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Hi all,

I own a E2N that I found recently on Ebay, and I finally got some PCMCIA cards to test it. But when I gave it a try, the battery showed no more life at all. I plugged it into the charger, but almost 2 minutes later, the light on the charger was rapidly blinking (which indicates that the battery is charged, if I understand well...).

Obviously, the battery wasn't charged, and since thenm I can't get anything out if this battery, leaving me with a marvellous Nikon E2N that I know that it is in good shape, but useless without any battery!!

Is there anywhere I can find any battery to put in my E2N? I've been searching Ebay since a while, but without any luck so far...

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

You get to rip open the pack, tear out the old cells, and put in new ones!

That is the only way to get one of these packs these days.

Not to fear, though. There are plenty of battery specialty stores that will do this job for you.

You don't have to possess the tools and knowledge of battery packs and do it yourself, as once was the case.

BTW, the fast blinking light on the charger is telling you that: "The battery pack has failed to produce a voltage above the fast-charge start threshold, so I am actually going to charge this puppy".....

Later!

Stan

_________________
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

Thanks for the precision about the fast blinking thing, Stan. Does that means that I should leave it on the charge, while it is rapidly blinking, for a long time? Or, is my first assumption - that the battery is death - is the good one?

Your idea to find a specialized battery store is a good one... I didn't had the reflex to look at it. I know a place near here that could help me out. I'll keep you informed. Thanks!

Hi,

Well, you could leave the pack attached to the charger. It has a very low trickle charge rate with that light blinking. The problem is, one cell in trouble is enough to cause that, and the charge rate is way too low to overcome the problem.

I use a trick where I use a bench power supply to manually zap a high current straight into the camera contacts (as opposed to the charger contacts) and see if I can 'wake the thing up'. If I see a rise in pack voltage on a meter as I do this, then I attach it to the charger and see if it will take it from there.

The real issue is that these cameras are (a) old and (b) been sitting on a shelf unused for years. Both conditions are known to cause a battery pack to become useless. Having both at the same time and, well, you might as well head off to the battery store for a cell replacement.

I once had luck bringing e-series packs back to life, but I think the last time was around 2003/2004. After that it's been time to renew the cells in all attempts.

later!

Stan

_________________
Amateur Photographer
Professional Electronics Development Engineer

Just to keep you informed, I went to a battery shot near home, and they disassembled the battery and found that there were 6 NiCd cells in the battery. They were B.O. on these, but they should receive plenty of these in few weeks. They told me between 3 to 5 weeks. They charged me 30$ CDN, and will call me as soon as the battery will be rebuilt.

I'll keep you updated when I'll get it back. Thanks!