Olympus C700 - Progress at last!

Looks like we're making progress -- thanks to that real nice feller who
posted and suggested I try using the camera with an AC adapter.

[Note to the "try a new battery" crowd: No, it wasn't the batteries.]

I picked up an adapter at Frys Electronics for $19.99. I saw some on ebay
and elsewhere online cheaper, but by the time you add the $5-10 "shipping
and handling" and wonder what kind of adapter you're "really" going to get
and when.... I thought this one was the best choice. And it's a universal
job - all kinds of voltages, and current up to 2500 mA, so that's fine for
the C700 and my other junk too.

First I tried the camera as is - that is on good (new) alkaline batteries
only - to be sure that it was giving the same problem. Sure enough, same
problem - one shot or moving the zoom lever and "battery bad" message pops
up.

Then I plugged the AC adapter into it and first time every time, the camera
works again, just like it's supposed to, time after time, zoom in, zoom out,
click, click, click, click, click....

Then I removed the AC adapter and used it with the same batteries only again
and it worked every time, zooms in/out, etc. just fine and no battery bad
message.

Someone also said that there might be charging problem -- might be it. May
be still a partially open circuit, bad solder joint or failing component
somewhere between the batteries and the power circuit. AC adapter may have
temporarily charged up capacitors enough to get a few shots from the
battery-only.

Time will tell -- will see how many photos I get out of a new set of
batteries and report back.

Thanks again to all for all the dozen of constructive help! It took
several months, but saved me $155 in repair charges and I gain a great deal
of knowledge about how these things work.

And a special thanks to all the whiners, complainers, know-it-alls and the
"just buy another one" boys. Without your endless jabs and ignorant
comments, I probably would've dropped this months ago! B^)

Fred

PS -- For others with questions or problems about the C-700, you can
subscribe to the yahoogroups email list. Lots of very helpful folks
there....

To subscribe, visit their homepage http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oly_C-700/

Fred again

"Fred" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
Looks like we're making progress -- thanks to that real nice feller who
posted and suggested I try using the camera with an AC adapter.

[Note to the "try a new battery" crowd: No, it wasn't the batteries.]

I picked up an adapter at Frys Electronics for $19.99. I saw some on ebay
and elsewhere online cheaper, but by the time you add the $5-10 "shipping
and handling" and wonder what kind of adapter you're "really" going to get
and when.... I thought this one was the best choice. And it's a universal
job - all kinds of voltages, and current up to 2500 mA, so that's fine for
the C700 and my other junk too.

First I tried the camera as is - that is on good (new) alkaline batteries
only - to be sure that it was giving the same problem. Sure enough, same
problem - one shot or moving the zoom lever and "battery bad" message pops
up.

Then I plugged the AC adapter into it and first time every time, the
camera
works again, just like it's supposed to, time after time, zoom in, zoom
out,
click, click, click, click, click....

Then I removed the AC adapter and used it with the same batteries only
again
and it worked every time, zooms in/out, etc. just fine and no battery bad
message.

Someone also said that there might be charging problem -- might be it.
May
be still a partially open circuit, bad solder joint or failing component
somewhere between the batteries and the power circuit. AC adapter may have
temporarily charged up capacitors enough to get a few shots from the
battery-only.

Time will tell -- will see how many photos I get out of a new set of
batteries and report back.

Thanks again to all for all the dozen of constructive help! It took
several months, but saved me $155 in repair charges and I gain a great
deal
of knowledge about how these things work.

And a special thanks to all the whiners, complainers, know-it-alls and the
"just buy another one" boys. Without your endless jabs and ignorant
comments, I probably would've dropped this months ago! B^)

Fred

Fred wrote:

Looks like we're making progress -- thanks to that real nice feller who
posted and suggested I try using the camera with an AC adapter.

[Note to the "try a new battery" crowd: No, it wasn't the batteries.]

I picked up an adapter at Frys Electronics for $19.99. I saw some on ebay
and elsewhere online cheaper, but by the time you add the $5-10 "shipping
and handling" and wonder what kind of adapter you're "really" going to get
and when.... I thought this one was the best choice. And it's a universal
job - all kinds of voltages, and current up to 2500 mA, so that's fine for
the C700 and my other junk too.

First I tried the camera as is - that is on good (new) alkaline batteries
only - to be sure that it was giving the same problem. Sure enough, same
problem - one shot or moving the zoom lever and "battery bad" message pops
up.

Then I plugged the AC adapter into it and first time every time, the camera
works again, just like it's supposed to, time after time, zoom in, zoom out,
click, click, click, click, click....

Then I removed the AC adapter and used it with the same batteries only again
and it worked every time, zooms in/out, etc. just fine and no battery bad
message.

Someone also said that there might be charging problem -- might be it. May
be still a partially open circuit, bad solder joint or failing component
somewhere between the batteries and the power circuit. AC adapter may have
temporarily charged up capacitors enough to get a few shots from the
battery-only.

Time will tell -- will see how many photos I get out of a new set of
batteries and report back.

Thanks again to all for all the dozen of constructive help! It took
several months, but saved me $155 in repair charges and I gain a great deal
of knowledge about how these things work.

And a special thanks to all the whiners, complainers, know-it-alls and the
"just buy another one" boys. Without your endless jabs and ignorant
comments, I probably would've dropped this months ago! B^)

Fred

Hi...

I guess leaving the only realistic possibility a
high resistance connection in the switch portion
of the adapter input plug.

Ah, well, I guess in this case tenacity paid off.
Congratulations.

Ken

Yes, sounds like it could be. One of these cold rainy weekends I'll take it
apart and check all the solder connections, etc. Thanks, Ken, for your
correspondence and help!

Fred

"Ken Weitzel" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...


