AC90: AGAC 90 intermittently powers off then back on

J

Jrrb

New member
This is a problem I've had for a few months and has gotten worse. My agac 90 will, while recording or in standby doesn't matter, automatically shut down and power itself back on. It happens randomly, doesn't matter if I'm touching the camera or not. I thought maybe I accidentally hit a button or setting. Temperature doesn't seem to matter either, as I have filmed in both cold and hot weather.
I was wondering if anyone else has had this experience and if so, how they solved it.
I feel as if the problem is software related because if it were a power issue, wouldn't the file I'm currently recording to become corrupt at the sudden power down? The camera will stop recording, power down, then power on within about two seconds. After that I can press record to continue recording.
Any help would be appreciated. I've already brought it to a repair shop once, but the technician found no problems, and the issue continues.

Thanks!
Jamie
 
Are you running the latest firmware? Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to re-install it and see if that helps.
 
I don't have an AC90, but based on my other four Panasonic cameras:

My first guess would be that the power switch itself is becoming intermittent. That switch does not directly pass all the current it takes to run the camera. Rather, it is an input to a microcontroller that switches the main power off and on. When it gets an "off" command from the switch, it can take the time to save the pending file and shut down the camera gracefully. This is why it normally takes a few seconds for the screen to go dark after you turn off the camera. I think the switch is losing contact from time to time and telling the camera you want it to turn off.

Pulling out the battery or disconnecting an AC adapter while recording would be a different story -- the camera probably wouldn't be able to recover in that case. But the engineers anticipated that people might occasionally hit the power switch when they didn't mean to, and designed the camera to fail as safely as possible in that situation.

- Greg
 
i had this exact issue,but it was with my sony ex1.the file would not corrupt either when it would stop and reboot while recording.
had a board replaced by tek media group in august 15 and no problem since.

i have 3 ac90 and haven't had this issue with them though.

while the cameras are different,my issues were exactly the same as yours and it got worse over time.
 
I know this is an old thread, but I have just started having this same issue with my 3-year-old AC130A. I thought it might be due to heat, because I was shooting outside in 85 - 90 degree sun both times, but it makes sense for it to be an issue with the switch. It's only happened twice, but both times it happened just a couple seconds after I pressed the record button. Could it be that when I press the record button, it's causing the switch to lose contact and power the camera off? Like Jamie's AC90, it then reboots immediately, and the clip it started to record before shutting down is intact on the SD card.

I contacted Panasonic about it, and they said it's best to send the camera in to be checked out. It will take 5 - 7 business days to get it checked, so I'm kind of reluctant to send it off, but I don't want it to start getting worse. Does anyone have a rough estimate of what the repair would cost? The camera warranty ran out in March, unfortunately...
 
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