VIXIA HF20 power issues

[toloughlin]

recently picked up a vixia hf20 off ebay. charged one of 2 batteries via the av power cord. everything was working fine, then went to charge the second battery. red light started flashing faster than the normal charging flash, so i turned the camera on to check the battery level, no charge. assume that battery is fried (also doesnt charge on separate canon battery charger) heres where it gets weird. put the other fully charged good battery back in and plug in the power source. check battery life, registers in the camera as 100% charged, but when i unplug the power source, camera turns off.  will not turn back on unless plugged in, even checked the battery on the separate canon charger, reads as full.. camera will only turn on while plugged in.. was working fine earlier today before trying to charge the second (bad) battery… do you think the (good battery just crapped out or is it something else?? should i just get another battery??

[rs-eos]

The title of this post mentions "Vixia HF200", but in your description, it mentions "Vixia HF20".  Which do you have?

But in either case, Canon no longer services these items, so if there are any issues, it would be extremely difficult to find a repair shop.  Both of these models were introduced in 2009.

At this point, if you can find another battery, that may be worth trying.  However, you'd probably be better off finding a used camcorder from a more reputable source that sells used gear (e.g. KEH dot com, B&H Photo Used Department to name a couple).