Nowadays we are so addicted to using lithium-ion batteries that it doesn’t even raise an eyebrow if someone mentions a device that uses this battery type and the GoPro brand is no exception. Since the GoPro batteries are quite popular, it is very natural for users to have several questions about them as well.
Obviously, you wouldn’t like to have the battery running out in the middle of a shoot. And it is important to familiarize yourself with the basic guidelines regarding how to charge a GoPro battery. This guide will help you with everything you might be wondering about your GoPro battery.
One of the most important things to understand is how long would it take to charge a GoPro. When the battery gets fully charged, it can easily work for quite some time. So, without wasting any further time beating around the bush, let’s dive right into this topic.
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The Overall Charging Time for GoPro
To be frank, this is going to depend a lot on the power source being utilized, different batteries take different amounts of time to charge. For instance, you can charge your GoPro (dual) battery in as little as two hours.
However, let’s say that you do not have access to a charging outlet and have to use your laptop for this purpose. Now charging your phone directly through a laptop will take about four hours. You can very well gauge how the power source makes a difference in the amount of time required for charging the GoPro battery.
You have to understand that every GoPro battery comes with a slightly different battery life but overall the maximum working time for a GoPro battery is going to be anywhere from 1.5 hours to up to 2 hours. You can keep extra batteries and chargers handy to use the devices according to your needs.
What To Use For Charging the GoPros?
Ideally, you should always charge by connecting a USB wall charger to the GoPro battery. But there are a few standard charging options that are often used to charge GoPro batteries.
The first one on our list is the regular USB charger that you can use on a regular AC wall-mounted power source. We would highly recommend that you consider using a standard USB phone charger with a five-volt per ampere or five-volt per 2-ampere output.
You can also use the iPhone (USB) chargers, and while you may feel confused between selecting the iPad vs iPhone USB chargers, it totally depends on your preference because you can conveniently use either of these two chargers. The second most commonly used option is to charge the GoPro batteries through your laptop.
You can also keep a power bank, use a solar charger, or even a car charger if there is a requirement and you’re absolutely out of decent charging options. Now, these may not be the fastest methods to charge your GoPro batteries, it is a compromise according to the situation and resources available to you at that moment.
As a standard practice, you have to patiently wait till the front LED has turned off before turning the camera off and charging. Generally, the battery charging completion is indicated by the front LED turning off. So, pay attention to that and unplug the device once it is fully charged.
How to Charge GoPro Battery?
Well, the focal point of our entire discussion is understanding the best practices for charging a GoPro battery.
As you may deduce from the previous sections, these batteries can be conveniently charged by either recharging the device battery or using an external battery charger (for this, you will have to remove the batteries from the device). When recharging the device, you can simply use a charging cable (USB) and plug it into a power source.
While charging with an external charging device, you will have to remove the batteries. Now, this may seem to be a time taking process, but there are ways you can cut down the charging time substantially. One easy option is to get hold of a ‘dual battery charger’ and use that to charge the GoPro battery, as the name suggests the dual-charger can fuel up two batteries at the same time! It’s definitely a no-brainer if you want to get things done quickly and efficiently.
The Compatible Chargers & Batteries
While it is suggested that the GoPro official chargers and batteries should be used with the GoPro devices, there are other options you can choose from.
The majority of GoPro devices operate at 5V/1A, which is quite a typical reading for most AC chargers. For the models HERO 5 to 10, you can utilize up to 5V/ 2A and usually, the typical USB wall chargers are convenient and very accessible for this purpose.
On the other hand, we also have to consider batteries, although many GoPro batteries have a similar appearance, different camera models may have different contact points and physical dimensions. Therefore, you must ensure that the battery you purchase is compatible with the particular model of the GoPro camera.
How to Extend GoPro Battery Life?
- Stay Simple: You have to keep the device in the simplest settings if that suits your needs. Your battery life is preserved by avoiding GoPro’s settings. Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, voice assistant, and voice control are excellent features. They won’t allow your battery to rest, though. Among the five, only utilize Wi-Fi in an emergency. It uses most of your capacity.
- Temperature Is Relevant: To keep the batteries functioning well and with full efficiency, you have to maintain a perfect temperature and you can’t ignore this aspect at all. It’s a good idea to keep your GoPro camera in areas with a suitable temperature. The biggest advantage of this is that it will preserve the battery power and your GoPro battery will work longer than you may anticipate.
- Put It to Sleep: Another smart way to increase the battery life is to go for the ‘sleep mode. You can shoot one video clip while the camera is in sleep mode before it finally turns off. Thus, battery life is preserved even after you’re done filming. Moreover, it also reduces the accidental turning on of the camera which also results in a lot of power wastage.
- Lower the Resolution & Frame Rate: You can also consider lowering the resolution and frame rate, in order to increase the GoPro battery life. With these options, you’ll have more time to record priceless moments without worrying about running out of battery.
- Lights OFF, Now! You must pay attention to every detail if you want to extend the GoPro battery life. There could be some lights that remain turned on throughout the recording. For instance, the red light uses quite a lot of your battery’s charge. So, if you absolutely must use the feature, only do so occasionally for a short period of time.
It goes without saying, that if you anticipate heavy device usage, it is always a good idea to be carrying more than one battery. You must verify that all of the batteries are genuine GoPro models and you have them fully charged. By purchasing extra batteries, you may avoid the hassle of having to recharge the battery on an hourly basis. You won’t have to worry about your camera going off even after working through an entire day.
Conclusion
While there are other replacements for GoPro batteries and chargers, the manufacturers recommend that only the official batteries and chargers are used with the GoPro. Even if you use a different charger, make sure that the battery is not draining too quickly. Also, keep the battery safe by placing it at the right temperature and turning off any features that are not needed.
FAQ:
1. Is Absolutely OKAY to Leave the GoPro Battery on Charge Overnight?
Well, it shouldn’t be left like this according to the best practices of battery charging. However, when it comes to the GoPro batteries they come with a convenient safe-charging mode that guards against overheating and breaks the circuit when the battery reaches 100%. However, this does not make you absolutely lax in following the recommended charging practices, so to be safe, do remember to set a timer to unplug it after at least 2-3 hours. It is way better to act cautiously than to repair the damage later on.
2. Does GoPro Hero 10 Come With a Charger?
The simple answer is: No, it doesn’t come with an AC charger at all. However, there are quite a few amenities in the package because you’re getting a rechargeable battery and a nice adhesive mount that has a mounting buckle for extra help. There’s a camera cover, thumbscrew, as well as, a USB-C cable in this bundle.
3. After How Long Should You Replace The GoPro Batteries?
While there are several versions of GoPro batteries, unfortunately, the overall duration for these does not exceed anywhere more than 2 hours. Also, you have to be cautious about the charge on them because if they have been overcharged or entirely drained, their performance may suffer.