Leica R9 winder stopped working

[pascal_meheut]

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Hi,

I have a R9+working in excellent condition. In the middle of a shoot, the winder stopped working. The R9 is still powered of course but since then, I've been unable to fix it. I've removed it and reinstalled it, tried new batteries, etc.

Any idea? Is there a way to know if the problem comes from the winder or the body?

 

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[johnthegasman]

Hi, whilst looking for info on the Leica R8/9 motor drive I read an article about the motor winder which mentioned cleaning the winder and camera contacts using alcohol. There are twelve pins on the winder and twelve contacts on the camera. On the motor winder above the batteries buried in the plastic are two battery contacts which need a pin or tiny screwdriver to give them a clean, there are two push in pins on the camera which need a clean  and finally make sure the batteries are good. 

Hope this is of some help

Cheers

John.

[johnthegasman]

Hi I should  have written    Isopropyl alcohol to clean the contacts

cheers

John.

[pascal_meheut]

Thanks. I tried it but it changed nothing. I think I'll use it without the winder: less weight and less bulk.

 

[csad2001]

Hi, long time ago I had a similar problem and as far as I remember, I have removed the winder, and manually wind the camera several times.

After attaching the winder once again to the camera it works again - but maybe you have already tried this.

 

[johnthegasman]

Hi, this could be an answer has the manual winder when you pull it out slightly it stops the winder, so if the manual winder is operated several times it may make it work!!!

[pascal_meheut]

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Yes, I tried this already... I had several R8 & R9 when they could be bought new and I was used to winder troubles.

I just bought this one recently because I wanted to shoot film again.

In the old times, what you suggest did the trick but with this one, no luck so far.

[wlaidlaw]

One last suggestion: Put a film in the camera, wind on manually, then press the rewind release button on the camera and the rewind slide switch on the winder to see if the motor rewind is working. That can reset the tiny brain in the winder and camera.

On Contaxes, when the winder stopped working, it was nearly always corrosion of the contacts on the main camera on/off switch. There would be enough power getting through to power the camera up but not enough for the built in winders (RTS2 and RX cameras in my case). If you were a left eye shooter like me, the power switch on Contaxes is next to your nose, so is getting damp air breathed on it all the time. Same for right eye shooters on the R9. On my RTS2, Johnsons Photopia  (the UK Contax repair agents) said it needed a new main board, which was about £700 fitted. I took it to another repairer (Kelvin at Protech), who found the corroded power switch contacts plus a dodgy solder joint on the battery compartment. Total cost £40!

Wilson