EOS Rebel XS battery extraction failure

[ves]

Upon opening battery compartment cover and turning battery lock  there's no usual battery extraction at all..It remains in the initial position inside the compartment. Please advise

[Skirball]

Are you using a generic battery?   It’s a known problem with some of them.  I had a few that did that in my Rebel.  I used a good pair of tweezers and clamped like h3ll on that little plastic tab while a friend held the latch open.  It came out, but I just about ripped the tab off.

Otherwise you could try supergluing a piece of ribbon or something to the battery, let it try, and try to yank it out.

Once you get it out, Take some dental floss and wrap it around lengthwise a couple times and make a nice little loop on the end to pull it out next time.

[ves]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. Yea, I use the generic Canon batteries. Let me try the second one of your ideas and I'll report about the outcome.

[TCampbell]

While I haven't seen this happen specifically with camera batteries, I have seen batteries for other devices that began to swell up as they failed.  I wonder if your battery has done this and has wedged itself inside the camera.

[ves]

Hi Tim,

First of all, let me thank you again for your excellent suggestion. It works! This morning I'd glued carefully a relatively wide band (to ensure reliable adhesion) to a visible part of battery and in 10 minutes pulled the whole battery out. As for that battery, I didn't notice any visible signs of exterior deterioration. Therefore, I just inserted ii in my recharger. I don't know/ if there is a possibility to check a status of this type of battery in any store dealing with digital cameras as they do with rechargeable AA or AAA batteries. Or, to be on a safe side, just purchase a new one.

My best regards,

Vladimir

[Skirball · Accepted solution]

Glad it worked.

I really don't think it was from swelling, it's the plastic contact area that is too tight for the contacts in your camera.  I had two batteries for my 450D that did that, and it was a well documented issue with many of the generics I found on Amazon.  I kept using mine, but if it concerns you, they're cheap enough to replace.

I just created a pull cord out of dental floss as described above.  Alternately you could just leave your little ribbon on it (though the glue might weaken over time and come off).  The nice thing of the dental floss is that it is pulling it from the bottom, instead of the top where the glue is attached.  There was plenty of room in the battery compartment to leave the tail, and I never had any issues with it.

Also, if there's a label on the battery, take it off.  That fixed the problem for many online.

[lisahansen]

Dental floss tip worked like a charm.