How to fix DMC-TZ3 and DMC-TZ4 sudden death problem

Back in 2007 i bought my wife a DMC-TZ3, which she and I both enjoyed immensely. One day in early 2009 it just stopped working. The power switch did nothing, it was simply dead.

I liked the TZ3 so much that I replaced it with a DMC-TZ4 from eBay, which also worked splendidly, for almost a year. Then one morning it woke up dead. Changing batteries and memory cards did nothing. Completely unresponsive.

Obviously, it was time for drastic measures. Both cameras had died in similar fashions, and neither had suffered any kind of catastrophic event. Maybe something inside had simply failed (and could be replaced).

Looking around online I found a TZ3 service manual freely available on the Panasonic website (link below), although I'm not sure if it's supposed to be, since the TZ4 one was unavailable without a subscription.

In the beginning of the manual, a section jumped out at me, Section 2.4 How To Replace Lithium Battery - could it be so simple? I tore down the camera so i could access the control board, and removed the battery, a tiny ML614S/ZT rechargeable button cell. I promptly ordered one from Digikey (link below) and awaited its arrival.

Well, yesterday the new battery arrived and was popped into the holder on the circuit board. I buttoned up the camera, dropped in a charged battery and... hello! The DMC-TZ3 was alive and well, I even took a few photos to celebrate!

I promptly tore down the DMC-TZ4 so that I could replace it's battery as well. A replacement for the TZ4 battery, an even tinier ML-421, proved much, much harder to find, and when I did find it I was surprised by who had it... Sears! If you aren't aware, Sears runs a pretty amazing appliance parts website called Sears Parts Direct. The battery hasn't shown up yet (I ordered it yesterday), but I'll post an update when it does.

The TZ3 batteries (I ordered two) from Digikey were only $1.78 each, although UPS shipping brought the total to around ten bucks.

The TZ4 batteries from Sears was far more expensive. They cost me $8.14 each (although I knocked that back 15% with a coupon code I found online), and expedited shipping brought the total to around $32.

Still, to repair both cameras for under $50, with the satisfaction of doing it myself... I'll call that a win.

m.

RESOURCES:
Panasonic DMC-TZ3 Service Manual:

http://tsn.pasc.panasonic.com/viewing/ALL/DMC-TZ3P/SVC/DSC0703019CE_PRINTB/DSC0703019CE.pdf

DMC-TZ3 internal battery at Digikey:

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?lang=en&site=US&WT.z_homepage_link=hp_go_button&KeyWords=ml614s/zt&x=0&y=0

DMC-TZ4 internal battery at Sear Parts Direct:

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/displayPartDetailAction.action?partNumber=ML-421S/ZT&productGroupId=0003&supplierId=586&rioptype= $opt_type_code$&sid=IExTransPDOrderConf&eml=$customer_id$

Thanks a lot for the info!

Although I have several TZs, including an early TZ-1 which are all still "going strong", it's great to hear of a possible problem, and it's solution so clearly stated.

I'm bookmarking your post, thanks again!

-Erik
--
DP Review Supporter.



'He who hesitates is not only lost - he's miles from the next Exit.'
http://www.flickr.com/ohlsonmh/

Since the fix is on the battery circuit board, do you think the said break-down has something to do with the batteries (both the original & the 3rd-party ones) used?

Happy to hear that you found and fixed the problem.

One of the things that I like about the (two) ancient Canon A5xx cameras that I have is that the internal "keep-alive" battery is intended to be user replaceable. It is in its own little plastic carrier located in the same compartment with the SD card and main AA batts. [haven't needed to replaced either to date].

--
Never put off until tomorrow. . .
that which you can avoid doing altogether.

Louis BC said:

Since the fix is on the battery circuit board, do you think the
said break-down has something to do with the batteries (both
the original & the 3rd-party ones) used?

Click to expand...

Actually, the board where the tiny battery lies is the control board which houses the shutter button, control dial, and speaker. The main battery is connected to a different circuit board.

