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DIGILUX 1 - drains battery while not used


rbiciste

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Hello,

We've been using DIGILUX 1 for couple years now and we like it a lot.

We bought the camera used and since the beginning it drains a battery while not used. It is very annoying to pull out the camera and realize the battery is empty. Is it normal? Can we do something about it like change some settings etc.?

I tried to get a new battery which did not help.

Thank you,

Radovan

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Hello,

Thank you for getting back. It might be around 14 days. What confuses me, that some users claim, that the battery lasts forever. Even with fullcharge it is hard to get through of one day taking snaps. We use the display all time though.

I was thinking about some settings that we should change.

Thanks,

Radovan

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If you aren't using the camera the battery will still lose charge. Also if the battery is older it may not be working to full capacity.

 

Basically you need to charge it up before you anticipate using the camera or at least top it up once a week to be on the safe side. You might also consider buying a new battery and at least you have a back up then too.

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Radovan,

 

I'm not familiar with the Digilux 1 but most cameras have a time and date function so that it can date stamp the files, which means there's a timer circuit in your D1 that's always on. These days timer circuits in electronic equipment draw extremely small currents from a button cell on the camera's motherboard or the main battery if it's present and charged.

 

If there is a way to turn the timer circuit off, like not setting it when you wake the camera from 'deep sleep' after leaving the battery out for long enough you might find that the battery lasts longer. The disadvantage of course is that your pictures won't be date stamped.

 

As James points out, your battery might just be too old to hold a charge and need replacing. Remember too, that if you store the camera in a cold place the battery's capacity may be severely reduced.

 

Pete.

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Thank you all!!! I'm going to watch it more closely. I actually have a new battery. Why I'm complaining is that changing the battery is rather painful. We have the display hood always on. So changing the battery means unscrewing the hood etc. We are not using timestamps nor cares about it. :)

I have checked the old battery and one contact was pushed inside the casing. It could cause a charge malfunctioning.

I've not realized that the time saving circuit could slowly drain the battery. The camera obviously does not have button backup battery nor capacitor to save the time settings during battery change. As we bought it used I was always suspecting it could have been damaged by the previous owner. It seems now it was just matter of circumstances. Old battery was tired and we do not use the camera very often.

Thank you again for all the suggestions,

Radovan

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Radovan, I noticed the same thing a couple months after getting my Digilux 1 new.

 

I've forgotten how long the battery charge held when I wasn't using the camera, but I know it was less than a month.

 

I checked with Leica Technical in the US, and they assured me that "that's about what we expect." I repeated the question just to be sure we were communicating, and they said, 'yes, we don't expect the Digilux 1's battery to hold charge very long even when the camera isn't used.'

 

My guess is that two weeks may be about as much as you should expect. Later models (Digilux 2 etc) do give longer battery life when the camera isn't in use.

 

I just got into the habit of charging the battery before taking the camera out to shoot, and charging it again when I brought the camera in. Basically, that meant that one of my two batteries was in the camera and probably about out of power, and the other was charged and ready to go.

 

Hope that helps! :)

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