jimbobuk Posted October 23, 2007 Share #1 Posted October 23, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) I just tried to charge my only battery today that died at the most inopportune moment today (having just taken a stream of shots in continuous mode. It sat there and finished emptying its buffers and then that was it.. no display in the battery window even, that is normal isn't it?!?). I went and got the charger and tried it, noticed that it was quite loose as it fits in the socket (UK spec) I can't see anything in that area that has changed, i just think its part of the adapter design, and play in a normal fitted socket. At one point i saw the light come on briefly and then off again. You are ok plugging it in with the battery already charged aren't you? Its not lit any LEDs since, which i guess means its broken.. I wondered about the fuse but this doesn't appear to be changeable, all being so sealed. I then tried the DC car adapter and this lit the lights and wanted to charge the battery fine.. its obviously the AC path that requires the transformer. Very gutting though.. any pointers? Its still in warranty so i'll be phoning Leica tomorrow. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 23, 2007 Posted October 23, 2007 Hi jimbobuk, Take a look here M8 charger broke. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Shootist Posted October 23, 2007 Share #2 Posted October 23, 2007 I just tried to charge my only battery today that died at the most inopportune moment today (having just taken a stream of shots in continuous mode. It sat there and finished emptying its buffers and then that was it.. no display in the battery window even, that is normal isn't it?!?). I went and got the charger and tried it, noticed that it was quite loose as it fits in the socket (UK spec) I can't see anything in that area that has changed, i just think its part of the adapter design, and play in a normal fitted socket. At one point i saw the light come on briefly and then off again. You are ok plugging it in with the battery already charged aren't you? Its not lit any LEDs since, which i guess means its broken.. I wondered about the fuse but this doesn't appear to be changeable, all being so sealed. I then tried the DC car adapter and this lit the lights and wanted to charge the battery fine.. its obviously the AC path that requires the transformer. Very gutting though.. any pointers? Its still in warranty so i'll be phoning Leica tomorrow. Cheers Jim Try popping out the plug part of the charger and re-seating it in the charger. It just sounds very strange that you are the third person to report a broken charger in the last month or two and the second this week. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbobuk Posted October 23, 2007 Author Share #3 Posted October 23, 2007 I've tried using different plug parts, including the 2 circular pins one that is what shavers have in this country, via a shaver adapter into UK 3 pin.. this didn't work either. Can anyone else confirm that with it say switched off at the wall there is a fair amount of play in you being able to push and pull it and made it rotate more than you'd like in the vertical plane.. the kind of movement that would make fitting a battery whilst it was plugged in cause it to rotate a bit. I just wonder if the fuse has blown somehow. Very frustrating though.. its a 2nd hand M8 that hasn't had that much use, i've only used the charger twice now, perhaps 3 times this attempt.. other than that its been carefully sat on a shelf. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted October 24, 2007 Share #4 Posted October 24, 2007 James, as Ed says, someone else has had problems with their charger too, most likely the fuse which is soldered in place. As I've described in that thread, you can use pretty much any laptop brick (the charger is rated up to 24v - check the rating plate on the underside) to power it through the car cable. I now use just the charger part of it, powered from the laptop brick which I always have with me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbobuk Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share #5 Posted October 24, 2007 That does appeal... but how do you get a lead that fits the car charger port? Didn't look that standard to me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbobuk Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share #6 Posted October 24, 2007 I'd appreciate a link to the other thread if you have one to hand, otherwise i'll go searching when I can. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted October 24, 2007 Share #7 Posted October 24, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Here the link... http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/36878-non-working-m8-charger.html#post384900 The connector is not standard. You would need to cut into the cable and use a connector so that you can use one or the other. A trip to Maplin/Radio Shack might be required. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbobuk Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share #8 Posted October 24, 2007 thanks, i will give it a go sometime.. this time though i'm sending the charger back for replacement/repair by leica. this though looks ideal in the future, and so will be brought Maplin > Cigarette Lighter Mains Power Supply lets you use the car plug in the house. Job done.. albiet rather clumsily. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted October 24, 2007 Share #9 Posted October 24, 2007 That converter is rated as 1A but the Leica charger DC input is rated as 1.1A. You may be OK though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
neelin Posted October 25, 2007 Share #10 Posted October 25, 2007 That converter is rated as 1A but the Leica charger DC input is rated as 1.1A. You may be OK though... For what it's worth, I checked current draw some time ago at nominal 12vdc (about 13v from my small solar/wind/battery array) & starting from a not totally discharged battery the charger was drawing slightly less than 500ma, and it seemed to kind of ramp down from there as charging continued. I have yet to see what a stone-dead battery starts the charge cycle at. I'm surprised, Mark that you haven't checked the loads while you were working on your project. I guess I have more an interest in this because I'm off grid when at the cottage and I'm mentally tallying my power useage all the time. Robert Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted October 25, 2007 Share #11 Posted October 25, 2007 You're right, I didn't because I knw I was going to run it off a laptop brick which is rated 4A so i had capacity to spare. I agree it will probably be OK. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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