Is it my battery ?

[majordad]

I,ve a Samsung WB500 compact digital camera for the past 18mths. I've only used it maybe 10 seperate times. Last time out it went dead. Battery needs charging I thought. I plugged it in, the light in the charge lead goes red, orange, green and then out! Iv left it pluugged in but it does not seem to be taking a charge, ie it wont switch on. Even though its only 18mths old, mite the battery be gone, or maybe the lead / connection is loose, but seems ok. Any advice appreciated. I bought it in Dixons at Eurotunnel but since I live in Ireland its not practical to return it.

[XG332]

Go to a jessops, ask them if they would see if there universal charger will charge it. Also try a new battery in your charger. Buy a new of whichever is broken.

[LongQ]

majordad said:

I,ve a Samsung WB500 compact digital camera for the past 18mths. I've only used it maybe 10 seperate times. Last time out it went dead. Battery needs charging I thought. I plugged it in, the light in the charge lead goes red, orange, green and then out! Iv left it pluugged in but it does not seem to be taking a charge, ie it wont switch on. Even though its only 18mths old, mite the battery be gone, or maybe the lead / connection is loose, but seems ok. Any advice appreciated. I bought it in Dixons at Eurotunnel but since I live in Ireland its not practical to return it.

Could be a duff battery. We had a Casio with a similar problem after just 6 months. Casio kindly supplied a new battery although I had bought a replacement in the meantime.

I assume the Samsung has a removable battery.

I'd suggest either find a local supplier who could try another battery (known to be good) to see if that sorts it out or simply buy a new battery (get a compatible for a few quid) and try that. They usually come with enough initial charge to be able to test the camera.

I took from your post that you think the battery is not taking a charge. Have you recharged it much previously? There is usually a small discharge from the batteries even when the camera is not used and I have seen a few that get so low before a charge attempt is made that they simply will not respond. On the other hand I have also seen chargers that appear to be working but are not putting out enough power to kick start the charge process.

This looks like it should be the battery you need to carry out the checks.

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?p...

[jt racing]

I work in photgraphic retail, and I see this about 4 times a week. I'd bet on the battery, if it's the charger it probably won't show a light full stop.
Find a friendly camera shop and they'll check it.
Worth throwing the battery in the freezer for a night or two. Sometimes resets the memory effect and the battery might work again.

[majordad]

Many thanks for the help. I'll see what I can do. I always let the battery fully die as I remember something called memory effect with batteries and thought it always best to fully discharge first. No Jessops here in Ireland Im afraid but I'll chase it up.

[LongQ]

jt racing said:

I work in photgraphic retail, and I see this about 4 times a week. I'd bet on the battery, if it's the charger it probably won't show a light full stop.
Find a friendly camera shop and they'll check it.
Worth throwing the battery in the freezer for a night or two. Sometimes resets the memory effect and the battery might work again.

Agreed.

However I have a Tom Tom sat nav that gets rare use and the battery in that can become so flat that it won't start up, even when plugged in, using the car mount. It will recover using the mains charger.

On the other hand I have an elderly Creative MP3 player (HD version) that stopped charging fully using the Creative charger, though it had seemed to work. Then I discovered that it would not fully power up even if the charger was plugged in. Thought it was the battery and something about the way that the whole thing interaced to the drive but when I realised the Tom Tom mains charger would be compatible I tried that and it instantly sprang to life ... clearly a problem with the Creative charger's output although the symptoms initially suggested a battery problem.

Darned frustrating this technology lark.

[majordad]

Just to let you know the outcome here, it WAS the battery. After 5 emails to Samsung Help they sent me a free battery which worked . Interesting to note they said my 2 yr warranty covered a new battery. Pity Samsung s online help is so poor, when they reply to you you need to go through the whole process of filling in a form each time as the link on their reply comes up error code 404 when clicked.

Many thanks to all for help.