Olympus or 3rd party BLN-1 batteries?

[scott kirkpatrick]

My experience with the $20 kit offering two BLN-1 equivalent batteries plus a charger and a souvenir lanyard was most likely a waste of the $20. The Olympus BCN-1 charger signals error when I try to charge them. I could fool it a bit, but didn't get a full charge. The Wasabi/Kappaken charger has only two pins, (the battery has five, Oly cameras have three). This means that charging is openloop, never a good idea with Li-ion batteries. Those extra pins monitor temperature and open circuit voltage so that charging can stop when the battery is full.

Amazon product reviews, however, are all pretty good. So has anyone here tried them and with what results?

scott

 

[Craftysnapper]

I use this, they are very good and work correctly with the original Oly charger.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro%C2%AE-Olympus-CHIPPED-Warranty-Replacement/dp/B00B24YO1O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377002627&sr=8-1&keywords=Ex-Pro%C2%AE+Olympus+BLN-1%2C+BLN1+%5BCHIPPED+EXACT%5D

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

They sound like the right extra safety functions are built in. They cost twice what the Wasabi-style "unchipped" are selling for but that sounds reasonable. And still 1/3 of the cost of the OEM batteries... I wonder why Amazon UK carries then but Amazon US seems not to.

scott

PS: I did an experiment. Charged up my Olympus BLN-1 on its charger to completion and the two Wasabi batteries on their charger until the green lght went on. Then measured the batteries' open circuit voltages with a digital voltmeter. The two Wasabis got to 7.9 V and to 8.3 volts, while the Olympus battery reached 8.8 volts. (More is better, and a big variation hints at nonexistent quality cvontrol.) So maybe I will keep the 8,3 volt one as a backup.