In camera charging question

I have what appears to be a dead SQ20, an Instax camera from Fujifilm.

Attaching a charging USB cable does not seem to work. According to the manual, upon charging the self timer light is on, and off once finished. It never goes on, and the camera  still won't turn on.

Suspecting the battery I disassembled it. Turns out it takes a Fuji NP45s lithium battery, which was used with several cameras (Kodak and Olympus as well). It has a typical charge voltage of 4.2, nominal 3.7. When I measured, it was sitting at 2.3V.

I attached the USB and measured the voltage at the connector and battery case that holds the battery; it sat at 2.4ish V. I didn't expect 4.2V as I believe it would need to sense a battery before going higher, but I'm not sure.

What concerns me is that I'm still not sure it's the battery itself. Aside from the fact that usually when my lithiums are dead they don't have that voltage, it seems the indicator light, the self timer, should go on.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying a battery and messing with it further, and if my logic is sound.

TIA.

robgendreau wrote:

I have what appears to be a dead SQ20, an Instax camera from Fujifilm.

Attaching a charging USB cable does not seem to work. According to the manual, upon charging the self timer light is on, and off once finished. It never goes on, and the camera still won't turn on.

Suspecting the battery I disassembled it. Turns out it takes a Fuji NP45s lithium battery, which was used with several cameras (Kodak and Olympus as well). It has a typical charge voltage of 4.2, nominal 3.7. When I measured, it was sitting at 2.3V.

I attached the USB and measured the voltage at the connector and battery case that holds the battery; it sat at 2.4ish V. I didn't expect 4.2V as I believe it would need to sense a battery before going higher, but I'm not sure.

What concerns me is that I'm still not sure it's the battery itself. Aside from the fact that usually when my lithiums are dead they don't have that voltage, it seems the indicator light, the self timer, should go on.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying a battery and messing with it further, and if my logic is sound.

TIA.

Lithium batteries (of which there are actually several different kinds) require a smart charger. My guess would be that the voltage isn't high enough to register properly with the charger, but maybe not? I'd start by trying to let it charge for 2-3 hours and then test, watching it the whole time because you don't want a fire.

ProfHankD wrote:

robgendreau wrote:

I have what appears to be a dead SQ20, an Instax camera from Fujifilm.

Attaching a charging USB cable does not seem to work. According to the manual, upon charging the self timer light is on, and off once finished. It never goes on, and the camera still won't turn on.

Suspecting the battery I disassembled it. Turns out it takes a Fuji NP45s lithium battery, which was used with several cameras (Kodak and Olympus as well). It has a typical charge voltage of 4.2, nominal 3.7. When I measured, it was sitting at 2.3V.

I attached the USB and measured the voltage at the connector and battery case that holds the battery; it sat at 2.4ish V. I didn't expect 4.2V as I believe it would need to sense a battery before going higher, but I'm not sure.

What concerns me is that I'm still not sure it's the battery itself. Aside from the fact that usually when my lithiums are dead they don't have that voltage, it seems the indicator light, the self timer, should go on.

I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying a battery and messing with it further, and if my logic is sound.

TIA.

Lithium batteries (of which there are actually several different kinds) require a smart charger. My guess would be that the voltage isn't high enough to register properly with the charger, but maybe not? I'd start by trying to let it charge for 2-3 hours and then test, watching it the whole time because you don't want a fire.

The charger is build into the camera.

I tried charging in the camera overnight, no dice.

After posting I hacked together a charger using one from a similar battery and charged it for a few hours. This worked fine; the battery is a bit depleted but pretty good (over three years old). So it's not the battery; unfortunately the camera is dead because even replacing it there's still no response, with the batter at 3.9V.

Sad end...but it was a thrift stop buy. At least I've got a good battery out of it though:)

Thanks.

robgendreau wrote:

After posting I hacked together a charger using one from a similar battery and charged it for a few hours. This worked fine; the battery is a bit depleted but pretty good (over three years old). So it's not the battery; unfortunately the camera is dead because even replacing it there's still no response, with the batter at 3.9V.

Oh well. If I had to guess, if you don't see signs of water damage, it's probably a blown electrolytic capacitor in the power regulation circuit. This is quite common in old electronics. You would look for a can-shaped part that has a bulge on the top, and they usually aren't that hard to replace, nor expensive. If you don't see a bulging cap, it's definitely not worth diagnosing and fixing...

Sad end...but it was a thrift stop buy. At least I've got a good battery out of it though:)

There you go. Given the cost of Instax film, I don't think I'd be trusting a flakey SQ20 even if repair seemed obvious.