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Battery drain


Studio58

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can the M9 drain the battery when being left on overnight ? I pulled my M9 out today after charging the battery last night and it was dead flat. Can only guess that I left it on (battery drain from that cause would still be a surprise). Hopefully it is that and not an open circuit or similar issue.

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Was this a brand new battery? In David Taylor's "Leica M9" book it advises that new batteries need to be fully charged and fully discharged 2-3 times before they will achieve maximum capacity.

 

It's probably best to try and recreate the event. Fully charge the battery (green light constant ON) and see if your M9 drains it again.

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From reading the M8.2 manual back then, I have a number of about 4-6 times cycles with new batteries in mind. Leica points out, that regularly, the battery should be fully drained and recharged, to reset the internal electronics for the charge monitoring (from memory every ten charge cycles).

 

Make sure, that the camera is not put into a bag, so the shutter release button can be depressed accidentally, activating the meter, leading to discharging the battery.

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A quirk dating back to the M6 - leave it switched on in the camera case and a half-depressed shutter button will drain the battery.

 

 

Yep... that totally makes sense. As glad as I am to be rid of the 1DS3, I could leave that on for days and no drain. No worries though. Better get a few spares.

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it was set to 2 mins.

 

I had the same thing happen to my M8 just a few days ago.

 

My AUTO POWER OFF setting was (still is) set to 2 minutes.

 

I forgot to switch the camera to OFF. Battery Dead.

 

What exactly does the APO setting do, if the battery still gets drained?

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I had the same thing happen to my M8 just a few days ago.

 

My AUTO POWER OFF setting was (still is) set to 2 minutes.

 

I forgot to switch the camera to OFF. Battery Dead.

 

What exactly does the APO setting do, if the battery still gets drained?

 

AUTO POWER OFF should only be disabled by pressing the shutter half way down.

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Hey, 1st post, I had the same problem with you when I first bought my m9. But after a while i discovered that if i actually switched off the m9 the battery wouldn't die out overnight, but maybe thats just me. and yes my auto power is also set to 2 mins.

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The clue is that any (unintentional) depression of the shutter release will cause draining unless the switch is OFF, even if the release is not depressed far enough to take exposures. If it is of course then the battery will be flattened more quickly.

I've done both too.

 

Auto power off is useful if you are carrying the camera around turned on but remember that the camera is designed to wake up again when the shutter release is part depressed (else there's no point in having an auto power off timing function).

 

In short it is not a fault or quirk. It is working as designed.

Turn the camera off at shutter release when you put it away.

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The clue is that any (unintentional) depression of the shutter release will cause draining unless the switch is OFF, even if the release is not depressed far enough to take exposures. If it is of course then the battery will be flattened more quickly.

I've done both too.

 

Auto power off is useful if you are carrying the camera around turned on but remember that the camera is designed to wake up again when the shutter release is part depressed (else there's no point in having an auto power off timing function).

 

In short it is not a fault or quirk. It is working as designed.

Turn the camera off at shutter release when you put it away.

 

 

Hi Geoff,

 

What you say is not correct for all M9s, only for some.

Your guidance is certainly a necessary condition but sometimes not sufficient.

 

There are some M9s, mine included, when switched off will light the red LED if the shutter is pressed down.

A number of forum members have reported this behavior, sent their M9s in to Solms - I did - and Leica was unable or unwilling to correct that.

The problem is that such a switched off M9 will drain battery power if the shutter is accidentally pushed down in a carrying bag.

Such incidents have been reported by others on this forum.

 

Best, K-H.

Edited by k-hawinkler
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Karl-Heinz, my camera will momentarily light that LED too when the switch is OFF. Note that is a momentary flash, not continuous illumination. I don't believe that a single flash in that instance (which is all you get even if release is held down continuously) is using significant power. However someone more expert could doubtless provide something definitive on that. I've never seen anything from Solms on the subject. I do recall the forum reports and I don't know the specifics of why we get the momentary illumination.

 

The meter does not activate and of course the shutter is not operated. Those are the causes of battery drain if the selector is not OFF and the release is pressed, inadvertantly or otherwise. Classically one or more unintentional exposures in your bag will mean very long exposures (if on Auto) and hence long noise reduction cycles for each as well. Guaranteed to use up all of your electrons!

 

On every occasion when I found my battery flattened in my bag it was my fault with the switch. I've never otherwise flattened a battery in my bag with M8 or M9 (about 20,000 exposures over about four years).

 

ps I hope that my orphaned little Elmar 90 is behaving well for you.

 

hey, postscript: I went back and tried to read earlier posts on this to inform myself better. Back in this thread last year you concluded that the LED blinks were not causing any battery drain, I think ???

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/119714-one-thread-blinking-led-concerns.html

Edited by hoppyman
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Hi Geoff,

 

Thanks for your reply. Correct what you write. Agrees with my observations.

I have never drained the battery that way as I am very careful how I store the M9 during transport.

Other folks have claimed they did I believe in subsequent threads. Who knows what else happened.

Here is the thread you are referring to so that folks can form their own opinion http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m9-forum/119714-one-thread-blinking-led-concerns.html.

I see you listed it as well. As I stated back then I lost interest in the issue and moved on.

 

But theoretically on a long rough ride with constant bumping maybe it could drain a bit.

It certainly hasn't happened to me.

 

Yup, the Elmar 90 is very nice. I like it a lot. Compared to an Elmarit-M it is just a tiny bit soft in the corners.

Here are some full size images and a panorama done with the Elmar 90 2011.04.01 Panorama Truchas - winklers' Photos.

 

Best, K-H.

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yea well turned camera on this morning after a recharge... no prob. Full battery. Definitely going to buy a few spares.

 

Good to hear! I need to buy some as well.

 

In my case (per above) the M8 recovered as well but I am still curious...

 

As later posters have pointed out -when APO is activated, it is then defeated with a press of the release.

 

Understood... as also pointed out in the manual.

 

But... the manual states that engaging APO is the equivalent of turning the camera OFF after the preset time. I read this as being an energy state. So, if the release is not pressed again, there should be no battery drain.

 

In my case, I simply forgot to turn the camera OFF and set it aside for the evening on a shelf. There were no further presses or interaction with the camera whatsoever, yet the battery was still drained dead in the morning. I am assuming there must be a fault and it is easy enough to test!

 

In the meantime, yes, the simplest answer is to ensure that the camera is set to OFF.

 

Interestingly, I noticed some "blinking" as well for the first time last night as mentioned in the linked thread.

 

The weekend is coming, so I plan to spend it shooting and will return to some testing perhaps Sunday evening.

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  • 5 years later...

I couldn´t charge one of my batteries, no more than 20%, I charged it for hours and couldn´t pass 20% of charge.

I follow some of your recomendation and push my ME to work with no battery left until it reached like 2 or 3%. I leaved it on all over nigth and got to this point 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

Then after one of many switched on and off, it turned on with battery almost full sign, I took two pictures this was the afterwards picture

 

 

 

 

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