D300 Exhausted Battery Syndrome.

Last weekend my camera started showing EBS and shutting down every few pictures. It started happenning after about 4 hours of shooting.

My camera was bought in Dec of last year and I had about 3K pictures on it. I checked battery connectors on battery and in camera and didn't see any gunk there or in lens connectors area. This was the very first time it happened. I skipped the DeoXit option and decided to send it to Nikon for warranty repair.

I have a question to those who went through this with Nikon, was Nikon successful fixing the problem? I sent my camera to El Segundo, CA.
Thank you,

unless you took under a 100 shots on a fully charged battery..

it looks like the battery was indeed exhausted.

amatorb4 said:

Last weekend my camera started showing EBS and shutting down every
few pictures. It started happenning after about 4 hours of shooting.
My camera was bought in Dec of last year and I had about 3K pictures
on it. I checked battery connectors on battery and in camera and
didn't see any gunk there or in lens connectors area. This was the
very first time it happened. I skipped the DeoXit option and decided
to send it to Nikon for warranty repair.
I have a question to those who went through this with Nikon, was
Nikon successful fixing the problem? I sent my camera to El Segundo,
CA.
Thank you,

Click to expand...

Devendra said:

unless you took under a 100 shots on a fully charged battery..

it looks like the battery was indeed exhausted.

Click to expand...

Highly unlikely unless you have a defective battery. I gave my D300 battery a good test this week end. The camera was on for about 7 to 8 hours Saturday and I took 670 pictures (jpeg) with a 60% charge left. I checked most of the pictures for exposure and focus except those shot in burst mode and even viewed a lot of shots with others. On Sunday I took another 65 with the camera on about 3 hours. I used a VR lens both days which was on all the time as well. After all that and downloading I have 40% charge left on the battery.

I have had the camera show a dead battery once and it wouldn't take a picture. I hit play and the last photo came up and everything was ok after that and has not happened since although I have used it much since then. That was also after the camera had been on for a few hours. Definitely not a dead battery problem as it still had 50% charge on it after it came back up. I think others are reporting the same thing that after it comes back up it is showing a good charge on the battery.
--
Don

Actually after about 4 hrs I've had somewhere in the area of 300+ pictures taken, so when it happened I just reached for the spare battery, but after few shots the spare was showing as exhausted too. Each time I turned off and back on the camera, battery was back to fully charged. BTW the battery I used first after that 300+ pictures was only down one bar only after putting it back. I was shooting with external flash and 24-70 at the time it started happening.

Would you let us know if it works ok when you get it back? Might take a few hundred shots to know. Some have sent it in and still have problems when they got it back after a few hundred or so. I'm waiting to see if mine does it again consistently before getting to concerned since it only did it once. If it does I'm going to try cleaning the contacts first as I have seen what that can do on another camera. I couldn't get a focused shot until the contacts were cleaned.
--
Don

What puzzles me about the problem is why restarting camera would bring battery life back? I would assume that it is not a poor contacts with battery, but some sort of power board failure. I certainly will bring it back to this forum when I get the camera back.

Rcavi8tor said:

Would you let us know if it works ok when you get it back? Might
take a few hundred shots to know. Some have sent it in and still
have problems when they got it back after a few hundred or so. I'm
waiting to see if mine does it again consistently before getting to
concerned since it only did it once. If it does I'm going to try
cleaning the contacts first as I have seen what that can do on
another camera. I couldn't get a focused shot until the contacts
were cleaned.
--
Don

Click to expand...

When the camera started showing EBS and shutting down did you simply send it in for repair just because you were guessing that the battery shouldn't be exhausted after only 4 hours of shooting? as you report this incident this is what it seems you did.

If that was me, I would have at least checked my battery with my trusty Volt/Ohm meter to see how many volts it was putting out. These batteries are rated at 7.4 volts. I just checked my spare, recently charged battery with my digital VOM and it's putting out 8.34 volts. If I had just had your experience, I would not have immediately assumed that the camera was at fault and send it in for repair. I would presumed that the camera was reporting the battery's condition correctly, pulled the battery out and checked it with my VOM. If I saw that the battery was only putting out 6.3 volts or so, I'd have confirmation that the camera was reporting things correctly. If I felt that the battery didn't give me as much working time as it should, I'd watch the battery through several more charge cycles and trash it if indeed it was not holding a proper charge. I strongly suggest buying a cheap Volt/Ohm meter and start using it. If you had just put a freshly charged battery that the VOM had confirmed was putting out at least 7.4 volts and the camera was still reporting an exhausted battery, that's when you send the camera in for repair.

