Nikon counterfeit batteries

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Reviving this old thread since I bought two Nikon branded batteries from this forum since then.

First one after receiving I checked to see if it was genuine. My old counterfeit battery was eerily similar to the supposed original one that I bought from here. The QR code was bogus and their was no letter engraved near the terminals. The overall housing quality of the battery looked slightly inferior but this can be determined only from close inspection (or macro shots). Also there's a weird text XLMD written which was never there on the original EN-EL15B. I asked the seller to take it back since it was not genuine to which he agreed to. I should've asked for detailed shots of the battery but lesson learnt :)

Fast forward few months I got hold of another battery on sale here. This time there was plenty of high-res images that I could see and the QR code and letter engraving were both present! Suffice to say the battery is working well and I don't have to worry about it suddenly dying on me.

Remember, the QR Code revealed will be a long random string but only a 2nd half will match the serial number. Hope this helps people buying genuine 2nd hand batteries.


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Letter engraving on OEM: letter engraving on all original batteries. Note: EN-EL15B and newer models only have this and for B version it is the letter 'D'
All OEM Battery: Bottom most is EN-EL15B which came with the camera and the top on is the newest genuine battery I got recently. Middle one I bought brand new and is genuine.
Fake OEM Battery [bottom]: counterfeit battery on the bottom (one which was returned) vs original one

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As the labels for Indian batteries vary from other regions, the valid identifiers that seem to be universal are the QR Code, battery terminal contact points & version label near the terminal. You can see in the image below where the version label is located. It's incredibly small, hence a macro lens or magnifying glass is needed to see it.

My older original EN-EL15B had these two valid identifiers as well. The fake one had bogus QR Code, no version label & had only 3 (5 should be there) contact points inside the battery terminal.

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1. There's no "new" label on either of them, as far as I can make out.

2. One of them has a bis dot gov dot on when on it. That's odd. Haven't seen any bis certification marked on camera batteries earlier.

1. If you see on the battery at the top, I've labelled it as 'new' & 'b'.

2. I bought a new battery from VideoLinks (c version) and that too has the bis.gov.in label. Maybe post 2020 Indian batteries have that label.

[Bharat Varma]

1. There's no "new" label on either of them, as far as I can make out.

2. One of them has a bis dot gov dot on when on it. That's odd. Haven't seen any bis certification marked on camera batteries earlier.

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This is to bring to light fake batteries that scammers might sell to you or maybe someone does not know how to identify a fake Nikon battery.

Recently one of my EN-EL15b batteries died out on me. This happened after 6 months of using that battery.

The previous owner had provided two batteries with the camera. One that came with the camera itself and another he bought over a year ago. The newer battery suddenly died without warning and I did not suspect it was a fake. The previous owner probably didn't either. The older original battery still works, albeit has less capacity. Even while your buying Nikon branded batteries, do your due diligence inspecting the battery's packaging. Most of the recent counterfeit batteries look very very similar to the real ones. It gets tough to compare if you have only one battery and no real battery to compare it with. If you have a Nikon camera newer than the Z6 & Z7 then most of fake ones will not work or have limited functionality. For older camera's you have to eye ball it or ask Nikon to check it (impractical for most).

For my batteries, the fire symbol and the QR code were solid identifiers to spot the fake one. The QR code should correspond with the long serial number beside it (full or only part of the long string should match, not sure). Newer fake ones have an awfully similar holograph so cant rely on that as well. Another identifier was the battery terminals, but this is very hard to spot at first.


Here's what I found about identifying the latest counterfeit batteries:
YT video - https://youtu.be/UgVHaDd8s20
DPReview forum - https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65295728


P.S: The battery labelled 'new' is the fake one.