Dead Pentax 555?

wkasimer

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Jun 27, 2007, 10:44:00 AM6/27/07

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A couple of days ago, I turned on my Pentax Optio 555. The lens
didn't extend, but the camera chirped once, the LCD lit up briefly
with the "Optio" logo, and then shut off after about a second. I
charged the battery, with the same result

Is it dead? Or can I resuscitate it myself? I'm assuming that by
now, it's not worth having repaired professionally, since a
replacement would cost less and have more features.

Thanks -

Bill

Neil Harrington

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Jun 27, 2007, 1:00:02 PM6/27/07

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"wkasimer" <wkas...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:1182955440.2...@n60g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

Are you sure the battery is still good? When you turn the camera off and on
again, does it do the same thing? Or does it not do anything at all?

If it doesn't do anything at all until you recharge the battery, and then
does the same thing just once, and then you have to recharge the battery
again, I would suspect that the battery may have gone bad. Either that, or
there might be a short somewhere in the camera that's draining the battery.

You might want to try getting a cheap replacement battery on eBay. Checking
just now, I see one seller has that size for $3.95 plus $6.95 shipping:
http://cgi.ebay.com/D-L17-Battery-for-Pentax-Optio-450-550-555-USA-Seller_W0QQitemZ250136156031QQihZ015QQcategoryZ64348QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I've had good luck with various no-name replacement batteries bought on
eBay.

Neil

davy

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Jun 27, 2007, 8:23:05 PM6/27/07

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Hi Bill,
Dunno if there is any help here for you, 'Pentax Forum -- Uncategorized
- photo.net'
(http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a?topic_id=1901&category=uncategorized)
and 'Pentax camera error codes explained'
(http://www.pentaxuser.co.uk/faq/pentaxerrorcodes.html)

You'd think it'd pop a error code up wonder if it's worth trying a
different set of batteries just incase they are not holding a full
charge.

Don't know why but someone brought me a camera once.... being a
electronic engineer folks think you can fix everything..... first thing
I did was to try a brand new set of batteries in, lo and behold it
worked after I tried various set's

Funny thing is it was quite fussy which batteries it had in, I tried a
couple of different brands, it was a Olympus I can recall but don't ask
which model.

One point you may be aware of is that the ol' LCD draws a fair amount
of current because of the backlight, one good test is to try it with the
LCD off if you have a viewfinder that is.

Another point to bear in mind due to the heavy current demanded by the
backlight on the viewfinder you only need dirty battery contacts, due to
the current this could cause it to become a 'resistive' connection
causing the voltage to drop... worth bearing in mind.

Best I can do I'm afraid until someone with greater knowledge come's
along.

Davy

wkasimer

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Aug 20, 2007, 9:15:28 PM8/20/07

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Thanks to both of you for the tips. I tried cleaning the contacts,
and then a new battery via eBay, and it's still dead.

Not worth repairing (although it pains me to say that about a camera
that cost $500 only few years back), so I've replaced it with a Canon
570IS.

Bill