HELP! EX1 will not power up on BP battery
 

Inserting 2 week old fully charged Sony BP-U60 and BP-U30 batteries - unit will not power up. It WILL power up fine using the power supply connected to DC in or either of 2 other batteries (Anton Bauer or Tekkeon) connected to DC in jack. I tried a full reset to see if there was some setting that got turned on but no change. Is there a fuse somewhere?

Try putting the batteries on charge even for just 30 minutes and try again. It seems that either the batteries have suddenly lost all their charge or maybe somehow they have shut down.

I'm charging the crap out of them and no go. They both show 19v+ with multimeter.

19+ volts? Shouldn't they be closer to 12v?

Ronn, I think 19V+ is a bit too much. Pro cameras can take up to 16V but 19V is pushing the limit. Did you try to take a reading from the AB or Tekkeon batteries following a full charge?

They're both putting out 12-14volts. The Power Supply is putting out 12v. Now checking the sony batteries, they're up to 20-21v. They both show "full" 4 green lights when you push the "check" button. I wonder if my charger's screwie. I'm going to let them sit a few hours and see if they drop down to 14v and try em again.

I am dreading decending into B&H/Sony Warrantee Hell. Glad I checked it today instead of at the shoot tomorrow.

If your camera doesn't have the battery discharge fix, then leave the battery on the camera, and it will discharge it down to a level that may work. It may take more than a couple of hours to do this.

Have you tried removing and replacing the lithium ion battery on the bottom of the camera to ensure a complete reset?

Thanks for the reply Ross - what exactly is the "battery discharge fix?" I did try removing and replacing the backup battery and did a complete reset. I'll try leaving the battery on the camera, but since it doesn't even "see" it I doubt that will do anything.

Ronn

Just topped up a BP-U60. It measures 16 volts right off the charger, with charger showing steady green. My EX1 powers up with no complaints.

20 - 21 battery volts shouldn't be possible unless the charger or your meter is malfunctioning. If the charger is overcharging, the batteries may be damaged too.

George - thanks for taking the time to check that. If you have a minute tonight, give me a call at 619.794.7188.

It is impossible. The battery can not generate more then 16.8V. If the charger is faulty (higher voltage than should be), the battery would protect itself above about 17V. It is your meter that is giving you wrong information.
Your problem might have something to do with the battery not making connection to the camera.

The EX1 had a fault where leaving a battery attached to the camera would discharge the battery even though the camera was in the "OFF" position. If left on the camera for more than a couple of days, it would completely discharge. Some cameras I have heard have been fixed with the replacement of a board in the camera, and I would imagine the newer ones have had the fix at the factory. Mine is not one of them. I was suggesting to you a way of removing the excess charge from the battery if you had no other way.

Another suggestion might be to try rigging up a small camera light to the battery, keep the wattage of the bulb right down say no more than 20W, as you may damage the battery if the drain is too high.

Does sound like the battery had been overcharged, especially when as Alex Dolgin says max for the battery is 16.8v.

I wonder if the camera has an over voltage limiter, that stops it from powering up if the voltage is too high? This would give relief to many who are trying to power the camera by external means other than the charger.

Further to what Alex said, and not telling you how to suck eggs, but have you checked that the battery is connected properly, it needs to be inserted then moved to the left to lock in place.

I assume that since it is a 2 week old camera, it includes the "battery drain solution" so there may be something to that. Yes, battery is connected properly. Exactly as it was the previous 50 times over the last 2 weeks, when I had no problems. I think it's a bad charger. I am hoping to try nearby George's charger and/or battery to narrow the problem down to camera, charger or (less likely) battery - although if charger is bad, batteries could be bad now as well. I see no way battery connection to charger can be bad - it is very positive with "click." The reassuring thing is that the camera works fine with alternate power. I just can't work that way except in an emergency. So now I go back to my "B" camera.

Tomorrow, a nice glass of wine and a long chat with B&H and Sony. AArrrgghh.

Update: Thanks to George Strother, I now know my volt meter was wrong, so disregard that 19-21 volts part. My batteries are fine, fully charged and functional (on his camera) and the charger is good too. His batteries (also fully charged and functional) will not run my camera either. Which means something went south inside the camera where the battery connects.

I have a call in to B&H now, we'll see how long before they follow up.

Absolutely nothing from B&H. This is a 30 day old camera. Sending to Sony Repair in San Jose tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Hey, yours can keep mine company. It's going for another visit today.

Thanks George. Got mine off via FedEx this afternoon, should be there Thursday. To be continued...

Update: Camera arrived at Sony Repair in San Jose 10:30am today 6/25. I'll report back with progress. For the record, left a message with [dvinfo sponsor] B&H 6/23 regarding this defective (then 30 day old) camera they sold me, have still heard nothing back from them. I've bought mucho cameras, audio, monitors, etc etc from them over many years (including a mattebox that arrived today), not because they had the best price, but because they stood behind their goods. Now I'm rethinking that.

To be continued...

Mine arrived at Sony 10:30 AM 6/24, on Sony's nickel. I bet yours get's back first though!

