Minolta XD11 and battery drain

[rs1]

Hello,

<p>A couple of days ago, I picked up a nice looking XD11 at a local flea

market. It had batteries in it and one of them had leaked. The bottom of the

battery holder had dried green stuff and corrosion. I cleaned it up with some

baking soda, scraped off the rust, and put in some fresh batteries. The camera

worked fine but the next day, both batteries were nearly dead. Voltage was

1.1v on each battery. I opened the bottom plate of the camera and the

circuitry looks ok, doesn't look like any battery acid damage. What else could

be happening here?<br> I put in a folded piece of foil into the battery holder

to ensure proper contact with the bottom but it still doesn't seem to make a

difference. I am planning to tin the surface to get better contact but could

this be the problem or is it something else? Any help will be much

appreciated.</p>

 

The XD11 is really a superb camera and I would love to get this one working.

[Brian]

<P>I have an old XD-7 (Europe version of the XD-11) and I have noticed with increasing age that it eats batteries faster. Luckily the batteries are cheap, but that's not the point. Anyway, I remove the batteries when I finish using the camera, then re-insert when I take it out for another shoot. Only takes a minute.</P><P>There may well be a fixable fault in there that's doing this, but repairs on these old cameras are becoming an uneconomic proposition, so I'm inclined to just live with it.</P>

[jim_foley4]

There was a recent thread on this subject on yahoo I think. To summarize, either the problem is the flex circuit under the top cover, or the shutter release/meter button, also under the top cover. The easiest solution was to turn the shutter speed to the mechanical position when not used. It's the X or O I don't remember which. That was said to stop the drain. Hope this helps.

[rs1]

Thanks for the replies Jim, Brian. I will try putting the camera on 'O' (it is the mechanical setting of 1/100) and see what happens.<br>Otherwise I guess Brian's method will be the only other option. I am not foolish enough to attempt a DIY repair on this camera with its complicated electronics.

[j_hopper]

XD's, besides having a number of places where little thin wires can get pinched, or crossed & pinched & shorted, and a number of boards' or IC's tiny soldered connections where some slag could cause a minor short & trickle drain, have assembly 0553.

 

Assembly 0553 has Switch 7, which is a little wired metal blade that's pushed by a shoe's hinge on 0553's mechanical lever arm. Minolta made 0553's Switch 7 to work oppositely from the way you'd think it should: when an XD is at rest the switch is "ON" (Minolta's term) and is supposed to be closed; when an XD is firing, 0553 is "OFF" (Minolta's term) and the switch is open. While 0553 is "ON" Switch 7 is supposed to not allow current through parts of the camera, when it's "OFF" 0553 mechanically allows current through the camera to power up some other electromagnets. And unfortunately shuts off the viewfinder's LEDs so there's no indication that hidden power might be coursing through other parts of an XD.

 

Assembly 0553 has a coil with a permanent magnet running through the coil. In it's "ON" position (at rest with no current to it from the main power switch) 0553's permanent magnet pulls close a shoe attached to a lever arm. And the shoe's hinge pushes that Switch 7 metal blade closed to contact. So in this "ON" state no current is supposed to be allowed to those other electromagnets.

 

When you push the shutter button down, the main power switch inside & underneath the button rotates, wipes and provides current to 0553's coil. This energized coil "cancels/negates" the permanent magnet, releasing the lever's shoe, the lever arm rotates, and that Switch 7 blade opens and loses contact. In this "OFF" state, current is allowed to those other electromagnets.

 

In earlier & older XD's, a few things can happen to 0553: the end of the permanent magnet or that shoe can become greasy/dirty, or the magnet may lose some of its magnetism (dunno why), or that little metal blade stops making good contact, or the blade actually springs the shoe away from the magnet. When these things happen, at rest 0553 effectively acts like its open or "OFF" and trickle current is allowed to some parts of the camera. And the battery drains while the XD's at rest.

 

Assembly 0553 is inside the bottom of an XD, attached to the bottomside of the mirror box. Just checking 0553 and Switch 7's blade is no fun: with the bottom cover & tripod mount off, access to it is limited by body casting bridges. Repairing or replacing 0553 means taking off the whole front of the camera and mirror box, and so labor costs would be more than the XD is worth. So like the guys said, just take out the batteries while your XD is not being used, and carry extras too.

[rs1]

J,<br>

Thanks very much for that detailed reply. I could never have imagined that little unit 0553 hides such complexity. I guess removing the batteries is the only way to use this. <br>

As an experiment, I am going to connect my ammeter and see just how much current is being drained when the XD is at rest.

[rs1]

constant drain of 5mA when at rest, regardless of the setting

11mA when metering, peaks at 13mA when shutter is fired

[j_hopper]

The current draws during metering and firing are in normal range, so looks like your XD works OK in use. Minolta says max drain at rest should be "less than 1mA".

 

Tried to figure out what (or what combination of components) would draw 4-5mA if kept energized while camera's at rest. Guessing it's just maybe the 0523 diaphram stop electromagnet which Minolta says does draw 5mA. This component is at beginning of chain of what 0553 switches on, and is located next to 0553 and is about as hard to access. Still would be easier, less costly to just take batteries out when not using your XD.

[rs1]

Yup! Taking the batteries out is what I'll do.<br>

Thanks very much for your replies and all the detailed information you provided. It's great to meet someone who knows the ins and outs of this camera.