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I've got a Canon EOS camera that takes a BP-511 battery. The specs on the battery are 7.4V and 1100mAh. The battery is dead and I want to buy a replacement, but I'm looking at a third party battery, because it's much cheaper than the Canon branded one. I've found one with very high reviews online, and it seems identical except that it's rated at 1500mAh instead of 1100mAh.

So the question is: is this difference important to the camera or not?

mattdm
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Joshua Frank
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  • I've got a bag full of batteries like this, it is very common to see it in third party replacement batteries. Very rarely do they actually exceed the performance of the OEM units in my experience though. – dpollitt Nov 23 '12 at 17:49
  • I used some SterlingTek BP-511A batteries that outperformed the original Canon battery by a good margin. The Canon was rated at 1390mAH, the generics were 2200mAH. – Michael C Feb 17 '13 at 23:46

1 Answers1

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This will not be a problem. Milliamp-hours are a rating of the capacity of the battery (metaphorically, the size of the gas tank), and having extra won't cause any harm. (Basically, it's how long the power will last, not how strong it is.) It's possible but unlikely that cost-cutting in the battery may have other, more problematic issues, but many people use them with no adverse effects. (See Should I buy an original manufacturer battery, or is a generic brand OK?)

However, be aware that cheap, third-party batteries often overstate their capacity. So, it's completely likely that the actual capacity is really about the same as the name-brand version — or even lower in real use, despite the much higher labeled rating.

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mattdm
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