M8 charger went bang and died

[mnsh]

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I was on holiday this week and put a partly-used battery into the M8 charger (original chunky version) and there was a little bang and a smell and the charger lights went out. Nothing I hadn't been doing for a long time. Testing the charger in another socket confirmed its demise. Fortunately I have a spare charger and the battery seems fine, and I managed ok for the rest of the trip. I shall get the replacement which I think can charge two batteries mentioned on nearby thread. Anyone had this problem? The only possible cause i can think of is some dirt or a hair getting on the terminals causing a short - unless transformers just die sometimes, it was over 3yr old and well-used.

Matthew Hunt

Cottenham, Cambridge, UK

Matthew Hunt

[Mark Pope]

I'm no electronics expert, but it sounds like a capacitor has blown.

We've had two appliances go 'bang' and give out smoke recently - a food mixer and a sewing machine. In both cases, it was a capacitor that had gone.

Have you tried to use the charger with the 12v cable?

You may find that the charger is repairable.

 

HTH

 

Mark

[wparsonsgisnet]

Or, get an M9. They come with the additional charger you need.

[gravastar]

There's one aspect of the old M8 chargers that's not too well engineered in fact it looks as if it may have been added as an afterthought to get the charger to meet radio frequency interference (RFI) regulations. There's a sheet of copper foil insulated by cardboard and adhesive tape immediately at the back of the PCB. If I remember the foil is connected to the line neutral. Unfortunately the insulation rests against the sharp ends of component leads where they have been cut off, so it's conceivable that dropping the charger or deforming the case could cause the insulation to be punctured resulting in a short.

 

Bob.

[Jark89]

Or, get an M9. They come with the additional charger you need.

 

Sage advice here! Afterward, you can send just send the leftover M9 my way since you only need the charger. Of course, I'll pay for shipping. :D:D

[lanetomlane]

I had exactly the same thing happen about 9 months ago. Fortunately I had a second charger from my back-up M8 and have been using that since. At the time I posted a Thread on the failure and someone came back to say there is a fuse in the charger.

 

There are 4 screws holding the charger together and these are embedded in something like black silicon. The silicon like substance is easy to remove but I didn't have a screwdriver to undo the 'tamper-proof' scews. I keep meaning to either find the right appliance for removing the screws, or take the charger into MK's for a fix.

 

Your thread has reminded me to get myself in gear and do something.

__________________________

Regards, Tom

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photography by Tom Lane

[mnsh]

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Thanks Mark - alas I thought that's it blown for ever and the charger went in the bin at the holiday cottage in Wiltshire (not far from Swindon where we visited some old friends) - good thought about the DC part although never needed to use. Got some lovely photos of the scenic villlages of Lacock, Castle Coombe etc on our walking holiday.

 

Thanks Tom if I had known then I could have kept it for repair. I enjoyed your website and live near you but am much less well-travelled. I have on my LUG Gallery many (boring I'm told) photos of the local stretch of the Old West River that my dog and I walk regularly.

 

Thanks for the technical information Bob, I'll certainly look after my remaining charger, they can get a bit squashed into the camera bag when packing.

 

bw Matthew

[lanetomlane]

 

Thanks Tom if I had known then I could have kept it for repair. I enjoyed your website and live near you but am much less well-travelled. I have on my LUG Gallery many (boring I'm told) photos of the local stretch of the Old West River that my dog and I walk regularly.

 

 

bw Matthew

 

Hi Matthew, I enjoyed your LUG Gallery .... didn't find your photo's boring at all. I particularly liked the local scenes, although with the exception of Haddenham and Willingham, didn't recognise many places. We've lived in Earith almost ten years, but being involved in aviation I do tend to travel a lot. Your shots show me what I'm missing at home.

____________________

Regards, Tom

 

 

 

 

 

Photography by Tom Lane

[dhsimmonds]

Hi Mathew

 

Chargers are regrettably Leica's achilles heel. I had exactly the same thing with my DMR charger. Fortunately it was still within "passport" and it was replaced FOC...but of course this took some time, so I had to replace it in the meantime! It didn't matter as I then kept one permanently in my car!

 

I have never had a charger fail on any other make of digital camera.

[bobdubois]

Hi Matthew,

I've used this charger (with the proper adapter) on Leica, Nikon and Canon batteries.

It's less expensive than any of the manufacturer's models, has a series of indicator lamps to show the % of charge, and you can charge two different batteries at once.

Delkin Devices Batteries

Regards,

Bob

[jrgoldman9]

I have the bulky charger but I also bought the Delkin Universal Charger (about $45) with 2 Leica battery plates ($5) and I can charge two M batteries at the same time. There are also plates for most Canon and Nikon batteries.

 

Jay

[Johnny_Johnson]

Hi Jay,

 

How long have you had the Delkin and have you been pleased with it so far? I've been considering purchasing one for an upcoming trip since, between my wife and I, there will be three different form factor batteries to keep charged.

 

Later,

Johnny