Counterfeit LP-E6NH Batteries: Canon EOS R Talk Forum

I recently took a punt on some "too good to be true" LP-E6HN batteries, described as genuine OEM Canon batteries.

I've not seen a single article on counterfeit LP-E6HN's, so I thought I've either grabbed myself a bargain for genuine products, or I can get a full refund and share some insight on how to spot counterfeits.

Firstly, the packaging. If you hadn't purchased a battery outside of the one bundled with your camera, you may struggle to notice a difference here.

There is an obvious lack of hologram on the packaging, and on closer inspection, the image of the battery is of lower resolution. Outside of that, packaging is very similar all round, with the metallic red bar running across the bottom, and identical indentations on the box.

In the camera, the initially perform as expected - showing good information on the battery info screen, unique battery serial numbers, and green H+ available on shooting. All batteries were initially charged to circa 65%. However, they all charged to 100% very rapidly, but never moved to "Full" when charging in body.

Right, on to appearances. These did take a bit of time to spot, but we got there eventually.

All batteries have a working hologram, displaying what they should (all of the lines changing colours, and the words Canon and Original all appearing). The only ways I could tell them apart is the counterfeit holograms didn't look quite perfectly rectangular, and the hologram was ever so slightly more milkier. They are also not quite as precisely placed.

Looking solely at the end where the connectors are located, in the right lighting, you can see the counterfeit battery is made from slightly different plastics (not visible from any other side)

On the rear, the sticker does look identical to LP-E6HN's destined for the Chinese/Japanese markets, and is in line with expectations. I did notice that all batteries were showing identical manufacture dates/codes (whereas my genuine ones had some differences). The key sign here is the connectors are more of a "chrome" finish, where the original looks much more textured/matte.

And a final visual observation, the side where the connectors and arrow are on the counterfeit battery tapers in ever so slightly. If you put this back to back with another, you will see a gap between the batteries.

The final differences to mention; the counterfeit batteries weighed in at 79g, with the genuine ones 80g. The counterfeit batteries are also made of ever-so-slightly thinner plastic, with a slightly tacky material in on the inside - when pressing down on the top of the battery, you can hear it slightly sticking with the internals. The original batteries do not do this.

Anyway, I hope this proves insightful for you all in helping to avoid counterfeit batteries.