Nikon D1X battery symbol flashes

My D1x battery symbol flashes and it won't release the shutter although it would AF OK. I order a new battery and expect to receive it Thursday. In the mean time I cut open an old battery and use it as a dummy battery to supply power from external source. I set the input voltage to 9V and yet the battery symbol is still flashing and it won't release the shutter. I wonder if there is something wrong with the camera?

Maybe battery contacts on camera side are corroded, or external power might not be able to supply enough current or something. If You can find Nikon EH-4 mains power supply, You can test if there is something wrong in camera. New, charged battery should also bring camera to life.

I set the input voltage to 9V and yet the battery symbol is still flashing and it won't release the shutter.

 

MMM, does this battry supply 9 volts normally? are there electronics inside that regulate it that way ?

 

It is build from NiMH cells internally, which each supply 1.2 volts, so if there is no strict voltage regulator build in, then it woud either supply 8.4 volts ( 7 x 1.2) or 9.6 volts ( 8 x 1.2 volts). so maybe the cammera sees 9 volts still as the battery being "drained" and warns you fot this ?

or external power might not be able to supply enough current

the cammera sees 9 volts still as the battery being "drained" and warns you fot this ?

 

I'd go along with that. The early single digit nikons were very picky, power wise. I believe the label on the camera body bottom it says 9v 2.5A.

 

The modern bodies say something like 7-9v 2.5A, (D610) to 7-12v 2.5A (D850).... so a much more flexible power requirement.

MMM, does this battry supply 9 volts normally? are there electronics inside that regulate it that way ?

 

It is build from NiMH cells internally, which each supply 1.2 volts, so if there is no strict voltage regulator build in, then it woud either supply 8.4 volts ( 7 x 1.2) or 9.6 volts ( 8 x 1.2 volts). so maybe the cammera sees 9 volts still as the battery being "drained" and warns you fot this ?

MMM, does this battry supply 9 volts normally? are there electronics inside that regulate it that way ?

 

It is build from NiMH cells internally, which each supply 1.2 volts, so if there is no strict voltage regulator build in, then it woud either supply 8.4 volts ( 7 x 1.2) or 9.6 volts ( 8 x 1.2 volts). so maybe the cammera sees 9 volts still as the battery being "drained" and warns you fot this ?

The battery is built of 6 NiMH cells so they said it's nominal 7.2V but I know full charge NiMH cells can deliver 1.5V. So I vary the supply voltage from 7.2 to 9 volt and no difference.

Although it's not quite of the same era, do you remember the D300 power problem?

 

Whenever the batt V fell below a very conservative measurement, it shut down, just in case it was writing to card and lost the data.

 

A firmware fix effectively raised this level and all was good.

 

Equally, the external power in doesn't always equal the internal battery in.

Although it's not quite of the same era, do you remember the D300 power problem?

 

Whenever the batt V fell below a very conservative measurement, it shut down, just in case it was writing to card and lost the data.

 

A firmware fix effectively raised this level and all was good.

 

Equally, the external power in doesn't always equal the internal battery in.

 

Why not?

I do know there are devices that draw a lot of current that the NiMH batteries are capable of supplying but not a power supply with low current limit. But the current draw is very low in this case as I measured it.

I also know when supplying external power via a different connection the camera expects a different voltage than it expecting from the battery but in this case there is no way the camera knows that.

And that causes me to be concern that the camera malfunction in someway and always thinks that battery is low even if a good battery is in place.

Why not?

Err, why not ? what?

 

I also know when supplying external power via a different connection the camera expects a different voltage than it expecting from the battery but in this case there is no way the camera knows that.

The camera may well 'know' that the dummy battery-supply cannot supply 2.5A

 

Judging by what's on the bottom of the D1X, it wants access to 9v 2.5A ie 24w from an external source.

 

How old is the D1X battery? What does the internal battery life indicator indicate?

Err, why not ? what?

