Canon SX-230HS: Wasabi NB-5L Batteries

Based on my good experience with the Wasabi NP-BX1 batteries, I also bought three Wasabi NB-5L batteries for my Canon SX-230HS pocket camera:

Canon NB-5L - OEM Wasabi Misc - 2014-10-04
Canon NB-5L – OEM Wasabi Misc – 2014-10-04

Well, that’s not what I expected: the “new” Wasabi batteries perform worse than the three year old Canon OEM battery and no better than the crap batteries from eBay.

Just to be sure, I ran two tests on each of the three new batteries. Unlike the NP-BX1 batteries, these deliver a lower voltage than the Canon OEM battery and have a much lower capacity. The camera cuts off at 3.5 V, so the new batteries deliver 2/3 the run time of the old OEM battery

Sheesh…

Tech support at Blue Nook (I am not making that up) says they’ll send me a couple of batteries from their next shipment to see if something’s wrong with this batch; all the batteries have date code BNF27.

5 thoughts on “Canon SX-230HS: Wasabi NB-5L Batteries

  1. You’re doing these on your homebrew battery tester, yes? I’d have use for one, too — could you give link(s) or keywords that would locate the necessary posts about its construction?

    1. I use a West Mountain Radio CBA, which works well enough that I’m willing to boot the Token Windows Box. I have conjured various DIY battery testers, but, honestly, they turned out to be more trouble than they were worth.

      I build custom battery holders, though, for which 3D printing is exactly the right hammer…

    1. Haven’t a clue, although I’m sure it’s a data collection glitch, rather than the battery voltage suddenly stabilizing for a few minutes.

Comments are closed.