I'd be amazed if B&H would do anything for you. I had my EX1 for two weeks and my dealer in Atlanta couldn't help me at all without having to eat the camera. They were as helpful as they could be, but mine would have needed to fail right there in the store before they would have replaced it for me. At that point, they would have to go to Sony to get a replacement. Basically, once it's out of their hands (B&H), you're on your own.

B&H is usually very proactive. I've had defective products from them twice before and they just replaced it, no problem. They actually finally returned my call from 6/23 about 10 minutes ago. Seems that when I had called, they had passed me around like a cheap bottle of wine and I landed at the wrong department. When I left a VM message, the guy was like WTF? So when he called today and I told him the camera was at Sony, he felt real bad and admitted they'd screwed up. He said if they don't resolve it to my satisfaction, call him back and he'll get the right person on the case.

And George - I had to pay $105 to ship mine w/$6500 worth of insurance.

I never got the second guy at B&H, just "there's nothing we can do" from customer service. A promise to have someone in purchasing call me with their Sony rep contact info never happened either.

I had to pay a ton to ship mine the first time too, the insurance is expensive. Mine was a bit less using UPS ground, which was still next day to San Jose.

This time Sony service payed the shipping to return the camera for a second try.

That's good to hear that B&H was (at least verbally) willing to cover you. I guess when you move as much Sony product as they do, Sony will help them out more than a smaller dealer like I bought from (Showcase in Atlanta). My UPS costs were also in excess of $110 when I discovered my lens problems. They covered the return shipping when they broke my camera while they were servicing it the first time. If it wasn't for bad luck......

UPDATE: Although the camera arrived at Sony last Wednesday morning (6/25), when I called today (6/30) it had still "not been logged in" - which I assume means it's just sitting in receiving. Not encouraging. How about you, George?

Camera Returned From Sony
 

EX-1 returned today, in working order. Note says "replaced power board, replaced back panel, uploaded firmware to V1.05, fully tested."

How you doing, George? If you need to borrow mine, you're welcome to.

My string of bad luck is continuing. My focus system seems to have gone kaput. I can't focus to infinity and the FB backfocus adjustment routine isn't functioning right either. I have a call into San Jose but got voicemail. They might have taken off early for July 4th. I'm betting that Phil Bloom bloke has something to with this!! Down the British....up the Colonists!!!!

You're right about the holiday - I spoke with them this morning and they said they were taking off early blah blah and that my camera probably wouldn't ship until Monday. Then of course it arrived a few hours later. So much for communication. Did you call 408-352-8282?

Also, Dave - being Irish-Americans, we have our American Flag, Irish Flag, and "Up the Brits" banners flying proudly. Rule Britannia my arse :)

"8228", actually. The manager I spoke with was Wing Tseung when it was sent in to fix the stuff that THEY broke the first time it went in for service.....and now this! I'm SO over this camera. I've never spent this much money for a piece of gear and been this disappointed. I bought this camera April 30th and it's been to the shop twice already. When it got back the last time (lens replaced, ND filters replaced, battery drainage issue fixed, firmware updated, audio circuit that they broke repaired), the camera had officially been in their hands or FecEx's hands the same number of days that it had been in my hands.

The number I've been calling is "8282" (so Rainman, "...246 total...") - maybe you should try that one.

Scotch-Irish here, I believe. Anyway, I'm going to toss back a couple just to make this d**m camera go away for a few days.

That's odd. I know it works as it's the number I used to call him when he had the camera last month. Here's how it appears in the footer of his emails:

Wing N. Tseung
Sony Electronics
(408) 352-8228

Yep, it's a good number. I just got a call back from Wing and he thinks it's something called a "MR sensor". Any idea as to what that is? Maybe we can add it to the growing list of things that go weird on this camera. They're sending me a FedEx label so at least it won't cost me another $116 to ship. You know....thrifty Irish and all that! ;)

Godspeed, Dave's camera...

Thanks for that. This camera has done more travelling this year than I did in the last 2 or 3 years!! ;-)

FedEx showed they received mine Tuesday 6/24. I called on 6/30, they couldn't find it but someone would call me. Reading this thread reminded me to call, about 10 minutes ago.

The camera is complete and shipping today. Records show I got a new replacement lens this time, so all should be well, right?

Thanks for the offer Ronn. I need to try to make some money with this thing someday. I might have to use yours to do it. You are welcome to use mine too if you need (if it ever works).

Dave - I've had mine in my hands 2 weeks, Sony 5 weeks, so 2 weeks out of 7. But it sounds like you are going to catch up.

George, what was the reason for the lens replacement? Mine was because of pieces of crud inside the lens (or the ND filters....they replaced both) but catching up to you is an honor that I'd rather pass along to somebody else!

Oops, sorry to everybody who started this thread. We did a major threadcrap here. My apologies to all. Hey, I have a -30 and a -60 battery! There.....back on topic! ;)

Image stabilizer failed, leaving the system cycling in full vertical deflection. Since replacement lenses were on backorder, a Sony tech tried to get it back on the road by making one "refurb" lens out of two broken lenses, but it didn't really work out.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=122577

Yeah, that camera.

Oh yeah....the Seasick Cam....I remember that thread! ;)