Mine was returned last week. Obviously yours happening with the 24-70 is somewhat unique as mine, and most, are happening with the 70-200. I have not had the oportunity to fully test after the repair to the lens. In another 2 weeks I have a long few days of shooting which should show any issue.

Here is my post and link to initial problem...
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=27789443

John

I just sent my whole kit in to Nikon Canada to check out the EBS problem i've been having. They said they found nothing wrong except the contact were dirty. They cleaned it on all my lenses and the body and now i shall test it some more before i can say the problem is fixed. I had the most issues with my 70-200

I was planning to send the camera to Nikon anyhow, as I had to microadjust focus for all my lenses (all in the + area), I didn't have any focus issues with D70/D200 and my lenses before and I find it hard to believe that the 2 extra MegaPixels was making such a huge difference in focus. So there was 2 issues I asked Nikon to check on.

You are right I could have checked the battery with Volt meter, but both batteries were charged before the event, both are not older than a year, both are genuine Nikon ENEL3e and I never have had an issue with any of them needless to say with both at the same time, plus restarting the camera was bringing battery life back for a while and the next day camera was operating just fine, but I didn't take too many shots. Once again I visually inspected the contacts areas inside the camera and on batteries and didn't find any stuff/gunk as some others on this forum described.

corlissnc said:

When the camera started showing EBS and shutting down did you simply
send it in for repair just because you were guessing that the battery
shouldn't be exhausted after only 4 hours of shooting? as you report
this incident this is what it seems you did.

If that was me, I would have at least checked my battery with my
trusty Volt/Ohm meter to see how many volts it was putting out.
These batteries are rated at 7.4 volts. I just checked my spare,
recently charged battery with my digital VOM and it's putting out
8.34 volts. If I had just had your experience, I would not have
immediately assumed that the camera was at fault and send it in for
repair. I would presumed that the camera was reporting the battery's
condition correctly, pulled the battery out and checked it with my
VOM. If I saw that the battery was only putting out 6.3 volts or so,
I'd have confirmation that the camera was reporting things correctly.
If I felt that the battery didn't give me as much working time as it
should, I'd watch the battery through several more charge cycles and
trash it if indeed it was not holding a proper charge. I strongly
suggest buying a cheap Volt/Ohm meter and start using it. If you had
just put a freshly charged battery that the VOM had confirmed was
putting out at least 7.4 volts and the camera was still reporting an
exhausted battery, that's when you send the camera in for repair.

Click to expand...

amatorb4 said:

What puzzles me about the problem is why restarting camera would
bring battery life back? I would assume that it is not a poor
contacts with battery, but some sort of power board failure. I
certainly will bring it back to this forum when I get the camera back.

Click to expand...

There has been a lot of speculation why this is happening. One guy is on his 5th body and still having the same problem with all 5 bodies. The camera does have a heat sensor to shut the camera off if it gets too hot. That's why the manual says you should not use Live View longer than an hour or the sensor will shut the camera off to prevent overheating. Wonder if that is what's going on. Heat is building up and shutting things down after being on for a few hours in warm temps. What was the ambient temp when you were shooting? Perhaps when it first reached the critical temp an on & off will reset the sensor to allow it to continue for a short time until the temperature again gets too high ?????

When I had mine on for 7 to 8 hours with no problems it was very cool, high 40s low 50s. That BTW was the longest time I had used it to date and it was still the highest temps so far this year that I had used it for that length of time. The high for the day was high 50's, jacket weather all day and windy. The next day when it did do it was like you experienced after it had been on for about 3 hours and temps were in the mid 70s at the time. Just another speculation to go with the dozens already out there. Nikon BTW couldn't get the guy's (with 5 failures) camera to malfunction in the lab (probably where it was AC). One other person was having that problem with the camera shutting down when he was using Live View even though it was less than an hour. However, temperature, not time, is what would trigger it if I understand the manual how it is supposed to work.