 

 

The camera may well 'know' that the dummy battery-supply cannot supply 2.5A

 

Judging by what's on the bottom of the D1X, it wants access to 9v 2.5A ie 24w from an external source.

 

How old is the D1X battery? What does the internal battery life indicator indicate?

 

The power supply that I use can supply 10A at any voltage from 0 to 30V that is well regulated.

 

(snip)

 

Equally, the external power in doesn't always equal the internal battery in.

 

 

For one, if it can charge the battery from the external power, it has to be enough for any

voltage drop in the charge regulator.

 

In many cases, the battery power some power converter, different from the external

voltage.

 

Note the Vivitar 283 flash, battery powered by 6V, or 4.8 if NiCd, and

about 300V (I forget the exact number) from an external battery pack

using a 510V battery.

BeBu,

 

Do you have the external power pack made for these? It has a 4 pin plug(different from the one on the battery charger) and plugs in the front of the camera. The port is behind the rubber door that's next to the lens mount and under the 10 pin port. It might be worth trying this with your bench PSU in the absence of the proper charger. I can probe mine and get the voltage pin-outs if you want that information.

 

I have had a few D1Hs that just refused to work with batteries that would power up another camera fine and also refuse to work with the wall plug. I have probably a half dozen D1Hs total, and only two that actually work completely. One will flash the battery dead icon like you've described, while the others will seemingly power up, activate AF, but won't release the shutter or let me do anything in the menus. I've been told it's probably a dead internal clock battery, but haven't dug into one to find that out for sure. Weirdly enough, I have three D1s that work perfectly, as does my D1X. My experience with the D1H(which I'd guess any random sample is likely to have been the most heavily used/beat on compared to the other two, while D1Xs mostly seemed to live a gentle life in the studio) has been less than great 20 years after the fact.

The battery is built of 6 NiMH cells so they said it's nominal 7.2V but I know full charge NiMH cells can deliver 1.5V. So I vary the supply voltage from 7.2 to 9 volt and no difference.

Ok, so you say that the camera will get a maximum voltage of 7.2 + 1.5 = 8.7 volts from the standard battery.

You might want to try to set your lab. power supply to , let's say, 8 volts then and see what happens..

 

I understand that you have a new nbattry on order, so would you please keep us informed on wheter the new battery solves the challenge?

BeBu,

 

Do you have the external power pack made for these? It has a 4 pin plug(different from the one on the battery charger) and plugs in the front of the camera. The port is behind the rubber door that's next to the lens mount and under the 10 pin port. It might be worth trying this with your bench PSU in the absence of the proper charger. I can probe mine and get the voltage pin-outs if you want that information.

 

I have had a few D1Hs that just refused to work with batteries that would power up another camera fine and also refuse to work with the wall plug. I have probably a half dozen D1Hs total, and only two that actually work completely. One will flash the battery dead icon like you've described, while the others will seemingly power up, activate AF, but won't release the shutter or let me do anything in the menus. I've been told it's probably a dead internal clock battery, but haven't dug into one to find that out for sure. Weirdly enough, I have three D1s that work perfectly, as does my D1X. My experience with the D1H(which I'd guess any random sample is likely to have been the most heavily used/beat on compared to the other two, while D1Xs mostly seemed to live a gentle life in the studio) has been less than great 20 years after the fact.

No I don't have the Nikon AC adapter.

Ok, so you say that the camera will get a maximum voltage of 7.2 + 1.5 = 8.7 volts from the standard battery.

You might want to try to set your lab. power supply to , let's say, 8 volts then and see what happens..

 

I understand that you have a new nbattry on order, so would you please keep us informed on wheter the new battery solves the challenge?

 

The new battery works. It measures 9V when fully charged and not underload. So I expect the battery voltage is between 7.2 and 9V when powering the camera.

The new battery works. It measures 9V when fully charged and not underload. So I expect the battery voltage is between 7.2 and 9V when powering the camera.

Thanx for the Update ! :)