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Nikon D5 drains battery when turned off


leon_pugh

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I hope there is similar experience out there.

 

On my recent trip to photograph the eclipse in Iowa, my Nikon D5 started to drain the battery overnight while it was turned off.

I have never experienced this problem with any of my nikon cameras in the past.

Lucky I had my D4 with me as well and was able to use the spare battery.

It has consistently drained both batteries overnight while turned off since I have first noticed it.

The camera was not dropped or exposed to water.

 

It only happens with the D5. The same batteries when used in D4 keep their charge as expected.

Nothing is plugged into the D5 when I turn it off.

 

I did keep a lens attached overnight when I noticed this. (for the trip it was a 500mm f/4 or a 300mm f/2.8.)

I am taking the lens off right now and I am going to wait to see if the remaining charge disappears over the next couple of hours.

 

In the mean time...

 

On the nikon "schedule a repair" website/form there is a box to check for battery draining as a symptom.

I checked the box. completed the form and got an "estimate" of $500 (Canadian dollars?)

The camera was purchased june 2016. The camera was purchased new with a full year warranty.

I will try to phone service/support to see if they will accept it as a warranty issue seeing it is so close to one year.

 

Has anyone had a similar problem and if so... what was the problem?

 

Leon

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I have never had a battery drain problem but I have sent cameras back for other warranty issues shortly after warranty ended, and perhaps because I am an NPS member, they covered them. That's a good reason to join NPS and now that they have opened up membership I think anyone can do so. Used to be, you had to submit a portfolio, get a recommendation, etc. I think all that is gone. Suggest you check that out either way and good luck
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Did you purchase the camera on a credit card? Check your card benefits. Many credit cards provide an automatic extended warranty for a year or two just because you used the card to make the purchase. If Nikon will not accept the camera on warranty, check with your credit card company.
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I haven't heard of that problem with the D5, but it isn't like I have a large sample of D5 bodies to access.

 

Was your D5 purchased in Canada? I thought they may have a two-year warranty in Canada. I guess not.

..

Yes. And I called in about a week ago to verify, it is 2 years!

I should be covered.

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I have never had a battery drain problem but I have sent cameras back for other warranty issues shortly after warranty ended, and perhaps because I am an NPS member, they covered them. That's a good reason to join NPS and now that they have opened up membership I think anyone can do so. Used to be, you had to submit a portfolio, get a recommendation, etc. I think all that is gone. Suggest you check that out either way and good luck

 

 

I contacted Nikon by email (Nikon canada ? ) they told me that I had to fill out a form to get on the NPS program. The form wants a letter on company letterhead and asks for info on recent assignments ....

I guess having a D5, D4, D810, and close to $20,000 in lenses does not get you in automatically as a serious amatuer.

That's more gear than many pro's own!!!

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I guess having a D5, D4, D810, and close to $20,000 in lenses does not get you in automatically as a serious amatuer.

There's a reason why it is called Nikon PROFESSIONAL Service - you need to be (the following is from the Nikon US website):

a full-time business owner or hold an employee position at an organization (Commercial studios, wedding and portrait studios, event photography, audio-visual production, commercial and, industrial, police and forensic, medical, federal, state or local government agencies, movie or video productions, scientific photography and magazine or newspaper publications) where you use Nikon products to earn 100% of your income within the United States?

NPS Canada has a similar requirement:

Nikon Professional Services is available only to FULL-TIME professional photographers.

 

In both countries, there's also an equipment requirement - which appears to be quite easy to meet for anyone who makes a living as photographer.

 

And no, I am not an NPS member.

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Belatedly, same in the UK - you have to be making money from your cameras to get into NPS. There did used to be a secondary thing you could join as an amateur by having multiple "pro" bodies (I'm jealously holding on to my F5...) and having thrown enough at Nikon on lenses (my insurance company classified me as a "pro" because I my NAS exceeded the limit for amateur insurance), but I don't think I've ever seen a benefit from it. I assume the point of NPS is that Nikon want to prioritise people whose livelihood will be impacted by not having kit on time. I suppose I can't really complain about that, even if I'd like to be included in anything predicated on knowing how the Nikon kit works, knowing their range, and having opinions about what needs fixing. (Speaking of which, the NPS member I was chatting to recently while we waited in the lobby of Nikon UK was really not happy about the ring swap on the 70-200 VR 3, and thinks we'll see a mk4 that swaps them back soon. I'll be interested to see how much input this NPS member has on Nikon's design; maybe I should hold off on the upgrade...)
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While I don't think the ring swap in isolation is an improvement, I don't think the rings can be swapped back without completely redesigning the lens. The schedule for that is likely to be the usual 7-8 years. The 70-200/2.8E FL lens is really excellent (there is no "III" since other parts of the lettering are different, the version count is back at I). Many zooms have the zoom ring at the front so it's not unusual to have it that way. As human beings we are capable of adapting to changes like this though there may be some growling at first.

