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?

[tuckerdognc]

Did the external battery charger help? This is exactly what is happening to me now with my five year old HFS20 Vixia. Camera works fine on power. No battery charge and if I attempt to use the battery and try again, the depletion is about 30%.

[cbattle]

The external charger (STK) worked for a while, then it quit on me. Perhaps I shouldn't have gotten the cheap one. At this point I've given up on the camcorder.

[tuckerdognc]

Well, I guess it's okay that I still have power, but otherwise it's a $1000 doorstop.

[tekresults]

I have a HF 200.  Love the Camcorder.  Use it a lot for recording my band.

I have three batteries, two Canons and one Vivitar.  They are all different sizes.  Both Canons will ocassionally show low battery warnings but do not seem to charge in the camera or an external charger.

My solution is to just keep recording while the camcorder displays the warnings regarding battery lifetime.   After runing it for an hour in this state the battery will charge and seems OK after this.

[tuckerdognc]

Since an update showed up today, I'll post my update:
One week before I was going to shoot a friend's wedding is when all this happened. I found a company in CA that can/could repair it for about $125.00. Reluctantly, I purchased a refurbished Canon R-72 because of this major thing: The Canon is the only one in the price range, under $300, that has an external mic jack. They got me the camera two days prior to the wedding, and because I was familiar with the Canon, it wasn't difficult to shoot. The R-72 does well in good light, but a little iffy in low light. It does have a number of decent features and I was pleased with it. I did, however, have to return the first one because you could definitely hear the "Auto focus" motor in quiet conditions. I still have the other camera and I may repair, then sell or keep as backup as I have so many batteries for it (including a battery charger I purchased in the attempt to get this one working). Sad state of affairs but at least I was able to swing the $178. For the "new" camera.