Nikon has issued a voluntary recall for the EN-EL15 battery used in the Nikon D800, D7000 and Nikon V1 digital cameras. Certain lot numbers produced after February 29, 2012 may short circuit and cause the battery pack to overheat. It is possible the outside case of the battery may deform under this condition. So far there have been seven cases of this issue reported worldwide, but no injuries have occurred.
Nikon is asking consumers to check the serial number of their battery packs and return batteries with affected lot numbers to Nikon for a free replacement. The batteries are provided with the D800, D7000 and V1 as well as sold separately.
The affected batteries are lot numbers E and F. You can locate the lot number by checking the number on your battery. The lot number is the 9th digit in the 14 digit code as shown below:
Only batteries with lot number E or F are affected. Batteries with other letters in this position are NOT affected and can be safely used. If your battery is affected you may visit the Nikon Service Advisory web site or call 1-800-645-6687. Nikon will ship a replacement battery by UPS and pick up the recalled battery at the same time.
I have a 2011____E___ lot number battery, that I probably got with my D7000 last year. I had that, and had bought an extra at the time, and also have one from my D800. I’m not sure if I mixed batteries around; only one has 2012___xxx___ lot number. I could not be absolutely sure that the 2011 part indicates year of manufacture, so I entered the lot number in Nikon’s form, and it said it was part of the recall. Still can’t be sure the form didn’t just check for an “E” and not year. I filled out address form for new battery. Better safe than sorry.
Shame I cannot get my D800 to try a battery in !!!!!!