Fred wrote:

Looks like we're making progress -- thanks to that real nice feller who
posted and suggested I try using the camera with an AC adapter.

[Note to the "try a new battery" crowd: No, it wasn't the batteries.]

I picked up an adapter at Frys Electronics for $19.99. I saw some on
ebay
and elsewhere online cheaper, but by the time you add the $5-10
"shipping
and handling" and wonder what kind of adapter you're "really" going to
get
and when.... I thought this one was the best choice. And it's a
universal
job - all kinds of voltages, and current up to 2500 mA, so that's fine
for
the C700 and my other junk too.

First I tried the camera as is - that is on good (new) alkaline
batteries
only - to be sure that it was giving the same problem. Sure enough,
same
problem - one shot or moving the zoom lever and "battery bad" message
pops
up.

Then I plugged the AC adapter into it and first time every time, the
camera
works again, just like it's supposed to, time after time, zoom in, zoom
out,
click, click, click, click, click....

Then I removed the AC adapter and used it with the same batteries only
again
and it worked every time, zooms in/out, etc. just fine and no battery
bad
message.

Someone also said that there might be charging problem -- might be it.
May
be still a partially open circuit, bad solder joint or failing component
somewhere between the batteries and the power circuit. AC adapter may
have
temporarily charged up capacitors enough to get a few shots from the
battery-only.

Time will tell -- will see how many photos I get out of a new set of
batteries and report back.

Thanks again to all for all the dozen of constructive help! It took
several months, but saved me $155 in repair charges and I gain a great
deal
of knowledge about how these things work.

And a special thanks to all the whiners, complainers, know-it-alls and
the
"just buy another one" boys. Without your endless jabs and ignorant
comments, I probably would've dropped this months ago! B^)

Fred

Hi...

I guess leaving the only realistic possibility a
high resistance connection in the switch portion
of the adapter input plug.

Ah, well, I guess in this case tenacity paid off.
Congratulations.

Ken

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:42:55 GMT, "Fred" wrote:

Yes, sounds like it could be. One of these cold rainy weekends I'll take it
apart and check all the solder connections, etc. Thanks, Ken, for your
correspondence and help!

Sounds very much like a Disaster Waiting To Happen.....

DS

"David Springthorpe" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:42:55 GMT, "Fred"
wrote:

Yes, sounds like it could be. One of these cold rainy weekends I'll take
it
apart and check all the solder connections, etc. Thanks, Ken, for your
correspondence and help!

Sounds very much like a Disaster Waiting To Happen.....

Well, we'll soon find out! I've already got the tools together -- let's
see.... duct tape, paper clips, sledge hammer, 24 ounce bottle of redskin
peanuts, TV Guide.... Yep! I'm all ready to go!

Now back to an update...

After using the AC adapter for awhile, I disconnected it and then ran it on
batteries only. This time I took 4 or 5 photos before the "battery low"
warning came back up. Then plugged back in with the adapter and it work
fully again. Probably not a revelation to the more advance folks, like
David, but I like to double check things before pulling out the chain saws.

Later,

Have a NICE DAY, David! Don't run out in front of any buses or anything.

Fred

My vote is that the batteries are still bad, and there is nothing wrong with
the camera!

--

Jerry G.
=====

"Fred" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
"David Springthorpe" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:42:55 GMT, "Fred"
wrote:

Yes, sounds like it could be. One of these cold rainy weekends I'll take
it
apart and check all the solder connections, etc. Thanks, Ken, for your
correspondence and help!

Sounds very much like a Disaster Waiting To Happen.....

Well, we'll soon find out! I've already got the tools together -- let's
see.... duct tape, paper clips, sledge hammer, 24 ounce bottle of redskin
peanuts, TV Guide.... Yep! I'm all ready to go!

Now back to an update...

After using the AC adapter for awhile, I disconnected it and then ran it on
batteries only. This time I took 4 or 5 photos before the "battery low"
warning came back up. Then plugged back in with the adapter and it work
fully again. Probably not a revelation to the more advance folks, like
David, but I like to double check things before pulling out the chain saws.

Later,

Have a NICE DAY, David! Don't run out in front of any buses or anything.

Fred

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 02:29:53 GMT, "Fred" wrote:

Have a NICE DAY, David! Don't run out in front of any buses or anything.

Well, put it this way, if I ever try to "fix" things they usually end up
completely stuffed.....

DS

Just curious..... what is, or was, the milli/amp rating of the batteries
that seemed to fail ? The AC adapter you found puts out a lot more
amps than a same voltage AC transformer for a phone or whatever. Glad
you're gaining on the problem......

Fred wrote:
Looks like we're making progress -- thanks to that real nice feller who
posted and suggested I try using the camera with an AC adapter.

[Note to the "try a new battery" crowd: No, it wasn't the batteries.]

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 23:54:59 GMT "Fred"
wrote:

First I tried the camera as is - that is on good (new) alkaline batteries
only - to be sure that it was giving the same problem. Sure enough, same
problem - one shot or moving the zoom lever and "battery bad" message pops
up.

Then I plugged the AC adapter into it and first time every time, the camera
works again, just like it's supposed to, time after time, zoom in, zoom out,
click, click, click, click, click....

Then I removed the AC adapter and used it with the same batteries only again
and it worked every time, zooms in/out, etc. just fine and no battery bad
message.

Sounds to me like there is a contact in the AC adaptor jack that got a
little resistive from an oxide layer there. Just plugging and
unplugging the AC adaptor broke the oxide layer and made everything
good again.

I know this was a lot of work for you and you deserve a real "attaboy"
for your efforts. Even thought the solution seems to have been simple,
getting there was not. There are lots of people here who understand
and appreciate that.

If I ever have such a problem with my camera I hope I can remember to
just push a matching plug into it's adaptor jack a few times to see if
that helps.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------