DSTE replacement D-BG5 grip problem

I've placed a WTB ad in the classifieds for a genuine Pentax grip but some of you may have had the same problem I have, and fixed it.

The basic problem is that batteries don't last very long when I use the camera with one battery in the grip. The battery indicator very soon shows that the battery is partially depleted.

Could it be the grip at fault, or possibly the camera circuitry?

If you have experienced this problem and you've been able to fix it, I'd love to know. I will take my grip apart and see what's going on, but not until I have another grip.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Peter, are all the contacts clean, both on the grip and camera and internal battery contacts. I found this was an issue with a K7.

Peter
I am not certain if this could be relevant, but I had a similar issue with the grip on the K20D when one of the spring loaded pins on the grip was slightly compressed and had jammed in that position. In my case, the grip was still under guarantee and was replaced

Thanks for your reply. I had cleaned the gold plated grip/body connector contacts, but I hadn't cleaned the internal battery contacts . . . until now. Having cleaned all the contacts I switched on, the battery showed fully charged, which it was. I turned on LV and after 2 or 3 minutes, the top one of the three charge indicators extinguished, but . . . as I was just about to turn off LV, the extinguished battery charge state bar lit up again.

I don't particularly need to use LV very much, it just seemed the best option to 'stress' the battery a bit. The battery I'm using is a Pentax branded 7.2v 1860 mAh (14Wh). I have several others but the one I am most interested in is one I rebuilt with new 2800mAh cells, but that behaves just the same.

Thanks for replying. All of the pins on the grip are sprung loaded, all are at the same height, and all move up and down freely. Contact pads and pins and internal battery contacts have been cleaned as well as the contacts on the battery.