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08/13/2013 03:56:11 PM · #1 |
I had to share this experience, because there may be many of you out there who have or will run into it. I have 3 batteries for my relatively long-in-the-tooth 5D "classic" which will turn 8 at the end of September. Two of them are as old as the camera and one a couple years younger, so it was really not a big surprise when they started to act like they didn't want to take or hold charge. The funny thing was, it happened to all three at the same time. Hmmm, says I. Suspicious. The batteries would "die" in the camera, and when placed on the charger, would show normal charging but move through the charge process too quickly. Instead of going from "one blink" to "charged" in about an hour, they were doing so in less than 10 minutes. Being the skeptic I am, I went and found my backup charger and loaded a just-charged battery into it... and lo, it charged for nearly an hour, after which it worked fine in the camera. I then took and burnished the contacts on the first charger, burnished the contacts on another of the "suspect" batteries, and inserted it. It charged for the normal hour!
So the moral of the story is, a battery that displays classic symptoms of losing charge capacity may not be at fault. The contact surfaces on the battery are tin. I'm not sure about the charger contacts but they are not gold. Oxidation can occur on both. After burnishing all the contacts, it's been about 2 weeks. The first of the three batteries is still in the camera, and it still shows "full" when turned on. The camera has seen intermittent use, not all day use, since then. So the battery is holding up nicely!
And now, the epilogue you've been waiting for... or maybe not, but you'll get it anyhow!
For quite a while (many months) I had been having a very similar problem with batteries for my truly ancient Nikon 995 (2001 vintage), which I still like to use at work for various odd macro tasks for which it is really well suited. It had gotten to the point where a fully charged battery would last no more than 5 minutes in the camera. I had been debating whether buying new batteries for such an old device would be prudent; now I questioned whether I had something else going on!
So this morning I burnished all the contacts; batteries, charger, camera. I then put a battery on the charger and let it go. About 2 hours later, with a full charge indicated, I replaced the battery in the camera and gave it some use. It is acting normally, with no indication of the ultra-short battery life. So once again, what looked like a battery issue was in fact a contact issue with either the charger, batteries, or both. In both the Nikon and Canon cases, I suspect the charger was a big part of it. Call it a lesson well learned; five minutes of work and zero dollars spent, and I am in business. |
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08/13/2013 04:11:03 PM · #2 |
| good information to know. |
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08/13/2013 04:15:20 PM · #3 |
| Well done Fritz! Thank you very much for sharing, I have no doubt that I will find this useful. |
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08/13/2013 04:25:40 PM · #4 |
| You're an absolute natural resource, Fritz. Never leave us, d00d, never leave us. |
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08/13/2013 04:35:09 PM · #5 |
I think the same problem/remedy applies to one of the most common reasons for a car not starting normally ...
In addition to the problem of oxidation, touching the contacts can leave oils which can possibly act as insulation, attract dust, and maybe chemically alter the contact surface.
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
You're an absolute natural resource, Fritz. Never leave us, d00d, never leave us. |
The apt cliché is the pot/kettle thing, but it just seems wrong in this case ... :-) |
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08/13/2013 04:56:49 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
The apt cliché is the pot/kettle thing, but it just seems wrong in this case ... :-) |
You're so right, neither of them is black.
Perhaps a teacup/saucer? dunno... ;)
- I just cleaned the contacts on an old battery and charger (S10)... Let's see if this works on an extreme case (although, it looked clean, so I suspect perhaps it is actually just because it's a SUPER old battery)
Message edited by author 2013-08-13 16:58:24. |
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08/13/2013 06:41:32 PM · #7 |
| Thanks all... I thought this was a good and relevant experience. Not in the league with unicorns and gold stars, but good, nonetheless! |
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08/18/2013 02:28:48 AM · #8 |
| Glad to read this Informative share, kirbic. I\'ve too persisted the same issue earlier but never thought what would have happened and exchanged old ones with new the charger-batteries combo from this site: mrpositive.co.nz. Thereafter, I came to know that contact surfaces might be the cause that messed up the things. |
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