Slighty OT

[Dave]

My wife bought a digital camera about 2 years ago and as she is a Scout leader, the inevitable happened; it got dropped into a small stream. The camera still functions apart from the fact that with a fully charged battery, it reports a battery failure after between 2 and 3 minutes. I know that 2 batteries I have tried are good and fire up a torch for quite some time, which used to last me over a month at the school job I had. This is the only fault that the camera shows.

I have taken off the back of the camera and I can't see anything that I can clean out to get the battery management working again.

Nothing to lose, so...

Solution

1 Bin the camera and get her to buy another

2 Send it for an expensive repair. Not a financial option from the camera shop I visited.

3 remove the back of the camera again and bung it in a (Lidle/Maplin/Aldi) ultrasonic bath and see what it comes out like.

Solution options are

water

water and a drop of fairy

isopropyl alcohol

other, stronger solutions.

What does the team think?

Dave

[calums]

Dave I know this might sound obvious, but are you using high capacity batteries that are required for digital camera's. Some batteries though lasting a long time in a torch will only last a few seconds in a camera. I dont have amy here, so my numbers and units may be off the mark, but from memory you want 2400mHA batteries for camera's.

I would also try the battery back in your torch after they have been in the camera as another option is a shorting problem, but my hunch is its just the wrong batteries.

Good luck Calum Sabey NewArk Traditional Kitchens 01556 690544

[George]

Make no mistake batterys used in a torch will give the impression they are good ie a Lemon will light a 3v torch bulb.

[Steven Campbell]

If she bought it 2 years ago I would hazard a guess that it could be replaced on a like for like basis cheaper than what it would cost to repair. I'd take the opportunity to upgrade as the specs from a couple of years ago especially the megapixels has increased substantially.

Why not claim on your house insurance if the policy covers it?

Steven.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Time and a warm dry place. About a week.

If that doesn't fix it scrap it.

[Grumps]

Home insurance claim. The ultrasonic bath may damage any quartz crystals that may be inside the camera.

[Owain]

Why lose any no-claims bonus, or have to pay an excess? The Scouts' insurance should cover use of personal possessions by leaders.

Owain

[badger.badger]

Water, with non-ionic surficant 3 times.

Water rinse 3 times.

D.I. water rinse 3 times.

Sit at ~ 50 C for a week or two.

If it doesn't work:

Claim on insurance.

Actually it's often better to simply claim on the insurance as the corrosion within the board/under components after just a few hours can be enough to kill it within a year

[manatbandq]

But only if you know that the electromechanical components (switches mainly) are sealed, otherwise you'll do more harm than good.

MBQ

[Another Dave]

Almost certainly you're using the wrong batteries. As has been said before, digital cameras require very high capacity batteries - 1600mAH NiMH cells cause these symptoms on my camera. You need higher capacity.

Another Dave

[Newshound]

If you'd got to it while it was still wet, then a couple of rinses with isopropyl alcohol (or just meths for that matter), then dry in a warmish place should clear out all the water. Standard method for drying things, google for azeotropic mixtures. Obviously you are taking a chance that the alcohol won't upset sealants, adhesives, lubricant in focussing motor etc.

[Andrew Mawson]

motor etc.

Some context would be handy when reading unconnected snippits in a newsgroup

AWEM

[Dave]

Camera batteries are 2 Amp/hour. Torch batteries are 2.2 Amp/hour Like you, my first instinct was that the batteries had reached the end of their lives, hence the battery swap. Camera operates for a maximum of

2 and a half minutes before switching off. Leave it for ten mins. or so and you can repeat this.

Dave

[Dave]

Not if it is left switched on for a hour, just to see what the capacity is like. The torch batteries had to be very dependable for my job at the time, so I know they were good for any job.

Dave

[Dave]

Thanks, I'll take a look at the policy.

Dave

[Dave]

I've used that meathod in the past for mobile phones, but I wasn't sure what to do about a camera.

Dave

[Dave]

Questions will be asked. Many thanks for that.

Dave

[Dave]

Good point! I had not considered the moving parts.

Thanks

Dave

[Chris Hodges]

Did the camera work on rechargeables before - Fujis in particular used to be fussy?

[Dave]

Yes, it was fine with the 2 Amp batteries. It has been to Oz, Canada, the USA and a few european countries, with no problems, using the original batteries. I reckon that I will put the camera in the ultrasonic bath later this week and see what comes out. It will be either a fully functional camera or a water logged mess. I'll let you know which :-)

Wife is now looking at a new camera, so what's the loss?

Dave