EOS 1N thinks battery's dead and it ain't...

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I've seen references to this problem in the past, but have now experienced it myself for the first time. I've changed batteries and have cleaned contacts in the battery compartment. I've tried two different lenses.

The symptom's easily described - the "check battery" button gives me three solid dashed lines on the LCD display (i.e. battery's fine), but depressing the shutter button causes a "bc" blink display rather than triggering an exposure. The body will AF and meter. It appears to think it doesn't have enough juice to lift the mirror (with real battery weakness scenarios, it will left the mirror, fire the shutter, then pause if it can't advance the frame so it appears it thinks it simply doesn't have enough juice to even get started).

The failure happened while on a whale watch trip to Stegwellan Bank in relatively heavy chop. The body was working a couple of weeks ago, so the mechanical abuse (we were slamming waves hard enough to cause our boat to shudder and vibrate pretty severely) might've triggered this, though it really wasn't THAT bad...

I looked over old questions here and didn't find any reference. I know the question's popped up on photo.net but don't recall there being any specific resolution regarding this problem.

So, fellow EOS 1N users, is there a known approach to fixing this problem short of sending the body into Canon for repair? When I get back home at the end of the week I'll try cleaning lensmount contacts, but am not very hopeful.

-- Don Baccus (dhogaza@pacifier.com), July 18, 2000

Answers

Well, I'm no more hopeful that my suggestion will help than you are that cleaning the lens contacts will, but here goes. I use an Elan IIe, so I don't know if the 1n has the same type of battery door as my camera or not. If it does, try the old Elan II fix. Put something between the battery and battery door to cause the battery to make better contact. Maybe it will help, and if it doesn't, it won't cost anything.

-- Brad Hutcheson (bhutcheson@iname.com), July 18, 2000.

Will it fire with no lens attached? If a lens is mounted it trips a microswitch which signals the body an EF series lens is attached. If there's a lens/body contact problem you can get the "bc" indication. With no lens attached it doesn't care about checking the lens, so the shutter should fire if all that's wrong is a lens/body connection problem. That's all I can think of to do (except for the obvious cleaning of battery contacts etc.)

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), July 18, 2000.

Don, I had a similar problem to you 2 days ago, which I attributed to the GR-E2 grip. Scenario, my review 1V did not come with a booster, so I took the PB- E2 off my 1n and installed it on the EOS 1v, and took the GR-E2 grip on the EOS 1n (the GR-E2 differs from the E1 that comes with the 1n in the battery compartment, it has an additional cover, spiff). When I depress the shutter release on EOS 1n, it will take the photo but BC will blink immediately after that. Pressing the shutter button again to get meter readings, it will still function, and even let me take another photo, but BC will blink again. Turning off and on the camera and then depressing the battery check button shows BC with 3 full bars. I have tried 3 2CR5 batteries (2 new ones) with the same result. When I reinstall the GR-E2 to the EOS 1v, it shows full power. Strange, and I think there might be compatibility issue here, but then again.... maybe Canon knows when they are releasing the 1v and systematically program our 1n's to fail around this time? ah... more conspiracy theory....

-- Alex Yap (hashigou@yahoo.com), July 18, 2000.

Bob - it exhibits the same behavior with no lens mounted, unfortunately. I think I'll need to dig through the photo.net archives and contact others who've had this problem directly to see what they needed to do to fix it.

Might become a FAQ item, who knows?

-- Don Baccus (dhogaza@pacifier.com), July 19, 2000.


Has anyine found a answer for this im haveing same problem with eos 1 it works fine with std battery compartment but not power booster

-- Robert Dankert II (bobbyd7@hotmail.com), September 03, 2000.


i'm having similar problem that you're experiencing except for some patterns that i've discovered. i tried 10 brand new batteries, same problem, bc blinks, send the lens into service, they said it was fine; brought both the body/lens into service, then it started working normally (they said it registered an error in the log but couldn't reproduce it). i got fustrated and tried a couple of different combinations:

1. 1n+70-200L bc icon blinks when fired (aperature doesn't register). 2. 1n+17-35L fine 3. 1n+85/1.8 fine 4. 1n by itself fine 5. elan 2e+70-200L sometimes 6. rebel+70-200L sometimes

narrowed it down to the 70-200L lens so i've decided to pull the 70- 200L out and get ready to ship it to Canon, but before i had the chance, i needed to use it so i mounted it back on the 1n and it WORKED FINE.

left it on there for a day, turned on, same problem. took it out after a shooting session, and leave it off the camera, and when i need to use it, i mount it on and it works.

can't figure it out. but at least i got around the problem. i don't have a power drive. oh well, maybe that conspiracy theory is true. thinking about the 1v but only if i get to the bottom of this problem.

-- paul pham (i@hotmail.com), January 03, 2001.


I have experienced the same problems with all three of my 1nhs bodies with 28-135 IS mounted. Usually occurs in damp windy conditions at what i would describe as non critical temperatures, above freezing. I have found that putting the body in the camera bag for around two minutes usually does the trick, as if it just needs warming up. I think the moisture may also have an effect on the USM operation also, but that is easily dealt with. Sorry its not more scientific but it does seem to work

-- Andrew Buckley (da_buckley@yahoo.com), April 12, 2001.

I had the same problem several times with my 1N HS body and somebody at my canon service, told me that this "known problem" is caused by the wrong contact between the body and the power bosster drive unit. So when I facing the blinking "bc" on my screen, I just shake the camera a little, while holding it vertically and it works. It's also a good idea to clean those contact pins, as often as you change batteries.

-- Géza Aradi (aradi.aniko@chello.hu), December 25, 2001.

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