How Long Does A Canon LP-E6(N) Battery Take To Charge?

It always helps to know how long it takes to charge a battery. Especially if that battery powers your favorite camera gear.

Sometimes we wait until the last minute before a trip to charge our camera batteries. Knowing how much time you need at a minimum can help a ton.

In this article, we’re going to talk about how long it actually takes to charge Canon’s most common DSLR and mirrorless camera battery, the LP-E6(N).

We won’t just cover Canon’s claim, but the actual time I tested and recorded myself. After all, I wanted to know how long it takes to charge a battery so it helps me plan ahead.

Key Takeaways

  • Canon estimates LP-E6 batteries take 2.5 hours to charge.
  • I tested two different LP-E6N Batteries which have a similar capacity to the LP-E6.
  • Real-world testing shows an average charge time of about 1 hr 45min

How Long Does It Take To Charge An LP-E6(N) Battery? 

Canon says the LP-E6N should take around 2.5 hours to charge. But I wanted to see for myself how long it actually took. 

I timed the charging duration twice on two different batteries and the time was within 10 minutes of each other. Both took less than 2.5 hours. 

The first battery took 1 hour 40 minutes and 31 seconds. The second battery took 1 hour 49 minutes and 7 seconds. 

With these charge estimations in mind, I know that I will be able to charge one battery fully if I only have 2 hours until I have to leave the house.

Also, I enjoy using a battery grip on my 6D Mark II which takes two batteries. I now know how much time is needed to charge up a grip with 100% power. I have a dedicated review of the 6D Mark II Grip here.

How We Tested The Charge Time

This is how I tested how long it took to charge an LP-E6N battery. Be prepared, this was not a super scientific experiment, you’ll see why.

I first purchased a cheap timer from Amazon. Right when I got them, I  disassembled one and painted it matte black. The original colors are hideous! The timers were around $6 so I didn’t care too much.

Here is the timer I used: 

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  • 1 Blue & 1 Green digital timers large display and 3 buttones, super easy to read and set up. (Battery Not Included)
  • Maximum time is 99 minutes 59 seconds, meet the need of classroom and after-school activity perfectly, great countup / countdown timer for teachers kids.
  • Classroom timer with Strong Magnetic back 2.0 retractable stand and hook for hanging, can be positioned in variety of locations, like table, blackboard, dry erase board and...
  • Memory Setting: You do not need to set the countdown time every time, it will remeber your last time and you only need to press "ST/SP" button.

I just wanted big numbers I could see easily for cheap. 

Kill The Battery

The next thing I did was keep shooting with my Canon 6D Mark II until the battery died. I made sure the battery was so dead that the camera didn’t want to turn on. My camera was just flashing the low battery sign. 

This would result in a very representative charge time of the full battery capacity.

Charge Up Battery & Time It

Afterward, I installed the battery into the Canon wall charger and plugged it into the wall while starting the timer at the same time. I used the standard wall charger that came with my 6D Mark II. 

I didn’t have the time to just stare at the charger, so I was just working nearby and glanced over at it every few minutes.

The Canon chargers fortunately have a way to indicate if the battery is at 0%, 50%, or 75% charge.

When you plug in your battery, an orange light will flash. If it only flashes once, it’s still dead. Once it hits 50% the light flashes in bursts of two. Bursts of three mean 75%. 

That made it easier for me to monitor the charge levels. Once it started flashing in sets of three, I paid more attention to the charger so I could catch the 100% mark.

Results

Once the light turned green indicating a full charge, I took a quick picture of the timer. I ran this test twice on two dead batteries, and the results were within 10 minutes of each other. 

The timer counts up to 99 minutes and 59 seconds before starting from zero again. Charging my two batteries surpassed the 99:59 minute mark, which is why there are such low values on the timers. 

99 minutes and 59 seconds is essentially 100 minutes. 100 minutes equates to 1 hour and 40 minutes. The timer’s readout in the image needs to be added to 1 hour and 40 minutes. 

The first battery took 1 hour 40 minutes and 31 seconds. The second battery took 1 hour 49 minutes and 7 seconds.

Your Results Will Vary

Keep in mind there are a bunch of variables that can change the charge time estimations for you. If you have an aftermarket battery, you may have a different capacity and charge time. 

If you have one of the newer LP-E6NH batteries for the mirrorless Canon cameras, your charge time will increase. We will discuss the capacity difference between the different Canon LP-E6 batteries down below. 

Also, the health of your battery can also affect charge time. A really old battery will behave differently than a brand-new one.

And lastly, If your battery still has a tiny bit of juice, it may not take nearly as long to charge to 100%. Canon mentions that the time to recharge will also vary depending on the temperature. 

All these variables mean that you could see different results. Just keep that in mind. 

Types of Canon LP-E6 Batteries

Canon has continuously been upgrading its famous LP-E6 form factor battery. This has been a form factor since the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. 

Since then, Canon has been introducing new versions of the battery that have increased capacity and features. They are all 7.2-volt batteries of the same exact shape which makes them compatible with each other. 

How Long To Charge LP-E6 Battery (5)

So as you upgrade through the Canon ecosystem of cameras, you can use the same batteries in newer cameras as long as they use the “LP-E6” prefix. Though they won’t last as long because the newer batteries have higher capacities, they are great to have for backups! 

Here is a quick breakdown of what makes each of these batteries different. 

LP-E6

Capacity: 1800 mAh

This is the original version of the battery that came with the 5D Mark II. 

LP-E6N

Capacity: 1865 mAh

This is a 3.6% increase compared to Canon LP-E6. It came out with the 7D Mark II.

LP-E6NH

Capacity: 2130 mAh

This is a 14.2% increase compared to LP-E6N, and an 18.3% increase compared to the LP-E6. This was a much more significant jump in capacity. 

This battery also supports in-camera charging via USB on certain cameras, which is a first! 

The higher capacity comes with the new mirrorless line of Canon cameras – the R5 and R6, as these drain way more battery life. Mirrorless sensors are pretty much ‘always on’ when your eye is in the viewfinder.

They have to display a picture in the EVF (electronic viewfinder). This is different from DSLRs which use an OVF – an optical viewfinder.

Compatible Cameras

All batteries are compatible with the following Canon EOS cameras at the time of writing: 

Full Frame Cameras:

  • R5, R6
  • 5DS, 5DS R, 5D Mark IV, 5D Mark III, 5D Mark II
  • 6D Mark II, 6D

APS-C Cameras:

  • 7D Mark II, 7D
  • 60D, 60Da, 70D, 80D, 90D