Depleted battery in Kx

Hi

I don't think the camera warrants the repair prices that Johnson Photopia charge. Although in many ways the camera is almost in mint condition, paying out a large amount for a fix that may well go wrong again is not worth it. Speaking to Johnsons Photopia, they don't admit there is a problem, so won't discuss potential remedies. That rings loud alarm bells. This issue is well known and there is a fix for it which normally entails simply re-setting the firmware or replacing two internal Asmann batteries, or both. They don't admit to any of it, which tells me they are not honest people. They simply say send it in and they will look at it. If their quote is too high, then they won't send my camera back unless I pay £24. Pentax themselves simply wash their hands by pushing me toward Johnsons Photopia, after also denying the issue. They don't want to talk about it.

The issues are simple.

1. The camera was designed with a fault that shows up in many cameras after a while.
2. The fault is identified fairly early on but is not remedied at manufacture stage during the current on sale period (2 yrs?) of the camera. Instead, Pentax simply provide a Firmware update that "partially" solves the problem.
3. If you are lucky your camera goes wrong within the warranty period.
4. Both Pentax and Johnsons Photopia deny the problem even exists, even though Pentax release firmware update to specifically remedy the issue.
5. If it goes wrong outside the warranty period you are screwed. Either you pay an extortionate amount for a mains adapter (if you can find one), or get it fixed by the sole official repairer also at extortionate rates. Either is unethical and unworthy of the name of Pentax.

If this is the cynical way they treat their customers, I will never touch a Pentax or Ricoh product again.

There are alternative repair houses that are independent. Asahi Photo and Harrow Technical spring to mind, also Newton Ellis & Co in Liverpool. All this is UK based of course, so that depends on where you are situated.

I don't see how you will get to know what is wrong (we can't assume it's what you think it is, although it could be) without sending it to someone for assessment and a quote.

That wasn't actually a Ricoh product, Pentax were owned by Hoya then. Recent cameras are much more reliable. Don't base future buying decisions on that camera where they were trying to make it more user friendly having AA batteries at a time Lithium batteries were pretty pricey. As a result Time Magazine listed the Pentax K-x in its Best Travel Gadgets of 2009 list and it won the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) award for Best DSLR Entry Level in Europe 2010. While your experience is by no means unique others have used and loved them without issue and solved that problem when experienced. It is just a matter of finding the right batteries for it! Surely you can't be surprised Johnsons wanting to charge something to examine an eight year old camera? It must be an hour or two's work to disassemble it, examine it and put it back together then post it back. But if it is just a wrong battery issue there's not a lot they can do.

Here's an updated link to that Youtube video about getting the batteries to work if you followed the link mentioned earlier in this thread and attempted to view it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LRwoV1Yeac
(Just watched this and it was different to the previous one I'd link to which seems to have gone. Can't help that but sorry anyhow.)

What are you using to charge your batteries? Might they not be getting a full charge now?

Hi

Spoke to Asahi Photo. They said to try a Lithium battery pack rather than individual AAs. He said they were CR-something, he couldn't remember the correct model. He said they would fit into the Kx and the Kr. Anyone got an idea of which pack he means?

https://www.batterystation.co.uk/aa-batteries/energizer-lithium-aa-l91-lr6-batte...

Further development. The guy at Asahi said that the correct battery pack is listed in the Users manual of the camera. Unless I am going blind, I can't find a mention of a battery pack. It just mentions AAs and the K-AC84 AC adapter as power options. Another strange development. Just as a matter of trial, I put into the camera an ordinary set of Duracell AA batteries which I think are Alkaline. Camera comes on with Full Green Battery level indicator. What is going on??? When I got the camera initially, Duracell AAs were the batteries it would complain about!

[quote:3496ace15f="JAK"][quote]https://www.batterystation.co.uk/aa-batteries/energizer-lithium-aa-l91-lr6-batte...

Hi

These are the batteries I already have. I have three sets of them. None of them even power the camera on at all. They measure 1.67v each (not under load).

When my brother-in-law bought a K-x some years ago the original lithium batteries supplied with it lasted for about 1300 shots, which was quite amazing. personally I prefer the lithium battery packs of most recent cameras as they are much quicker to change in the field.

I had a Kx which also did not like certain batteries, some would not even turn the camera on even thought the batteries were fully charged. once I found batteries which worked (Energizer rechargables I think) I stuck with them and had no more problems.

Yes the Energizers were the ones recommended to me by a Pentax specialist camera dealer. These were the disposable types. The problem with sensitive electronics seems to be the available battery voltage, the available voltage under load and the quality of the cables or circuitry. I worked for years in the tech dept. for a company who imported opto-electronic products (of a kind). Power delivery was an issue because the electronics were sensitive and required good power cabling (which they often didn't get due to cheap Chinese power cables having high resistence). With this camera, its not just about battery type, but voltage and draw. My Lithium Energizers have a resting voltage of 1.67v but won't turn the camera on at all. The Eneloops are rechargable, have a resting voltage of 1.34v, but at least they turn the camera on (although only for about 30 seconds). This may mean the Energizers may drop to below 1.2v each under load, or at least lower than the Eneloops are. Now I try a set of Alkaline Duracells which shouldn't work at all, and they work!! Someone mentioned earlier about turning the battery type indicator to Auto Detect. When I looked it was set at Lithium, but still the Alkalines worked. I have since set it to Auto Detect.

I think he's probably talking about the cr-v3 batteries. They are equivalent in size to 2 AA batteries side by side. As I recall the pentax battery compartment in the K100D accepts 2 of these, although I never used them so cannot be certain. Reading around the web it looks like these don't fit the K-X battery compartment though.
I've gone through the frustration you are facing with my K100D. It started to do similar things but unlike you the AA lithium batteries fixed it. It's really quite annoying, all you want is the damn thing to work with a battery, any battery.... Good luck.

Hi

Yes it is very frustrating. Its a perfectly capable camera, certainly for my needs, and I have a collection of older Pentax, Tamron, modern Pentax, Russian lenses that I use with it. Its all a great waste because of a simple avoidable power issue.

Hi, I don't know if you picked up on my late edits to my response but reading around the web it looks like the K-x doesn't accept the cr-3v, unlike the K100D.

Ah OK, thanks for that. Seems like the repair centers are not up to scratch with correct info. I kind of got that impression when I spoke to Asahi Photo guy, he sounded like he had a bad cold, coughing and spluttering all the time. Seems like I have ythe choice of either using batteries that work at the time (whatever chemistry they may be), or getting hold of an AC adapter so I can upgrade the firmware.

Hi

So do I. I waited 24 hrs from yesterday and switched the camera on again today. Came on with full green battery indicator. Lets hope this means (touch wood) that the camera is not dying. I suppose the next question is, what is the best charger available for my Eneloops? I have two sets of the white Eneloop AA batteries and have been using a standard cheap charger. Is there a recognized good quality one that will give them a bit more of a deep charge?