Vixia HF 200 won't charge battery

[cheerful]

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

[uzibahar]

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.

[4lcg]

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.

[lrleo]

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.

[4lcg]

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.

[lisainspace]

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?

[DarthVedder]

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...

[lrleo]

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.

[DarthVedder]

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.

[WHITETAIL]

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.

[uzibahar]

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 ?