-EL15 were not prone to this sort of thing - lens caps I can live with (particularly when you see the price of the originals!) - but you're right of course, and I shouldn't have been surprised. Live 'n' learn

spraynpray

I had a similar experience. Nikon UK showed me the microscopic single stroke mistake in the Japanese script that showed it as being a fake. That was it. Everything else was perfect.

kanuck

spraynpray said:

I had a similar experience. Nikon UK showed me the microscopic single stroke mistake in the Japanese script that showed it as being a fake. That was it. Everything else was perfect.

Originals last much longer I have found too especially when using Liveview. That's even more remarkable then my experiences spraynpray! You must have been like "oh, ummm I see.....Really?!"

spraynpray

Yes, it was just like that kanuck. I sent it to them without using it so can't comment on the life of that one, although I have purchased some well known third party batteries which, although stating capacities up to 50% greater than the Nikon, do not last as long on a charge. Typical

MegapixelSchnitzel

Batteries being relatively cheap, a counterfeit is not such a loss... unless it happens to self-destruct in the camera - in which case Nikon wouldn't honor the warranty or cover the damaged gear caused by the fake.

spraynpray

Which is why I got it checked without using it. I saw a video on the net which freaked me out!

Ironheart

https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/19458/~/counterfeit-battery-and-accessory-warning


This is just one example. The one-stroke mistake on the EN-EL20 is even more subtle.

spraynpray

That's it Ironheart.

kanuck

Wow look at that! That's excellent shot comparison Ironheart, although to the Japanese it's pretty obvious I bet. Probably a completely different character almost.

MegapixelSchnitzel said:

Batteries being relatively cheap, a counterfeit is not such a loss... unless it happens to self-destruct in the camera - in which case Nikon wouldn't honor the warranty or cover the damaged gear caused by the fake.

Very true that would be complete worst case scenario if it damaged the circuit board in your body somehow. On a related side note, I remember instruction manuals in English (most of my gear bought in Korea so that's out the window) states that it's a very bad idea opening the box up and in your excitement popping the battery into the body without charging it yet. This is supposed to damage the body, battery or perhaps both I believe.

Hopefully you are getting an authentic battery in the box of course