Sony EX1 Powers down while use

[Prabodha Elangasinha]

Hi,

I have just started to notice a strange power down problem which shuts the camera down and powers it up again regardless of the 4 different batteries I have tried to use with it. I happens not so frequently but on a shoot it happens atleast once a day.

Anybody else have this problem?

[Paul Dhadialla]

Prabodha does the tally lamp flash or if your buzzer is on - do you hear a warning before this shutoff?

If so it could be that the temperature of the unit has gone high. At that point the unit will turn off power as it is not safe to continue. This is documented in the manual

Is your camera vent clear - you don't have it cooped up in some camera jacket in hot weather do you?

Does it happen more often when you are in one type of environment vs. another.
Perhaps outside in the sun or when it is near a hot video light.

The only other reason is if the battery is exhausted or is not holidng charge - but since you tried it with 4 batteries that's probably not it.

Just brainstorming
Paul

[Prabodha Elangasinha]

I have been using the camera with the random power down issue for about 6 months since I first noticed it. Finally was able to take it to the Sony Service Centre in Singapore during January 2010 and what they found was condensation which had caused corrosion on the ribbon cable connectors and a circuit board.

Total repair for ASW-65 mounted circuit board and Flexible cables x 3 was SGD 1030/- inclusive of technical charges. Thankfully I didn't have to replace the main DPR 289 board which they said if affected was over SGD 2,000/- alone.

I did get some other repairs to the battery drain issue done free of charge (very nice) and paid for replacing the back panel and side panel which had rubbed all lettering off (defect on early EX1 camcorders). Now the camera is back in fully operational condition and works great. No more power down problems.

[Garrett Low]

Probodha,

What case do you store your camera in? There is another thread that talks about the condensation issue.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...ont-cover.html

A good suggestion is to get some of the rechargeable gel canisters that control condensation and keep them in your camera case. I live in a relatively dry area but I still have two in my Pelican case. It's incredible how much moisture those things pull out of the air. Every couple of months I just pop them in the oven for 3 hours and they recharge and are ready to go again.

In the above thread there is a link to a place where you can get the canisters for about $5US each. A very wise investment in my opinion.

Garrett

[Zach Love]

I know this is an old thread, but I just had this happen on a shoot two weeks ago and now can't get it to recreate the problem.

Happy it's staying on, but fearful it might come back.

Can anyone provide insight on reoccurrence?