OK, here’s the situation. Last year number-one daughter purchased a Cannon video camera, a maxell charger, and a spare (non-cannon) battery, and headed for Bolivia. In fairly short order she began having trouble with the batteries charging and or holding a charge. The camera and batteries are now about one-year old.
As it stands now the charger, tho voltage (12.9) is present at the charging posts, doesn’t charge either battery. The power light comes on, but the charge light doesn’t, and the battery’s state of charge doesn’t change a whit. I put the Cannon battery in the camera, plugged in the charger, and the battery appears to be taking a charge (charging light is flashing and the state of charge has improved). I’ve not yet tested the non-cannon battery, but she tells me that it will neither take nor hold a charge. We’d take the lot to the camera shop where we purchased them, but, alas, they are gone…
As her Dad thinks about upgrading from Ni-Cad based tools to newer technology, this issue weighs heavily on my mind.
Replies
I had a similar problem that, at first, I thought was caused by a bad battery. But it was just dirty terminals. Take a pencil eraser to the battery terminals and the charger terminals -- get 'em nice and shiny. Then try charging. Worked for me, but YMMV.
Mike Hennessy
Mike, that was the first thing I did, my "trade secret" that has brought many similar things back to life. My neighbor is forever endebted to me, LOL.
So, current state: The Cannon battery, after ~ two hours in the camera, which was connected to the charger, was up to 8.4 volts (what it should be, tho how long it will hold that charge remains unknown at this point.) The second battery went into the camera at 0 VDC and at 1 hour and 2 hours it remained at 0 VDC. I think it is dead.
The seprate charger remains a mystery. The terminals indicate 12 VDC, but the charge lamp does not light, and, after spending several hours on it, the battery (the Cannon) showed no increase. (The Cannon charger, by the way, outputs 8.4 VDC).
So there's all the news for the moment.
I once thought it was just marketing hype but have since learned (the hard way, of course) that camera batteries and the chargers that charge them really do need to be of the same manufacture.
I now own a Kodak Z7590 35mm digital that "requires" lithium ion batteries of a make the manufacturer approves. This go around, I purchased the camera, batteries and charger at the same time from the same retailer of the same manufacture. No problems.
Open that wallet...
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