Since you experienced it with two batteries it is unlikely both were bad and if it was bad it isn't likely it would revive itself like you experienced and still show 75% charge. Its either going to be bad and stay bad or it is ok. It might revive some after sitting but its going to fail again with very little use. Mine came back up with 43% charge and is still working ok without a charge so far but have only used it for a few shots since then. Waiting to see how long this battery will last before I recharge it.

Some people have cleaned the contacts and reported no more problems. Could be that in addition to affecting current supply and voltage, a dirty contact will also make things run hotter so cleaning the contacts might also prevent heat buildup. But I'm just speculating. I don't know and from what the guy with the 5 bodies says it seems that Nikon doesn't know either and that not everybody is having the problem for whatever reason. Maybe 90 % of the people aren't using the camera for 8 to 10 hours constantly and it never gets a chance to get hot. Maybe someday Nikon will find out and let everybody know it was a cold solder joint or something.

--
Don

I was thinking about sending the whole kit, but I wanted to avoid adjusting the lenses as these were sharp on D70/D200 and D40.
I hope your issue has been resolved.

Thanks,

johnrg said:

Mine was returned last week. Obviously yours happening with the 24-70
is somewhat unique as mine, and most, are happening with the 70-200.
I have not had the oportunity to fully test after the repair to the
lens. In another 2 weeks I have a long few days of shooting which
should show any issue.

Here is my post and link to initial problem...
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1039&message=27789443

John

Click to expand...

Rcavi8tor said:

There has been a lot of speculation why this is happening. One guy
is on his 5th body and still having the same problem with all 5
bodies. The camera does have a heat sensor to shut the camera off if
it gets too hot. That's why the manual says you should not use Live
View longer than an hour or the sensor will shut the camera off to
prevent overheating. Wonder if that is what's going on. Heat is
building up and shutting things down after being on for a few hours
in warm temps. What was the ambient temp when you were shooting?
Perhaps when it first reached the critical temp an on & off will
reset the sensor to allow it to continue for a short time until the
temperature again gets too high ?????

When I had mine on for 7 to 8 hours with no problems it was very
cool, high 40s low 50s. That BTW was the longest time I had used it
to date and it was still the highest temps so far this year that I
had used it for that length of time. The high for the day was high
50's, jacket weather all day and windy. The next day when it did do
it was like you experienced after it had been on for about 3 hours
and temps were in the mid 70s at the time. Just another speculation
to go with the dozens already out there. Nikon BTW couldn't get the
guy's (with 5 failures) camera to malfunction in the lab (probably
where it was AC). One other person was having that problem with the
camera shutting down when he was using Live View even though it was
less than an hour. However, temperature, not time, is what would
trigger it if I understand the manual how it is supposed to work.

Click to expand...

Outside temperature was in the low 80s, nice and sunny day. For the first 2-3 hours I was using D300 with 70-200, than I swapped the lenses with D40 and I was using 24-70 on D300. There was significant amount of time between lens swap and the point when problem started occuring. I was getting equal use from both cameras and I shot about 1100 pictures between the two.

Rcavi8tor said:

Since you experienced it with two batteries it is unlikely both were
bad and if it was bad it isn't likely it would revive itself like you
experienced and still show 75% charge. Its either going to be bad
and stay bad or it is ok. It might revive some after sitting but its
going to fail again with very little use. Mine came back up with 43%
charge and is still working ok without a charge so far but have only
used it for a few shots since then. Waiting to see how long this
battery will last before I recharge it.

Some people have cleaned the contacts and reported no more problems.
Could be that in addition to affecting current supply and voltage, a
dirty contact will also make things run hotter so cleaning the
contacts might also prevent heat buildup. But I'm just speculating.
I don't know and from what the guy with the 5 bodies says it seems
that Nikon doesn't know either and that not everybody is having the
problem for whatever reason. Maybe 90 % of the people aren't using
the camera for 8 to 10 hours constantly and it never gets a chance to
get hot. Maybe someday Nikon will find out and let everybody know it
was a cold solder joint or something.

Click to expand...