 

If you want to be heard by Nikon regarding product improvement, one way is to gain some wider recognition as photographer. When they ask you if you'd like to become a Nikon Ambassador then they want to hear feedback from you regarding product development. You can of course submit product feedback as a regular customer.

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I suspect you're right about the lens, Ilkka. While I prefer the old orientation (and I suspect Nikon will only have switched it because they had to), there was a little more ire than I thought. I'll blame you if I buy it the week before Nikon updates it, though. :-)

 

> If you want to be heard by Nikon regarding product improvement, one way is to gain some wider recognition as photographer.

 

You mean... actually take photos? And be... good? That seems like a lot of work. I'd rather just rant at them...

 

I will be having a mild go at them after I've had a chance to learn a bit more about the D850, though. Especially if I'm bored enough to do a full mock-up of how the four-way split live view, focus bracketing, and multi-point AF fine tuning should work. I'd be perfectly happy to spend a week at Nikon under NDA doing some pro-rata bios tweaking...

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  • 1 month later...

The D5 came back today.

Conclusion seems to be the small crack on the window caused the short/battery drain issue.

They changed the bayonette. ??? No idea why.

They changed the grip.???

Are there electronics in the grip???? and did they change them???

 

They fixed and or replaced the LCD and window that sits on the top of the camera. There was a small cosmetic crack in it and I had it covered in packing tape (to immobilize it) for the last several months until I decided to send it in for a real issue.

Camera was working perfectly since i got it until day 7 of a one week photo trip to photograph yellowstone then swing over to Idaho for the eclipse.

 

It seems they decided the minor impact to the LCD window was cause for the battery draining, even though I told them it worked fine the several months it was taped up.

I was told if the camera was not damaged (by my carelessness) then it would be covered under warranty.

Well I got a bill to pay. $750 plus about $100 in taxes. So they did not cover it under warranty. $700 is their "non-warranty battery draining " repair fee.

 

So here is the kicker.... the camera still drains the battery. Hell, I got the camera back from them with a dead battery.

I put in a partially charged battery that I was using on my D4 at 2 pm with 4 bars. by 5 am it has dropped 2 bars, while turned off. I imagine another bar will go while I get some sleep.

I guess this goes towards showing that the cracked window and whatever was under it was not the cause for the draining battery. I still think it is a warranty issue. Perfectly good camera starts draining the battery part way into a photo shoot, in dry weather, no drops or shocks....

 

I have a polar bear shoot trip on oct 25. I wanted to take the camera. If I send it back I will never get it back in time.

 

IS ANYBODY ELSE HAVING THE SAME ISSUE ? D5, slowly drains the battery overnight?????

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Ouch. Sorry to hear that, Leon. I'd certainly tell them quickly that it's not fixed (so they don't claim you've done something else), even if you insist on waiting before you send it back to them. Did you authorise them for arbitrary repairs, specifically for this, or for a fix to the reported problem? If they charged you for a new grip and mount then that's not really on, if you didn't ask them to. To be fair, I don't know how the D5 comes apart, and they might have had to take the grip off to get at a screw that would let them disassemble the rest enough to get at the LCD.

 

Technically I suppose something shorting in the LCD could have caused a power drain (the LCD is on all the time, after all, although I'd be a little surprised if enough power goes near it to make a difference even if it were shorted); possibly something under the LCD could have been an issue. But I agree, if it's still having trouble, whatever expensive thing they did didn't solve the thing that was actually bothering you, so if they charged specifically for the fix to the power drain, you could reasonably argue with them. Especially if it turns out to have been a warrantyable issue after all.

 

Your legal position regarding the $850 probably depends whether it was a "fee to fix the power drain" or whether they specifically told you what they were going to do. Even then, you could probably argue you were misadvised that it would fix the problem.

 

Dumb question - it's not just one battery, is it? Batteries are fragile things (ahem, Samsung employee), and a little drain wouldn't be an unheard-of fault.

 

My F5 did drain the battery, given long enough, but then it was sitting on the shelf for long periods. The same was true of my Eos 620. I just took to leaving the battery out when storing it, although that might not be very good for a D5's internal clock battery. It's not a problem I've had with the Nikon DSLRs, though - a D700, D800e and D810 have all gone months between shooting with no obvious dent in the battery (although I do tend to charge up before use just in case). I'd be astonished if this was expected behaviour - the only thing I've heard in recent Nikon dSLRs is battery issues from leaving SnapBridge turned on. :-) (I'll have that to look forward to when I get a D850.)

