topic VIXIA HF200 won't charge battery in Camcorders

VIXIA HF200 won't charge battery

cheerful — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 13:14:10 GMT

Hi,

I have a HF 200 which has served me well over the years. Now when I plugged in the original Canon power adapter, the red LED will flash 7 times in about 7 seconds, and then rest for about 5 seconds. The battery does not charge and it's the original Canon battery. I can use a compatible battery charger and the battery will charge. However, it won't display the remaining time properly and it will alert me to change battery all the time. I bought a new battery which initially worked fine, displaying the remaining time properly. But the camcoder won't charge it.

Is the problem with the power adapter? Is there a replacement?

Or is the problem with the camcorder? Given its age, I probably don't want to fix it. if so, is there a compatible charger that I can buy?

Thanks

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

Richard — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:52:22 GMT

Hi Cheerful,

For information regarding a replacement for your CA-570 Compact Power Adapter, I recommend checking with our Sales and Accessories Department. You may reach them by calling (800) 652-2666 between 8:00 AM and midnight ET, seven days a week. They'll assist you with product information and dealer locations.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

cheerful — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:17:19 GMT

Is the problem fixable by a new adapter? Or it's really inside the camcorder?

Thanks

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

Mykolas — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:25:53 GMT

Cheerful,

Based on everything you described, the replacement adapter is the best way to go.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

tkawamur — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 22:32:26 GMT

Hi Cheerful,

I'm seeing the same issue. Was your problem fixed by getting a new adapter?

Thank you,

toru

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

jmarkos — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 03:45:36 GMT

I have two batteries and neither will charge, I used a charger from my other Canoncam corder and still will not charge. The charging light seem to be flashing a lot faster also.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

WHITETAIL — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 07:37:26 GMT

cheerful,

So this makes like 3 or 4 of us having the exact same issue? I too just reported a similar problem with my Canon HF21 HD camcorder to tech support a few hours ago. Saaaame thing 7 flashes 3 second pause and then repeats. My red screen shows up on startup " ! Charge the camcorder battery"(or something like that) shows up and the red battery up in the upper right shows up and won't go away. I bought a charger (thinking mine is bad) from an electronics store specifically for the Canon batteries and charged them fully proving it wasn't the batteries, put them back on my unit and immediately got the same error witht the red battery in the upper right corner of the screen and another error message saying " ! Charge the camcorder battery". I mean...I've been using these batteries flawlessly for years and the likelyhood of both failing on the same day was slim to none...so I really knew it wasn't the batteries. I can't believe the Canon personell haven't addressed this issue of that red battery indicator not going away with a perfectly fine battery??. It doesn't sound like a fix by purchasing a new CA-570?? What ultimately will fix this tech support? Anyone?

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

Mykolas — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 10:39:15 GMT

Hi WHITETAIL!

Thanks for posting.

If charging the battery with another charger works, yet you still see the same screen and message on the camcorder, something is wrong with the camcorder itself and will need to be repaired. To start the repair process, you'll need to complete a Repair Request on our website.

Re: Similar problem using VIXIA HF M301

WHITETAIL — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 23:50:23 GMT

Lisa, I was just dealing with the battery problem on my camcorder by keeping two batteries with me at all times. Then one day the battery indicator just reappeared don't know how don't know why it just reappeared everything's been working fine since then. And when I say it fixed itself I probably only went two weeks if that with it being broken? I'm guessing it was some kind of glitch? I don't know I'm not that tech savvy but I'm just glad it's fixed.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

uzibahar — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 14:36:38 GMT

I have the same problem and Canon were not taking responsibility.

Maybe Canon should be responsable and admit that there is a problem with thier product.

This is my first out of two camers (the second just broke this morning) . i am very upset and lost faith in Canon.

This is my last Canon product.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

4lcg — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 15:06:11 GMT

I don't think it is the adaptor. My unit (Vixia HF200) works when plugged in, but just will not charge the camcorder. I bought new batteries thinking that was the issue, but clearly it is not.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

lrleo — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:55:58 GMT

You are not alone... This doesn't seem to be an isolated incident.

I was charging up the camcorder the other day and noticed 3 rapid flahes as opposed to the steady flashing. I let it "charge" overnight and it didn't budge.

I figured it needed a new battery, but this didn't solve the problem. The new battery (Rayovac ~ $40) had a partial charge and when I tried to "charge" it, the level was being depleted. I think 7 rapid flashes occurred.

I am guessing the adapter is bad OR the charging circuitry in the camcorder is bad. I am not even allowed to dump my files to the computer because of low battery. In a couple instances, the screen was garbled along with high pitched static noise.

