Powershot G7 , Switch in the bottom next to the SD Card tray broke. What does it do?

[Natu]

Hello everyone!

I have a problem with my Powershot G7. In the bottom of the camera, there is a little switch next to the SD Card tray that broke out. It's placed on the Main PCB, is called "SW1001" and get's triggered when you close the hatch of the battery tray.

Does anyone know what this switch is for? And what happens if it's broken, like in my case?

Thanks. 🙂

[John_]

It will not allow the camera to work when the battery compartment is not closed...you can jump it out or replace the whole board

[Natu]

That would explain why the camera doesn't turn on anymore.

Do you have any idea how I could fix this? I can see some tiny spring in there but I am not sure about the exact mechanism of the switch.

And thank you for your response. 🙂

[John_]

Im not sure if you can repair the switch without having it in front of me. Most likely some piece of the plastic broke off and it's not repairable

It looks like there are only 2 terminals on it that you can connect together to bypass it. 

I know for sure you cannot find just a new switch but the whloe board might be available.

If it were me and there are ony 2 terminals on that switch I'd first try to connect them together with jumper clips. If that worked, the camera turns on and works, I'd then solder a tiny wire across the terminals...carefully and with no battery in there either

If your not comfortable with soldering then perhaps you can just wrap bare copper wire from 1 terminal to the other and squeeze it on the terminals tightly with a small pliers or forceps or tweezers or something

[Natu]

I bypassed the switch with some wire and sadly the camera is still dead.

Looks like I killed it completely in my attempt to repair it, although I was really careful. Maybe I underestimated the danger of ESD.

[John_]

Well now are you sure the battery is charged?

And you assembled it correctly?

ESD damage might be possible or didn't you say a spring came out? That spring might have shorted something out when it came loose.

Working G7's are available on auction sites for around $70 too so there's another option if you want to stick with that model