topic Re: short elph battery life in Point & Shoot Digital Cameras

short elph battery life

pljohnson — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 19:09:55 GMT

A recently purchased Elph 330 HS can get through about 20 photos, some with flash, followed by single wired upload, before the message "recharge the battery" appears. LIkely cause: is this a bad battery, a camera defect causing rapid drain, or a user error? My old Coolpix would take many many more on a single charge.

Re: short elph battery life

Skirball — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 19:17:10 GMT

Either a bad battery, bad/incomplete charge, or something faulty in the camera system. You should get many, many more shots out of a battery.

First I'd try giving it a full charge or two, just to be sure. I would also try a second battery if I had one. If you're going to keep the camera I recommend having at least two batteries anyway. However, if I ruled out user error, and the camera was brand new, I'd probably just swap it out for a new one before spending too much time investigating.

Re: short elph battery life

pljohnson — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 19:18:44 GMT

Thanks!

Re: short elph battery life

pljohnson — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 11:59:39 GMT

After a few more experiments, my conclusion is the contacts between battery and camera are so weak that the smallest amount of dust/humidity will interrupt the current. Yesterday I received another "charge the battery" notice and just rubbed the battery contacts with a cloth (with some pressure) to eliminate/defer the issue.

Re: short elph battery life

John_ — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 14:22:06 GMT

Try some Deoxit 5, its safe on plastics and rubber and works really well on corrosion and dirt. I've used it for years on everything electrical.

Also if its a matter of the contacts themselves try using something to rebend them gently...I have picks, like dental picks to do such things. But other things can be used or improvised.