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No Andrew, it is not specific to one battery. I tried both the battery that came with my D5, the D4 battery and even a spare. They all drain when in the D5.

 

Here is what was supposed to happen....

The camera was sent in to fix the battery drain issue. While they had it they said that the window is cracked and they do not do partial repairs, to which I agreed... by all means, fix the window. Charge me for the window fix (piece of glass).

When you are satisfied that the impact to the window did not cause the short circuit/battery drain, fix that under warranty if possible (Camera was working fine until 4 days into a trip this august, no water damage, no drops, no abuse. Window crack happened several months ago) so, I was pretty confident they would open it up. Determine there was no damage under the LCD. Not find any signs of water ingress. and fix the battery drain issue under warranty. They did not even test the repair to see if it fixed the problem before they sent the camera back to me!!!

 

Their website (Nikon Canada) states prices for non-warranty work, and for battery draining problems they have a price of $700 or so. We also discussed this on the phone with them. So when they sent the quote ( I was told it is just a quote, it might be lower based on what they find) I agreed, expecting them to find a warranty issue and just charge me for the glass window.

 

The logical way to address this issue , determine if it was a warranty issue or user caused damage, was not followed.

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> Charge me for the window fix (piece of glass).

 

To be fair, that might have been quite a bit of work (and the replacement grip cover?) if they had to pull the camera apart to replace it. But I'd hope they'd have told you if it was $700.

 

But yes, I'm sympathetic. I'd be having firm words with them. Good luck with it (both getting the camera fixed and the charge). I'm slightly surprised that "battery draining problems" are specifically listed (and if they are, that it didn't involve just replacing all the electronics other than the sensor, which should actually have fixed it), but I can't say camera repair is my specialty...

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"To be fair, that might have been quite a bit of work (and the replacement grip cover?)"

 

Actually the repair list says Rpl Grip which I image means replace grip.

They also replaced the bayonette, which as far as I knew was not a problem at all.

Absolutely no issues swapping lenses before sending it in.

 

I have NO idea what this means and why it would require replacement. Or, if it is just the grip cover.

 

They may have been going on assumption the drainage issue was impact caused or water ingress.

As such, I can see why they swapped out the bayonette as it contains contacts (and maybe components?).

 

Does the grip itself contain electronics that can only be replaced by swapping in a new grip??

 

I wouldn't think so.

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If it's like more lowly Nikons, the grip cover is a relatively cheap soft piece with adhesive backing. Never having pulled a DSLR apart, my theory was that getting at the LCD might involve opening up the body on that side, which might involve a screw... that might be under the grip cover.

 

I just figured they might have had to take the grip cover off and replace it to open up the right bit of the body.

 

I guess it's possible that the same is true of the bayonet, although I'm not sure why you wouldn't put the old one back on - unless Nikon have started making them sticky as well as screwed on (for water sealing?)

 

But I'm absolutely not a camera repair person, and this might be rubbish. And it doesn't solve your actual problem!

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Wow! I am amazed and I feel quite embarrassed at my poor memory.

 

After speaking with Nikon Canada on the phone yesterday I began to wonder if I was ABSOLUTELY SURE

that the camera had never suffered a serious impact in the past.

I began to doubt my firm belief that it had not.

In fact a nagging foggy memory of an incident in a hotel parking lot came up...

so, it is quite likely this problem was caused by dropping the camera in the recent past.

 

I would have sworn on a stack of bibles one day ago that the camera had been free of this sort of history!

 

Case closed as a far as I am concerned.

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The mystery was fully solved this morning.

 

I was fuzzy on what happened when I posted the last update.

This morning, I woke remembering that I had whacked the camera while walking briskly through the hotel lobby, D5 and large lens (500mm f/4 I think) attached.

As I was walking briskly, the camera/lens impacted something in the lobby , a low corner of a very solid table or some stone bench or such. (I recently found my eyeglass prescription had changed and I now have new lenses , a bit late it seems !!!)

anyway...

It was a hard impact and I feared for my lens. I took some images to verify the lens was OK. It was, the images were sharp and focus was good across the frame. So I guess I forgot about it. I was more scared for the lens than I was for the camera.

However,.. that is precisely when my problem started. The battery started to drain, and Nikon tells me that the Bayonet was broken.

: (

I am glad I figured it out.

I was quite upset with nikon thinking it should have been repaired under warranty!

Edited by leon_pugh
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