Steve,
First off, the MD won't work unless it is mounted on a body (you didn't
specify).
If you get at least a little red light, I would think it would at least trip
the shutter (but maybe not).
The NiCd batteries are very replaceable, and it is a home job if you don't
mind soldering a little. Hopefully the NiCd batts wouldn't have leaked (too
much) and corroded the circuit board. It can be a pain to solder bypasses
or expensive to get a new circuit board. Someone (Tom S?) has a page with
detailed directions and photos, and the FAQ has some directions too. A
while back there was some debate about replacing the batts with NiCd or NiMH
batteries. I was a big fan of NiMH until I received a NiCd pack that had a
good battery. Now I would put in NiCd batts in anything I replaced. I've
even thought about replacing the NiMH I installed a few months ago. You
will notice that the NiMH won't work at 5fps (not like I need it) and slow
down under heavy use. Someone says it has something to do with higher
internal resistance in the NiMH batts, which results in slower recycling
times. The real reason that I would switch is b/c I can leave a NiCd
sitting for three months and it will still have enough juice for at least
three or four rolls (my typical outing). The NiMH batts will be dead,
nothing, not even a frame. Maybe I made a mistake in rebuilding the pack,
but it is the same for the three that I have. Therefore, I find it a drag
to have to charge the NiMH batts every month or so. The one advantage of
the NiMH batts is that they don't develop a memory, but I don't see that as
much of an advantage when they are dead all the time...but that is just my
experience.
The other thing about the MD1's is that they have an O-ring inside them
that turns to goo or dries into a brick. It caused one of mine to just keep
spinning after I fired a frame. My other MD1 made a loud squealing noise
before I replaced it. The good news is that the O-rings are still
available, but the bad news is that they are a pain to replace (at least I
thought so).
Therefore, I would be cautious if you can't even get it to spin. Worst
case scenario: the MD1 is junk and the circuit board on the Control Pack has
so much corrosion that soldering bypasses (I think a difficult task) is
impossible. Best case scenario: the MD1 works fine, you can replace the
O-ring at your leisure, and the Control Pack just needs a new pack.
Here are some sources for batts (be sure to get ones with solder tabs!):
http://www.batterystation.com/nicads.htm
http://www.digikey.com/
http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi-7.htm
I think you need the 1/3 AA size. Can someone confirm this?
HTH,
--p.j.
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