OK, thanks,
I would have never thought of going to these lengths. I will go through the
procedures you suggest. The batteries were 357 Silver Oxide manufactured
however for Walmart, which I purchased in their watch department. The coil
at the end of the battery chamber looks good and the chrome cap is clean.
Do you know if the mercury batteries had different characteristics under
load compared to the silver oxide?
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Moose
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 12:50 AM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: OM-4T, OM-2SP Battery Consumption Problem
Thomas Tonelli wrote:
>Thanks for the suggestion.
>
>The batteries were fine according to the battery check.
>
The battery check is mostly useless for anything but checking which
camera has batteries in it. The battery check doesn't check it under
load and so will beep with pretty much anything in there. The problem is
that (as with all manufacturers' cameras of that era), the batteries are
put under a large load while the shutter is open. In OM cameras, if the
necessary voltage/current to assure an accurate exposure isn't present
when the loads starts, the camera simply refuses to take the picture and
stays locked up until reset. This is the REAL battery check.
Are these really 357 batteries, or some other model which says it
replaces the 357? Battery packages often LIE, and claim that other
batteries with the same nominal voltage and physical size are
replacements for the 357. The 76 and 303 are batteries that will give
the symptoms you describe after they have been used a bit.
Are you sure the batteries are actually good? Many of us have
encountered a case of a bad battery in a new, fresh batch. Not common,
but it can lead to endless frustration if not checked out.
Is the battery circuit clean and tight? The inside contact of the
battery compartment is soldered to a wire and the joint can become loose
or corroded, although it isn't common. The other end of the battery
circuit is more problematic. Since you have a 4T, it likely has a chrome
battery cap, bu it is still worth making sure the threads on cap and
bottom plate are clean. Plain 4s had black painted caps and paint in the
threads was a regular problem. Nect, the current has to go from the
bottom plate to the frame. Loose bottom plate screws, dirt, oil, etc on
screws and/or bottom plate can add resistance to the circuit. Make sure
the screw threads and the places where the botom plate contacts the
frame are clean and tight. Remember, you are dealing with a very low
voltage. Resistance that has little effect on the very low current
needed to operate the metering and battery check may drop the voltage
under shutter load below what is needed.
> I removed the cover
>and replaced it to ensure it was on tight. I was able to take a couple of
>flash photographs without any problems with the shutter. My model is the OM
>4T black. Is there something unique about that model as opposed to the
>OM-4Ti?
>
They are identical cameras with different model numbers for different
markets.
> Something tells me I have not seen the end of this problem.
>
Don't despair too soon. Many people have had similar problems and most
turn out to be simple issues as addressed above.
Moose
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