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Old 6th April 2021, 12:34 PM
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Richard Lee Richard Lee is offline
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Default Nikon F4s Battery Corrosion

During the removal of a couple of corroded AA batteries from my Nikon, I've managed to dislodge one of the terminal springs from within the holder. Although having temporarily replaced the spring - held in solely by the pressure of a new battery; I still have no power to the camera.

I have a multimeter, but would welcome some guidance on how to test:

1. Continuity within the battery holder, and...
2. Whether the power is getting to the camera itself - can I rig an external power source for test purposes?

I've heard horror stories that battery corrosion can travel into the camera's circuitry, rendering the bloomin' thing useless.

Thank you for any help.

Richard
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Last edited by Richard Lee; 6th April 2021 at 12:48 PM.
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Old 6th April 2021, 01:13 PM
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The corrosion will likely have removed the plating from the springs and/or other contacts and coated it with rust (which is non-conductive). If the springs can be removed then cleaning them with a wire brush and possibly light application of wire-wool might restore conductivity - at least temporarily (be mega-careful if they can't be removed and block any gaps with tape and tissue etc). Obviously, remove as much of the corrosive as you can. If the battery holder can be disassembled, do so to get at any that has got into the works.

If you can find a way to hold the batteries together outside the camera then a couple of flying leads with alligator clips attached to the camera contacts would help decide if it is just the spring contacts that are at fault or if something more serious has happened.

Your temporary fix with the broken spring may not be making good contact also.

If there are two batteries then they are probably wired in series - you can check that with your meter switched to the Continuity or Ohms range - with the batteries removed, there should be a dead short between the negative side of one battery contact (a spring) and the positive side of the other (a flat contact) - or of course, you may be able to see they are connected together if the link is visible. Plus, the way the batteries go in, reversed alongside each other, strongly suggests this is the case. If there are three batteries then it may get more complicated as they may all be connected in series or one may be on its own and used for something specific within the camera...

You could also check with your meter with the batteries inserted by testing the voltage on the contacts where they go into the battery holder body. If for example, placing the +ve lead of the multimeter in Volts mode on the battery tip and the -ve lead lower down on the spring, do you get 1.5(ish) volts - if not it suggests the spring is not conducting (but check the battery voltage on its own to check the battery itself is OK). Likewise, I assume there are contacts that take the power from the battery holder to the camera body - measuring the voltage at these contacts will tell you if power is making it to the camera body (but there may be more than one set of contacts which will complicate matters unless it is obvious which pair of contacts belongs to which set of batteries!).

Last edited by Bob; 6th April 2021 at 01:33 PM.
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Old 6th April 2021, 02:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob View Post
The corrosion will likely have removed the plating from the springs and/or other contacts and coated it with rust (which is non-conductive)... Likewise, I assume there are contacts that take the power from the battery holder to the camera body - measuring the voltage at these contacts will tell you if power is making it to the camera body (but there may be more than one set of contacts which will complicate matters unless it is obvious which pair of contacts belongs to which set of batteries!).
Bob, I'm sincerely grateful to you for taking the time. In truth, your excellent response will require much study and dissection. I will, of course, report back in due course.

Thanks again.
Richard
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Old 6th April 2021, 08:01 PM
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Do you still have the small battery holder that makes your F4S into a plain F4? I like using the grip, but if the grip's connectors are not repairable the camera could revert to the version without the grip.

Is there visible damage inside the camera where the grip's contacts meet up with the camera's contacts?

It's shocking how much damage can be caused by leaking batteries. I have found Duracell to be worse than Eveready in this regard.

Last edited by Stocky; 6th April 2021 at 08:04 PM. Reason: added
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Old 7th April 2021, 03:15 PM
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The spring that has come out will have a contact it needs to be connected to. it can not be just put in place to hold the battery.
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