C100: Scary switch-on

B

Burners

Well-known member
After having fully charged up my original canon batteries for a shoot this Saturday I got out my two C100's that have been hibernating for the last 5 weeks un-used. I insert a battery and switch-on...camera boots up, LCD comes on, great...apart from about 4 or 5 seconds later the camera just powers off, dead. Re-seating the battery and using a different battery the same thing happens. I am starting to sweat... Insert battery into second C100 and its the same situation. I am sweating a lot now. I try again..and again....same result. Then I try entering into the menu and using the joystick to scroll through the options just to see if it keeps the camera alive....it does! Try this method on second C100 success!

What I noticed is this: Once the LCD came all the usual info was displayed apart from the battery icon. This comes on a second or two after. The times it powered-off, it did so before the battery icon was displayed. I don't see why not sing the camera for 5 weeks would cause it to do this. Surely if a fully charged original battery is inserted correctly it should be enough to power the camera successfully. I know now I will switching these cameras on everyday now until satuday to check them.
 
Was using 4 batteries and two chargers all originals. Never had a single issue in the past with either the cameras, batteries or chargers. I forgot to mention in the original post that one of the cameras had the correct date but the time seemed to have been reset \ changed.
 
I think I got it!
The C100 has another internal battery that keeps the time and other settings. It's a rechargeable battery, so if it's stored without the big battery connected to it, it can run out. To check this, I looked it up in the manual:
"The camcorder has a built in rechargeable lithium battery to keep the date/time and other settings. The built in lithium battery is recharged while you use the camcorder; however it will discharge completely if you do not use the camcorder for about 3 months.
To recharge the built in battery: Connect the DC cable and compact power adapter to the camcorder and use a household power outlet to power the camcorder for 24 hours while it is turned off."
 
they should put that in big bold red letters on the cover of the manual, if it causes the camera to shut off once it's drained
 
I left my cameras plugged-in all last night, not for 24 hours but hopefully long enough to avoid problems on Saturday once they are in use again. I thought the internal battery would just control time \ date settings. It really shouldn't determine whether the camera switches-on or not surely. It took about 3 or 4 restarts (having to take the battery off and put back on each time) to give it enough juice to stay on.
 
I agree with Andrius. All pro camera have a lithium battery inside to store your settings. By not turning your cams on for 5 weeks it may have drained, although I thought the internal battery was good for a couple of years.

I only use the manufacturers' batteries with the particular model camera and its charger so they can "talk" to each other. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Burners said:
I left my cameras plugged-in all last night, not for 24 hours but hopefully long enough to avoid problems on Saturday once they are in use again. I thought the internal battery would just control time \ date settings. It really shouldn't determine whether the camera switches-on or not surely. It took about 3 or 4 restarts (having to take the battery off and put back on each time) to give it enough juice to stay on.
Click to expand...
Hopefully that fixes it. I'd follow the manual suggestion of leaving it plugged in to AC power and turned off for as long as you can spare before your shoot.
Let us know if that fixes it.
 
That sound really strange to me. I'm not an engineer and haven't spoken with anyone from Canon, but I can't see why the internal battery that holds settings(time/date, WB, TC, etc.), if discharged, would be tied to and affect the cameras ability to stay powered with a charged external battery on it. I've had internal batteries die on Betacam's and the only thing it affected was WB memory and TC memory. Otherwise, the camera's worked fine. IF the internal battery in a Cx00 camera is tied to its ability to remain powered up then it's just one more piece of proof that Canon doesn't know WTF they're doing in regards to how to build a professional video camera for the professional market.
 
Run&Gun said:
That sound really strange to me. I'm not an engineer and haven't spoken with anyone from Canon, but I can't see why the internal battery that holds settings(time/date, WB, TC, etc.), if discharged, would be tied to and affect the cameras ability to stay powered with a charged external battery on it.
Click to expand...

I agree! On my XF100 the internal battery is DEAD, but that doesnt prevent the camera to boot normally with a charged external battery.
 
Update: Tuesday night I left the cameras switched off and plugged into the charger on mains for about 12 hours (manual states do it for 24). Just switched one on now with battery and it booted normally and is still on a few minutes later. I should add that the two cameras where bought a 6 months apart, one in the UK and one in Australia so its not a batch issue.
 
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