I ordered an external charger to see if this buys me some time, but I doubt it will help with dumping the files.

My next course of action will be to put a DMM on the adapter. And possibly borrow a friend's adapter for testing.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

4lcg — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 20:51:07 GMT

I decided to return the battery I bought because I thought that was the issue. The camera store sales person seemed to think it was the internal connection of the adaptor and the battery. He suggested getting a battery charger and seeing if a freshly charged battery would work. I thought he was just up selling me because I was trying to return a battery, by making me by a $45 recharger too. Well... the battery was charged remotely and it worked in the camera. He was right. This is a much cheaper option than sending it to Canon Canada for a repair which was min of $129+ , plus shipping and handling.

I returned the new battery and just recharged the original. Unless something else happens because of this internal flaw, I will just recharge the battery this way. It was much quicker too.

I do agree that Canon needs to address this issue. I have spoken to others who have complained about the same thing. It is not an isolated problem. They need to improve the solder connection or something and extend the warranty on this. Camcorders should not be considered disposable and replaced with new ones like others I know have done.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

lisainspace — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 21:45:20 GMT

Dear 4lcg,

My sympathies to you on your camcorder. I think my Vixia HF M301 lasted no more than two years before the battery failed to charge. I was quite disappointed as I had come to put a lot of faith in Canon. Canon repaired free of charge my S500, my first digital camera, when it was showing symptoms of a defective CCD. It is clear that their camcorders are experiencing charging failures, and all they seem to say is to send it to an authorized repair facility at your own cost. Why spend the money to repair it when it will just fail again? In addition, the cost of the repair is so expensive that you might as well buy a new camcorder. In my case, I ended up buying the separate charger and a new battery, but I thought long and hard because it ended costing about half of what I paid for the camcorder in the first place. In addition, I probably could have bought another brand camcorder at that price.

Despite my disappointment in their failure to address this issue, I still believe that Canon can make a quality product. My Canon S500 still works, and my Canon Rebel XT is going on eight years. What is going on with their camcorders? How often does Canon really expect us to buy a new one?

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

DarthVedder — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 03:38:36 GMT

Just discovered this problem myself over this past weekend when my HF200 wouldn't turn on. Called Tech Support and they recommended buying a new battery...did that, put the new battery on and the thing turned right on. Had three bars on the battery...so I plugged it in to the charger, went back 3 hours later and the battery was drained to 1 bar. Called tech support again and they seem to think its something inside the camera, to send it in for repair, it would cost $269.00. Canon will stop accepting this camera for repair on January 31, 2015. She also offered a Canon Loyalty discount...so it's something to think about,

For the moment, I am ordering a wall charger from Amazon for $15.00 in hopes that my batteries will charge and I can run the set up this way for as long as I can...

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

lrleo — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 06:04:24 GMT

THE problem is definitely the internal charging circuit in the camcorder. I received my eforcity external charger (amazon ~ $5) and it works like a charm. I put a DMM on the AC adapter and it has the correct voltage and current. I hope it wasn't a cost-cutting design for this circuit, but it seems to be a flaw that many of us are experiencing. Canon should fix this at cost or free.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

DarthVedder — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 11:58:17 GMT

Of course I agree. However, when I talked to tech support yesterday, the rep said that come January 31, 2015, they won't even touch these cameras for support any longer. Something I kind of find odd with the money that I spent on it...I would think they would have a little more support than that. I've had the camera for 5 years, yet I only use it on occasion...and of course prepping it up for Christmas Morning...this is what I find...lol.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

WHITETAIL — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 12:23:25 GMT

Guys,

i'm hoping what I found may help others. I recently said my camera was miraculously fixed. Here's what I've discovered. First I bought an external wall charger that keeps the camera working just fine rather than use the plug in charger that I always used to use. Got mine at Best Buy.

Next, my battery notification I had... came back when I put the other battery on the camera again. Thinking it might be the battery itself(obviously), I charged the other one I have back up to full charge and put it back on the camera and my battery indicator went away showing me the charge in the upper right hand corner again. I'm guessing one of my batteries is either bad or causes something to make the camcorder "think" there's something wrong. So I guess in a nutshell:

1) get some kind of extra wall charger to charge your batteries and

2) check your battery it could be the reason the error message is coming up on screen. Funny thing is....that battery still accepts the charge on my wall charger and will still run the camera for over an hour just like my other one...but this particular one gives me the battery error message on screen I posted earlier.

I hope this helps others.

Re: Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

uzibahar — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 14:41:00 GMT

lawsuit???

We need someone that understand cameras and check this issue.

We also need a lawyer that understand that can dig more in the this and find more people that got the same issue.

I am in.

Anyone ?