short elph battery life

[pljohnson]

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.

[Skirball]

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.

[pljohnson]

Thanks!

[pljohnson]

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.

[John_]

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.