cicchetti Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 <p>Hi all,<br> Yesterday, I started having some trouble with my D200. For seemingly no reason, the battery, which should have been fully charged, displayed as full then was displaying as empty on the body LCD and the camera shut off..<br> I put in a new battery which was also fully charged and seemed to work fine for an hour and a dozen shots, then the same problem happened and it was showing fully charged one moment, then it displayed as empty on the camera LCD. Now, after charging three different batteries to full, I cannot get the camera to work. I thought I had a faulty battery, but after the same result from all three, I am assuming it is either the charger or the body.<br> So, has something gone awry with the body? Is the charger fautly (despite seeming fine)?<br> Anyone have any thoughts here? I've owned it for 4+yrs and have some 70k shots from it and never have any problems with the body at all.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 <p>You might want to clean the battery contacts in the camera (or in the grip, if youi're using the grip). Alchohol and cotton swabs, and even gently with a pencil eraser, to dislodge any oxidation or other crud that might be there. It only takes a little bit of electricity-resistant grime on a single contact to really hamper things.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph_wisniewski Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>Matt, I have to disagree on that one. Alcohol and swabs are fine, but every electronics person knows to avoid the eraser. Erasers do four bad things...</p> <ul> <li>Leave behind chemicals (mostly sulfur compounds) that increase oxidation, so anything cleaned with an eraser gets dirty faster from that point on.</li> <li>Abrade (grind away) protective plating on contacts, leaving base metal that may not be as conductive or as corrosion resistant as the plating.</li> <li>Leave physical particles (eraser crumbs) that not only physically get in the way of the contacts engaging, but can get carried into the camera.</li> <li>Leave insulating coatings (plasticizers, curing agents) on the contacts.</li> </ul> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hans_janssen Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>I had something like that and then the internal powersupply of the camera was replaced. No idea about the price, because it was warranty.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>Joseph: You're right ... that was too broad and casual a comment. When I do that, it's with a very specific type of fine-art eraser (hey, when you live with an artist, you have lots to choose from!) that is specifically designed not to leave a trace, or to abrade away too much material. It's more of a pick-up material, than an abrasive, per se. Better to be conservative and start with a simple solvent like the alcohol, first.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_k1 Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>Rob, are these genuine Nikon batteries, and how old? I have used both genuine and good third party batteries without any problems on my D200. The only time I experienced something similar to yours was with a bad third party battery.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cicchetti Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>Yes, all genuine Nikon OEM and couple of years old, but I think I would rule out a battery problem, since they were all working fine then all of a sudden all not working!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>It is almost impossbile that all three batteries suddenly go bad at the same time. I have seen one previous case where the MH-18a charger went bad and gave false indication that the batteries were fully charged. I would explore that possibility first; if that is not the case, pretty much the only other possibility is the camera itself.</p> <p>Do you have access to another MH-18a charger?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cicchetti Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>Hmm, No I don't have access to another without going to a local store. I'll try and see if I can find one online or on CL to test. I recharged them again this morning a couple times and I have had intermittent success, so whether it is the charger or camera, something seems like it is loose or needs to be cleaned, etc..</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>Rob, finally I located the previous thread: <a href="00UyDy">http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00UyDy</a></p> <p>For over a month, Tim Holte thought the problem was in his EN-EL3e batteries or camera. Eventually I suggested that he should charge his batteries with the older MH-18 charger for his D70, and he found out the problem was actually in his charger.</p> <p>The D200 and D300 use identical EN-EL3e batteries and the MH-18a charger. The older MH-18 charger for the D100, D70, and D50 is essentially interchangeable with the newer MH-18a.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenray Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 <p>Didn't the original D200 firmware have an error in it that caused an almost identical set of circumstances. It was corrected in a firmware release. Both my D200's had the problem. Firmware upgrade corrected immediately.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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