D200 falsely accuses battery of being empty

[phill1]

I've experienced a strange event twice now with my D200. On a freshly charged

battery, the D200 has decided there isn't any power left. The little battery

indicator in the viewfinder begins to blink, and the top LCD screen says my

battery is dead. The first time this happened was while shooting a wedding -- I

quickly swapped to another fully-charged battery and it decided that one was

dead, too! The second time was just a little while ago - when I was trying to

take some studio shots.

 

Has anyone else had an issue like this? I'm hoping maybe they have, because

with it being wedding season I don't want to have to be short a camera while

they "evaluate" the unit.

[howard_owen]

This is becoming a more common event among D200 owners. So far there is no known solution. If you send it in to Nikon, they will service it and perhaps replace expensive components. Then, odds are, it will eventually happen again when your camera is returned to you.

[ldallara]

I've had it happen several times causing me to change batteries and change the same battery back.

I've switched to the grip MB-D200 and have not had a problem.

[fhmillard]

Yeah! Lithium batteries are not always smart! Try completely discharging the bats, charge for 2-3 hrs, see what happens then. This could be bad bats, not cam.

[john schroeder]

Try cleaning your battery contacts also. This can happen when you don't periodically give your battery a good discharging and full recharging. It would be nice if Nikon built a battery conditioner function into their charger. I have a spare EnEl-1 charger. I should try to build a battery drainer from it. It shouldn't be too hard to wire a resister and the LED to the power contacts of the battery.

[fionan_oconnell]

I've had a similar problem recently with my D2x but it only began happening when I used

the SB-800 with new 17-55 lens combo. Never happened with the old lens. Anything

different about your set up? It's worrying, for sure- sorry I have no real suggestions. You

didn't say if it's a constant thing or just now and again? What happens when you turn off

and on again? Finster

[michael_nelson6]

The exact same thing happens on the D80 which uses the same battery. There is a thread on Nikonians about it, and people who have sent them in for the problem have pretty much universally gotten "We've never seen this problem" from Nikon along with various ineffective "fixes".

 

My D80 does it, and unlocking the lens, rotating it a bit (but not dismounting it) and relocking it will make the problem go away for a while.

 

Some have had success with cleaning the lens and mount contacts with alcohol. I wouldn't waste the time sending it to Nikon since they seem to have no clue (or at least they aren't admitting it).

[michael_nelson6]

Powering the camera off and then back on works on the D80 too. I bet it will work on the D200.

[wayne_walker1]

I just had this problem, big time, during a wedding shoot. The battery would die after one or two shots. Recycle the power and the battery comes up to full. One or two shots and the battery reads zero. Replacing the battery doesn't help.

 

Next morning, everything works normally.

 

My guess is that the heat of the day affects some electronic component that heats up and causes a logic error.

 

Any one have any insights. One other factor. I have two D200's. This problem only occurred with the one manufactured in Thailand.