My own crazy guess is that maybe it had something to do with the Eye-Fi card that was in each camera when it died. Of course, I have no real basis for that and am definitely not an electrical engineer. I'm just noting that it was a common factor between the two failures, and the use of a wifi SD card was most likely unforeseen by the Panasonic engineers who designed the camera.

I have a TZ3 that seems to have the "sudden death" problem and luckily I came across your info. I have downloaded the factory service manual. My question is: in reality, how difficult is it to do the needed tear down and reassembly to access the battery? It seems to be a fair amount of work. I have taken the covers off of a couple of cameras and got them back together but I am hardly a repair man. Thank you.

Nornat

Nornat said:

I have a TZ3 that seems to have the "sudden death" problem and luckily I came across your info. I have downloaded the factory service manual. My question is: in reality, how difficult is it to do the needed tear down and reassembly to access the battery? It seems to be a fair amount of work. I have taken the covers off of a couple of cameras and got them back together but I am hardly a repair man. Thank you.

Nornat

Click to expand...

Yes - a couple of "Here's How" photos or videos like some which have shown how to clean sensors on these cameras, would be a great thing!

-Erik

--
DP Review Supporter.



'He who hesitates is not only lost - he's miles from the next Exit.'
http://www.flickr.com/ohlsonmh/

When the SDP happened to my TZ3, I took out the normal battery and then repeatedly moved the on/off switch back and forth quickly(as fast as I could) for a couple dozen times. Popped the battery back in and then it started working again. A time or two it did take a couple times before it revived. I've revived the camera about a half dozen times like this.

Just did my "fix" a few days ago and then seen this by chance.

The battery solution is more of a true fix, so I'm ordering up and fix it right this time rather than keep doing my "band aid" fix to the camera.

Thanks for the info!!

If you do replace the battery, please tell us about taking apart the camera, especially whether or not you disconnected the cables and if so, how you did it. If you didn't disconnect them, please tell us how you worked around them to get to the battery.
thank you.

Really hope this will help me with my LX2, which just suddenly died on the way home, after a completely uneventful life.

The LX2 seems to use the same ML-421 battery, according to the repair-manual I bought at:

"Just one of the many online repair-manual-sale-sites. No bad deal if you want just one manual."

After some hour of googeling, I gave up on trying to find a free version.

Now I'll have to find that ML-421 with a low shipment-fee to Europe. Will post link if I find any.

Kind regards,

Martin

Since this post originally appeared, I've found that YouTube often has little tutorials like "how to clean the sensor" &tc - you may want to try there or just google "replacing keep-alive battery", there might be something out there.

Good luck & keep the forum posted with how it works out.







--
"Measure wealth not by things you have but by things for which you would not take money"
www.flickr.com/ohlsonmh/ [email protected]

Well, I'll be darned! When my TZ3 quit it never even occurred to me to change the internal battery myself. I simply thought it would be to expensive to have fixed and bought the TZ5. Guess I gave up on a pretty good camera. Live and learn. Thanks for the info. I just figured the old TZ3 had reahed the end of the line and died an unnatural death. Thanks for posting about this.

It took some time to find the ZL-421S/ZT, but I found one here...


Dutch shop, not very cheap shipping rates, even in the Netherlands, but at least they have one, and responded to my inquiry by mail.

Now have to wait a few weeks.

Martin

hello. my camera has problems the pictures are all pink color.I didn't used the camera about a six months and now its working properly could it help this properly infusion . I sent you sample. Could you help me please because its very nice camera.




nr.1




nr.2

Thank you, I now have a great working camera again!

Thanks so much! I just repaired my TZ3, I really wasn't sure that it will work again because I had to disconnect some of the cables, but hopefully, no problem, now, it works like a charm!

Someone knows wher to find service manual for recent panasonic TZ3 it sems hard to find some ( TZ70, TZ80...)