SOS ! Canon A1 & AE-1P's battery drain problem

[lesged]

I've surfed Canon FD's archives re battery drain problem. The ones I

found are old and links are dead. I'm looking for current suggestions

to solve this problem. With mercury batteries, I never had this

problem and batteries lasted almost a year. I didn't even move

slotted tab under advance lever to lock position (L.)

 

But since those batteries were outlawed, I've had nothing but trouble

with battery drain in both bodies. In desperation, I've marred the

beauty of the cameras by displaying ugly warning labels: one over

prism top with "Turn off switch!" and another on advance lever "Turn

Off!" Also I've covered "A" and "L." with color coded labels, red and

green, to represent correct and incorrect position camera should be

in when not in use.

 

But sometimes I forget and overnight the battery is dead. I've tried

lithium and alkaline batteries and each one poops out too quickly. A

kind repairman who twice tried to fix the problem --each time

correcting it temporaily-- and A1 worked perfectly for a month of two

without battery drain problem. After two flops at repair, when I saw

him at a local photo show, he exchanged my well used and brassed-in-

spots A1 for another A1 body that was in near mint condition. It also

worked correctly for a while then developed the same battery drain

problem.

 

I'm forced to use other cameras--which I drawers' full of-- as I just

can't rely on my FDs. I truly miss their use. Any help will be

greatly appreciated by long time FD user whose getting long in the

tooth and short in memory.

 

Les

[grahams]

Lester - I guess you are referring to the old PX625 mercury battery? I'll bet that you are using the LR44 / PX76A / A76 / V13GA as a replacement, and what you are experiencing is not so much battery drain, but voltage drop.

 

The correct replacement is the SR44 / EPX76 / V76PX, which has a similar voltage / drain curve as the old 625 i.e. the voltage stays fairly constant as the battery drains, and then suddenly drops to zero. The LR44 voltage drops constantly as the battery drains, and it doesn't take much use for it to become lower than your camera can accept.

[awahlster]

There is a known problem in the A series camera with battery drain although it is NOT common that you have three of them amazes me. And NO A series camera ever used a Mercury battery they wouldn't have the proper voltage. The A series uses a 6 volt PX-28 sixe battery the Silver Oxide version are the best choice but lithiums and Alkalines work just fine. The voltage drain has nothing to do with the type of battery you are using it has to do with a short in the circuit. And a good repair person can fix this.

[davpress]

I agree with Mark, I bought ae1 off ebay, Put a new battery in it, the next day the battery was dead. Returned it and it was fixed and returned to me, no problem since.

[steven_clark]

I have had a few A-series cameras and for most of them my batteries last months if not years in the camera, and I'm not even talking the silver battieries. This is a short somewhere.

[mark_ryan2]

I have an A1 that does this also. For those of you who have had them fixed, do you suggest anyone, and how much did it cost? Are there multiple faults that can cause this problem that could make diagnosis and repair costly?

 

Thanks,

Mark

[lesged]

I guess the Rip van Winkle nap I had for 15 years away from my A series Canons had something to do with my confusion about which battery I should be using in my A1 and AE1P cameras. Fact is, I recently had battery trouble with 3 different type cameras--all of the same era-and that's why I wrongly mentioned I used to use mercury batteries in my SRL Canons.

 

I confused it with my Canonet QL-17 G-III, which *did* use the PX625. Further, my recently bought Yashica Electo 35 GSN was designed to use a PX32 5.6 vdc mercury battery. The old PX 32 had corroded badly and I rigged up an adapter and used shorter and narrower 6volt A28, which has been working fine, but only got it a month or so.

 

What I think happened is when I resumed using my A series cameras, I couldn't find any silver-oxide PX28 at Walgreen or CVS, where I used to buy them. BTW every photo shop within reasonable driving distance is gone or has such limited inventories. I must have assumed that any 6 volt battery with the same height and had protruding terminals at opposite ends would be a substitute. Can't remember what the designation was, but they were alkaline and made by Kodak.

 

When my original A1 failed, new batteries didn't help. I sent it to the repairman in upper state NY, who maintained my Rollei. Maybe Canon was not his specialty, but he's a crakerjack repairman. When it came back, it worked for almost the 3 months of his standard guarantee. Sent it back, he *fixed* it again, gratis and it worked again for about 2 months. I sent it back again it worked for another couple of months and died. When I called again, he asked for the first time if I have been turning the switch off when not using the camera. I confessed I wasn't, and I never did since I bought the camera. It would work fine for a year or so, then stop. I'd buy a new battery, put it in and it worked perfectly for what--about 20 years.

 

Then I thought I was the one who finally damaged the circuitry by not putting camera in "L" position when not in use--over all these years. I was getting paranoid about battery failure as the AE1P, that worked like a charm since I bought it, had developed the same symptom, what I called battery drain. Was it contagious? a camera virus? an early Trojan horse?

 

I was totally frustrated. J.H. said he was coming to the Boston area for the PHSNE show and bring him the A1. When I did, he took my old one and gave me another A1 body in collector condition. It worked fine and so did the AE1P, because I turned off each camera at end of each photo session, put warning labels on both bodies and everything was jake. Except, when I forgot to switch to "L"

 

It happened the day before I started this thread and that prompted my SOS call.

 

I see now in Freestyle's catalog they carry Kodak and Varta PX28 and SR44 batteries. I had just placed an order with them last week; it's en route. Had I known then, what I learned from your collective responses, I would have added silver oxide ones from them. BTW why is there such a price difference between the PX28 and the SR44?

 

Sorry for saga length explanation.

 

I certainly appreciate each and everyone's valuable response

 

Les

[francisco_amorim]

I have a standard AE1 and have the same battery drain problem. By the way, my AE1 remains with that "M" led always on, even when its lock switch is in "L" position. Is it normal? Thanks.

[dave_s]

I vote short circuit too. I've had five, maybe six A series Canons over the past 26 years (I tend to trash 'em). Never had a problem with battery leakage-- the batteries last me months. If the camera works otherwise, it's easy enough just to take out the battery when you're not shooting.

[dave_s]

(Oops, sorry, didn't notice that this is a very stale thread.)

[nic_olas]

Adding to this rather old thread, mostly to keep it alive to help others. I've now had 2 A1 Bodies with the battery drain. I will experiment and see if leaving on "L" will help - If so, great!

If not, Next step is to take the top cover off and give the contact points a clean with alcohol and see if that does it. I'll document the outcome here

[gwhitegeog]

I was slightly confused by the initial posts. A-series all used PX28s. The 'correct' batteries are still widely available. Battery drain was not an inherent problem. But unexpected drain (like discharging when switched off or after little use) was a fault that the A-series sometimes developed after a couple of decades or more. I had an A1 repaired for that reason once. As I recall, it was due to a faulty capacitor or capacitor contact on the circuit board and a known issue. Obviously, electronics are pretty primitive on these machines, but I think FD / A series service specialists should be able to deal with it.