bigbten

My D5500 came with an Nikon EN-EL14A that listed itself as 7.2V, 1230mAh and 8.9Wh. I just purchased an off brand one from ebay for $8.78 and it says 7.4V, 1800mAh and 13.3Wh. The new one appears to work just fine. Will these greater specifications hurt my camera?

BebuLamar

I am not sure how close the batteries performance come close to the specs but if the specs is correct there is absolutely no problem. The mAh and Wh rating related to how long the battery will last only. The only specs that may hurt the camera is the voltage. However 7.2V and 7.4V is close enough to have any problem. If you were to measure the voltage of the 2 batteries fully charge I can bet that both will read a bit higher than 7.4V. You may find the 2 batteries are identical but rated differently.

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

Can’t say specifically, but when you put a voltometer on an alkaline AA, AAA, etc, when new they tend to read above the 1.5 volt level, and just abt every thing that runs on them seem not to care.
,

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

If you look at the nameplate on your camera (probably on the bottom), you will see an operating voltage range spelled out. I'm guessing it says something like 6-12 volts at some current level. The higher voltage will not harm your camera, if it is within the stated range.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Probably not. I never use off brand batteries because, after a few months or if its really cold, they just do not hold charge like Nikon OEM.

BebuLamar

Keep in mind that 2 identical batteries can have that 2 different specs on them and either are OK. The voltage of a single cell Li-ion battery is 4.2V at full charge and 3.0V when considered fully discharged. With a 2 cell battery it's 8.4V to 6.0V. So the 7.2V or 7.4V is called the nominal voltage, which is the voltage that during most of the discharge cycle would be but whether it's 7.2V or 7.4V also depends on the load. Without the load specified they could choose different loads for their rating. The same goes for the mAh. The same battery would have lower mAh rating if it's tested with a high load and has higher mAh rating with less demanding load. The Wh rating is voltage x current x time so it also changes with the way the battery is used.
So there would be no harm using the battery. Don't expect the battery with better specs will perform better. Just have to use it and see how well it works.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I use Nikon Brand batteries and Watson Brand batteries only. I'll have to check and see if there is a different in the voltage. Two tenths of an increase in voltage should not make a difference. I did buy a replacement aftermarket battery for my smartphone, from eBay, that listed a MaH that was +1500 above the OEM battery. It was exactly the same size as the OEM battery. Take those exaggerated increases in MaH with a grain of salt. They are just a selling ploy. Your battery should be OK. Some cheap batteries will swell after excessive chargings. That happened to a friend, who said the tightness, to get the battery in the battery chamber was too risky.

dodgeman

The two voltage listings on the batteries will be no issue as the stock Nikon 7.4 volt battery which is a EN-EL14 has a black jacket and is the stock supplied battery for the D3000 and some D5000 series bodies. The newer D5000 series bodies are being supplied with the Gray jacketed 7.2 volt battery which is a EN-EL14A and so both batteries are equally interchangeable. Indeed, the voltages are much higher right after charging and you would see that if the batteries were checked with a digital volt meter and that is a characteristic of rechargeables.

I have a D5300 DX body that came with the EN-EL14A 7.2 gray battery and bought a spare one exactly like it and also two black EN-EL14 7.4 volt aftermarket (Smatree brand) batteries as quick spares. The original gray 7.2 volt and the original black 7.4 volt versions from Nikon do hold charges much better as some here have mentioned. Also those high advertised current capacities of like 1800mah are really not that high as was also mentioned and are sales gimmicks to get you to buy them. I have used these batteries side by side with my camera in Live view mode which drains batteries very quick and the originals last close to twice as long as the aftermarket ones do or at least that is what I have experienced.

My D750 FX body uses the EN-EL15 battery and I bought some aftermarket batteries for that body at a good price with an extra charger that also works in a vehicles 12 volt outlet. The original Nikon branded battery does last longer than those aftermarket batteries also and so it is best in the long run to use stock brand batteries in your camera if you want to shoot more without swapping the batteries a lot.

DaveyDitzer Loc: Western PA

I have 4 Nikons that use EN-EL14A batteries. I have purchased additional batteries that have identical markings but behave differently from 1 being junk and the rest (now 4) being useful; but none holding a charge like the original batteries that came with the cameras. Is there any way to identify a counterfeit battery when all the external markings are the same. I did find different weights, but these did not correspond to the behavior.

Sarco

I have five batteries for my D5100, one genuine and four non-genuine. The charge in the genuine does last marginally longer than the others but I have encountered no real problems. The only word of caution is to be careful of firmware updates. Several years ago there was an update that I was about to do but side stepped when I read that one of its features was to preclude the use of non-genuine batteries.

Although the Ebay batteries state that they are "chipped", the firmware update may kill their usage.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Nikon USA's website addresses this:

https://www.nikonimgsupport.com/ni/NI_article?articleNo=000004702&lang=en_US

Scroll down about 2/3s of the way for a whole section covering 13 different battery types that have been counterfeited. There is a link to the EN-EL14, but I was unable to open it tonight.

User ID

NO. The specifications are good if they are
true. Most likely they are NOT .... cuz you
paid too little for it. The spec's LOOK false
cuz the mAh rating is too big for the size
of the battery casing. Efficiency technology
will not bring a 50% increase like that.

If it says Nikon on it it's counterfeit and that
may cause troubles or even damage, but the
quoted specs are no problem.

If it does NOT say Nikon on it, it's an honest
3rd party battery. But it should cost closer to
$15 or 20 for one of those.

Counterfeiters are dishonest so I'd would be
concerned of their product causing trouble.
The honest 3rd party suppliers have a good
reputation among users. But, complaints by
many who were harmed by counterfeiters is
blurring onto the 3rd party companies. Keep
the two separated in your mind.

We buy all our batteries at Blue Nook, who
are a battery specialist with fine reputation.
Their brand is Wasabi. IIRC, Adorama and
BnH also sell Wasabi. Most of the batteries
at Blue Nook are $35 a pair, WITH charger.

.

DaveyDitzer Loc: Western PA

I opened the link twice but it took me back to the original page. Thanks for your help. I emailed Nikon product support