Leica in Iran

[MrK]

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Hi all, 

I'm currently travelling through Iran and my M10 charger is damaged. A friend is looking into sending me a replacement from the Netherlands, but I thought I'd just ask and see if any of you know if there are any dealers or people with connections in Iran who could help me get a replacement.

Long shot, but I thought I'd ask. 

Thanks,

Karl. 

[jaapv]

Bummer... I hope that you have a backup camera and enough spare batteries. The nearest dealers are in Turkey and Egypt. I think your M10 might be the first to enter the country. Lesson to be learnt: Never travel without a spare charger. 

[jankap]

Aren't there converters, that make Leica-current out of USB-current?

Leica should sometimes follow the mainstream.😆

Jan

[wlaidlaw]

There are couple of Hahnel universal chargers which folks on the forum have found to work, which you might find in Tehran. They are called Unipal and there are various versions of them. 

Wilson

[willeica]

Your nearest Leica dealers by far are in Doha, Qatar. Try one of these, Techno Blue (Phone: +974 (0) 44233600) or Khalifa. They are both on the Leica dealer finder site. Qataris are friendly and helpful people (I lived there and worked for their government for 5 years) and unlike the UAE and Saudi Arabia they do not have major issues with trading with Iran.

William

 

[Aperture 2]

I doubt it is the first M10 in Iran 😊, when I was there a coupe of years ago (with my M240) I could see that you had stores selling Apple items and any electronics you could think about. The idea of looking for a universal charger seems good. Here a picture taken in the archeology museum of Téhéran just to put some "local color" in this thread. 

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[MrK]

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Thanks for the input folks. Does anybody have any more info on th universal chargers or links to the discussion? I'm on mobile and can't seem to find anything. 

Wilieca, thanks for the number. That might be my best option since I'll be just across the water in Bandar Abbas in a few days. 

[wlaidlaw]

Have a look at this thread 

 The consensus appears to be a Nitecore universal camera battery charger. I am a big fan of Nitecore products and use both their protected lithium batteries in torches and their tubular lithium ion battery smart charger. Make sure you know which contact is which on the M10 batteries. The sort of store that has a charger, will probably also have a multimeter. You can then identify which of your terminals is the positive and which the negative. The other two terminals are a battery temperature control for fast charging and a battery state indicator. These last two are not used in universal chargers, which set a conservative charge rate, not requiring temperature control. You may find as they don't use the BSI, they do not charge the batteries quite as full as the original Leica charger did. An 80% charge is quite normal for them. Not ideal but better than no charger. 

Wilson

[MrK]

Actually, it's the Nitecore charger that caused all my problems. On paper it seems ideal for travelling - charge 2 batteries at once and a USB connection so it can be charged from a power bank when on the go. I got mine a few months ago and have been testing it out since with zero problems. However, as soon as I arrived in Tehran, I took it out to do an equipment check and it was dead. 

The USB port is actually in a really poorly chosen spot recessed under the charger that all but guarantees that you'll place unwanted stress on it when plugging in and out the cable. Not sure if I got one with bad soldering or it's a common design fault but it's certainly something you don't want to happen when you're far from home. 

Anyway the good news is that I was able to find a guy in the city of Bandar Abbas who was able to fix it in a couple of hours and my batteries are charging away happily as I type. 

And a tip to anybody who's going travelling - sign up to CouchSurfing even if you don't plan on staying with other people. I put a shout out there asking for help and was inundated with kind offers, including the address of the gwuy who ultimately carried out the repair. 

So the moral of the story is - the Nitecore chargers are nice, but just don't rely on them. Bring a spare. 

[wlaidlaw]

1 hour ago, MrK said:

Actually, it's the Nitecore charger that caused all my problems. On paper it seems ideal for travelling - charge 2 batteries at once and a USB connection so it can be charged from a power bank when on the go. I got mine a few months ago and have been testing it out since with zero problems. However, as soon as I arrived in Tehran, I took it out to do an equipment check and it was dead. 

The USB port is actually in a really poorly chosen spot recessed under the charger that all but guarantees that you'll place unwanted stress on it when plugging in and out the cable. Not sure if I got one with bad soldering or it's a common design fault but it's certainly something you don't want to happen when you're far from home. 

Anyway the good news is that I was able to find a guy in the city of Bandar Abbas who was able to fix it in a couple of hours and my batteries are charging away happily as I type. 

And a tip to anybody who's going travelling - sign up to CouchSurfing even if you don't plan on staying with other people. I put a shout out there asking for help and was inundated with kind offers, including the address of the gwuy who ultimately carried out the repair. 

So the moral of the story is - the Nitecore chargers are nice, but just don't rely on them. Bring a spare. 

My  back up is normally a Leica film camera. I learnt my lesson on a trip to India, where both my wife's and my digital Leicas died with electronic/sensor faults. Sadly my M7 has died with a sheared drive spindle. I am waiting to hear if Leica can supply a replacement spare or if not, if my M4-P has the same spindle, which can be cannibalised. Otherwise I am considering buying either a used R9 or a Hexar RF. 

Wilson