This was my first time I continuosly used this camera for longer than 3 hours and it was an outdoor event. At this point I 'd like to find out what Nikon have to say about the issue plus I'd like to avoid any cleaning solution inside the camera as it may do more harm than good, plus focus tuning was another item on the agenda.

Rcavi8tor said:

--
Don

Click to expand...

Thanks,

I experienced EBS Sunday while at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Low 70s, shooting for several hours - problem would be random. Low battery, no auto-focus, then my shutter speed would jump from 1000th to 8000th randomly. Cycled the power, removed the battery in the MB-D10, and re-mounted the 70-200. Worked okay for a while, then the problem repeated.

Sent info to Nikon, and they responded with a series of questions. I think they are trying to determine manufacturing lot issues - asked for serial numbers on D300, lenses, and batteries.

Is this thought to be a battery contact issue, a lens mount / contact issue, or both? I cleaned the battery and lens contacts today with a lens cloth, and took about 100 photos - no problems - but not feeling very comfortable I understand the issue. The more posts I read on this forum does not give me much confidence that I fixed anything.

Suggestions???

Thanks,

I also bought my D300 in December. I took it to India in February and experienced dead battery syndrome on the first day in a national park. It continued for several days, then mysteriously almost fixed itself. Apparently, I was one of the first to send the camera and lens (Nikon 80-400mm) to El Segundo for repair because I was told this was the first time a camera had been returned for DBS. Hard to believe that's the case. Anyway, about 3 weeks later, the camera came back. It's a long story, but aside from replacing the CF holder and "general cleaning", nothing else of significance is on the repair form. So far, I've had no problems.

In India, the temperature was in the 40-50F range; I had 4 batteries with me and experienced failure with all of them; and I never took the lens off the camera (had a D40x with a different lens attached).

Seems like the 70-200mm lens is having the bulk of issues with problem.

I had my 70 - 200 on the D300 at the time. Have not experienced any problems with other lenses, but did not mount any other lenses on the D300 last Sunday.

This lens has already been back to Nikon about two years ago - would not focus on the D70 under high heat and humidity conditions - all my other lenses worked fine.

Everything has been okay until this weekend. I had just cleaned the lens (and mount) on Saturday - maybe I left some residual on the contacts?

Hopefully I will hear from Nikon soon - and if not will do extensive testing this weekend at the speedway.

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

For first 2 or 3 hours I had my 70-200 on D300 and 24-70 on D40, than I swapped lenses.

Petruska said:

Seems like the 70-200mm lens is having the bulk of issues with problem.

Click to expand...

I did a little web search and came upon these posts on photo.net:
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Kl7m

Nikon didn't make a true statement, obviously problem occurred with D200, I also found some posts about D80.

SharonO said:

I also bought my D300 in December. I took it to India in February
and experienced dead battery syndrome on the first day in a national
park. It continued for several days, then mysteriously almost fixed
itself. Apparently, I was one of the first to send the camera and
lens (Nikon 80-400mm) to El Segundo for repair because I was told
this was the first time a camera had been returned for DBS. Hard to
believe that's the case. Anyway, about 3 weeks later, the camera
came back. It's a long story, but aside from replacing the CF holder
and "general cleaning", nothing else of significance is on the repair
form. So far, I've had no problems.

In India, the temperature was in the 40-50F range; I had 4 batteries
with me and experienced failure with all of them; and I never took
the lens off the camera (had a D40x with a different lens attached).

Click to expand...

I was visiting my brother in So. Cal, who works at the El Segundo Nikon Service Center in the management division. He told me that until they get word from the big wigs... they are instructed to not confirm that there is a defect with D300, but they are getting an average of 50 calls day at their service center, with issues concerning the false battery warnings, auto focus issues, and F0 error messages. He said that it's just a matter of time before something is done and that Nikon is working towards a solution that is both equitable for Nikon and their customers, in regards to the known issues. He doesn't have a time line, but they are narrowing down on a range of serial #'s and current owners will be notified at that time. Having gone through 4 D300 bodies... gave him an earful and started venting my frustrations out at him... to sum things up... things got really ugly and we got into a fist fight and dropped to the ground, where he started pulling my leg like I am pulling yours!