Dead DSLR

[Carole]

As briefly mentioned in another thread, my DSLR would not switch on at Kelling, I tried both charged batteries and also my cabled "battery", and Roy tried it too, also with no success.

I am not going to go to great lengths or expense to repair it as I don't often use it these days, but on occasions it is handy to use, i.e. Lunar eclipse, star trails, comets, transit of Mercury, milky way - where I have yet to get a decent image, so if it is a simple fix I would like to give it a bash.

I read that the little mechanism that tells the camera that the battery flap is shut might be worth looking at to see if it is "going in" properly, but just wondered if any-one had any other ideas.

Carole

[MarkS]

There's a microswitch on both the battery flap and memory card flap.
Mark

[Carole]

Thanks Mark will take a look at both of those.

Carole

[Carole]

Well I have tried both of those micro switches and still no signs of life.  I am going to charge up the battery again, though it was done at Kelling and not used, but a fresh charge to eliminate that plus the micro switches.

After that I think I will try to sell it for spare parts if I can.  I might wait and see if any-one is selling an old one at a cheap price, but I won't be making any bigger efforts to rescue it.  Shame as it was working just fine last time I used it.

Carole

[Roy]

Hi Carole,

I have just discovered there is another battery (looks like a hearing aid type) that is located inside the main battery compartment that is used to maintain the date and time, see below.

http://www.justanswer.com/video-camera-repair/5y6q1-canon-400d-dead-will-not-power-on-battery.html

Good luck

Roy

[Carole]

I also found that link Roy, thanks for pointing it out though, but I cannot see anything to pull out as shown in the link.  It does make sense that the date may have expired though, but don't know where on earth it can be.

All the years I have had this camera I kept the hand book in the bag, and now when I really need it it is not there.  No idea where I must have put it, will have to go and have a hunt in the van.

Carole

[Carole]

On further googling I found this:

In prior models the battery for the time/date/memory was a replaceable CR2016 button battery. With the 450D the time/date/memory battery is internal and not user replaceable. It's not possible to remove it to do a complete "reset".

Bummer

[MarkS]

Don't sell it for spares - I can have a look at for you some time.

Mark

[Carole]

That's very good of you Mark.

As I say I don't use it very often, but on occasion it is useful.

Carole

[MarkS]

It's now in bits on my work table.

The on/off switch works.
The battery flap switch works.
The memory card flap switch works.
I haven't found the internal battery (yet) but apparently its failure does not stop the camera switching on.  It just means that the time/date gets lost every time you change the main battery.

So whatever is wrong, it looks like it is beyond my capability to repair

Mark

[Mike]

If the CR2016 is on the main board it should be easy to replace.

[MarkS]

It's not a CR2016 and there's nothing on either main board that looks like a battery.

Internet search has drawn a blank so far, in trying to locate whatever it is inside the camera.

Mark

[Carole]

Many thanks for trying Mark, so is this final now, irreparable?

I'll have the bag and contents back please, as there are some components (including the batteries) that are re-usable, Stock Lens, CLS filter, remote controller, SD card, T rings etc and the bag itself.

Will you be at the next meeting Mark?  Otherwise could some-one bring it back for me on 3rd December as I can't attend.

CArole

[MarkS]

Many thanks for trying Mark, so is this final now, irreparable?

Probably.  In any case I'll put it back together and bring it to the next meeting.

Mark

[Carole]

Thank you Mark.

Carole

[MarkS]

Oddly enough, I put it back together this morning, put a battery in, switched it on and it sprang into life!

Not for long though - I switched it off and now it's completely dead again.

I was reading elsewhere on the net that this is quite typical - it might switch on for a few shots and then dies again.

Mark

[Carole]

How odd, so if it works briefly there can't be anything wrong with wiring or connections, this ought to be telling us something if only we knew what. 

Carole

[MarkS]

How odd, so if it works briefly there can't be anything wrong with wiring or connections, this ought to be telling us something if only we knew what. 

Agreed.  It means that something internal is no longer behaving properly.  Maybe it's a failure of the mythical internal battery.  Who knows

Mark

[Carole]

I'll see if I can sell it for parts.  Thanks for trying Mark, very good of you.
I did some googling and water damage was suggested as a possibility, given we take the DSLR outside in the damp, but as I hardly use it it's not so likely and I am sure you would have spotted this when you took it apart. 

Although I said I was not going to replace it, there are occasions when a Modified DSLR is useful: 
Comet Lovejoy, transit of Mercury, Milky way, (never yet got a decent MW), aurora, plus I would love to get the Antares colourful region and I think given the FOV and lack of opportunities a DSLR is the only likely option for that, so I'll be on the look out for a reasonably priced Modified Canon DSLR, but no urgency.   

Carole