Canon XL1 & XL1S Batteries / Battery Options

Alex Dolgin · May 13th, 2002, 12:20 PM

Keep in mind that while using some of the external 7.2V converters you would loose the benefit of the VF "fuel gauge". The camera thinks that it is powered by the external AC power supply/charger and disables the icon.
Alex Dolgin
Dolgin Engineering
http://www.dolgin.net

Ford Minton · May 14th, 2002, 02:41 PM

I cannot afford Anton Bauer batts on my best day. So I got in touch with Doug at Long Valley Equipment about his DeWalt battery rigs. He is working on a set-up for the XL1 for me. I am really stoked as his adapters are pretty bomb-proof and totally affordable compared to A.B. offerings. They are also 12v so you can run OCL's or a TFT off of them as well! Will let you know how his solution works out.

Ford Minton · May 16th, 2002, 04:55 PM

I use an NRG belt and recommend them (and I have put mine through hell). The belt I use has a set-up where the battery itself actually velcro's to the belt and then XLR's into a connector box. That way you can swap batteries off and on the belt so you don't have to deal with disconnecting the belt from accessories and the camera. I dunno if other manufacturers' belts offer this but it is a nice feature that comes in handy all the time. they also have a "fuel gauge" so you have some idea of where you stand battery-life wise.

Steve Kim · June 20th, 2002, 01:07 PM

I purchased XL1s PAL through ZGC in February, 2002.
A tiny little backup battery was burned out within a week.
I'd replaced them 3 times already.
When I don't use the cam, I turned it off and a fully charged BP-945 battery was in the cam.
Chris (ZGC) is looking for Cannon contact.
Has anyone have this experience?

Steve Kim · June 20th, 2002, 01:16 PM

I got a Cannon contact from Chris (ZGC).
I am sending my cam to Cannon Factory Service in NJ.
I hope they can fix it.

Chris Hurd · June 20th, 2002, 01:19 PM

Sounds like a short somewhere. Keep us advised as to what happens with your camera.

B. Moore · June 21st, 2002, 03:41 PM

Canon says don't leave a battery on the camera when your not using it. The battery will trickle discharge. If you try to open the tape transport, with the battery on the camera, with the camera in the "off" position, the door will open and the tape transport will come out. This tells or proves to you that the battery is always "on" and ready. Now take the battery off the camera and try the same thing. Result: the door opens but the tape transport will not pop out. If you leave the batt on the camera for a week, it's been "everyready" waiting for you to put in a tape and therefor has been discharging 24/7.

That's one possibility.....
The other possibility is you have an xl-1s with a problem.

Rob Lohman · June 24th, 2002, 01:59 AM

Are you talking about the MAIN battery now or about the BACKUP
(the little on) battery? I'm assuming that since your tape door
opens when you leave your battery on the camera you are
talking about the MAIN battery? Steve, I think, was talking about
that little backup battery that makes sure your time and other
settings are remembered.

Steve Kim · June 28th, 2002, 10:31 AM

Saga contiunes...

XL1S repair in NJ received my XL1S PAL in Tuesday morning according to FedEx tracking. I have not received any response from them and called them today (Friday 6/28/02).
They said that according to their testing, there is no problem in the cam and they shipped it back to me. I was upset that they didn't even call me to explain how they tested and ask me more about the problem.

My problem (as you may already read about):
I bought my XL1S PAL from Canon UK through ZGC in February, 2002. The original battery burned out within a few days and I called ZGC. They cannot explain why it happened. And I thought I just had a bad battery from Canon and replaced it with the one by RadioShack and things worked fine for 2 months.

In May, 2002, I found the backup battery burned out again, put a new one and it was burned out 10 days later and I replace it again. Same thing happened a week later.

I sent the cam to Canon XL1 Repair, Jamesburg, NJ a week ago.
The Canon repairman was not able to find the problem and concluded there is not problem in my cam and returned it to me.

I should have asked them to keep the cam with a new backup battery at least 2 weeks to find how the backup battery is drained so quickly. Canon rep said they usually don't keep the cam for repair that long period time. According to my experience with the problem, they cannot regenerate the problem unless they keep it as least 2 weeks during the battery drain.

Canon rep. suggested me to return my cam to Canon Repair and let the head technician take care of this problem. I will do that.

I am not sure what to do if they cannot fix the problem again.
Any advice?

PS: I apprecite Chris at ZGC for the help.

Chris Hurd · June 28th, 2002, 12:26 PM

Chris at ZGC is indeed awesome.

Was Canon Service in Irvine aware that this was a PAL unit? I think you should take them up on their offer to send it back in. The head tech is (I think) Jerry Sullivan. I'm not sure but I thought all PAL units go to the UK for service issues.

I'm willing to bet the problems lies in some form of incompatibility between the Panasonic CR2025 back-up battery and the PAL version of the XL1. It may require some other battery type? Send it back and make sure they know it's a PAL unit.

Don't give up on the Service facility just yet. Keep trying and good luck,

Andrew Leigh · June 28th, 2002, 12:49 PM

Chris,

I have the PAL version with the CR2025....no problem.

Andrew

Chris Hurd · June 28th, 2002, 01:41 PM

Thanks Andrew! Now to be sure that CUSA realizes that Steve's camera is a PAL unit...

Alex Dolgin · June 30th, 2002, 06:07 AM

Steve, what exactly do you mean by "burned out"? What is the simptom? After you took the battery out, did you have a chance to measure the voltage on it?
Thx
Alex

Steve Kim · June 30th, 2002, 08:30 PM

The voltage of a brand new backup battery was 3.3 V and a couple of week later on XL1S, it had reduced to 0.3 V.
The original one was made by Panasonic and all others were made in Swiss and I purchased them at RadioShack.
I measured them before and after except the original one.
I did not notice any external changes except the low voltage.

Alex Dolgin · June 30th, 2002, 09:57 PM

Yes, this pretty much excludes the possibility of the bad contact connection... I would say that you are right, there is a fault in the camera, drawing much more current than it should. The tech should be able to connect the ampmeter in series with the battery and actualy see what the current is. It should be very small, microamps.
Alex

June 20th, 2002, 01:07 PM	#94
Steve Kim Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: McLean, VA Posts: 47	Backup battery burned out 4 times within 4 months I purchased XL1s PAL through ZGC in February, 2002. A tiny little backup battery was burned out within a week. I'd replaced them 3 times already. When I don't use the cam, I turned it off and a fully charged BP-945 battery was in the cam. Chris (ZGC) is looking for Cannon contact. Has anyone have this experience?

June 20th, 2002, 01:16 PM	#95
Steve Kim Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: McLean, VA Posts: 47	I am sending it to Cannon Factory Service in NJ I got a Cannon contact from Chris (ZGC). I am sending my cam to Cannon Factory Service in NJ. I hope they can fix it.

June 20th, 2002, 01:19 PM	#96
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Sounds like a short somewhere. Keep us advised as to what happens with your camera. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

June 24th, 2002, 01:59 AM	#98
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Are you talking about the MAIN battery now or about the BACKUP (the little on) battery? I'm assuming that since your tape door opens when you leave your battery on the camera you are talking about the MAIN battery? Steve, I think, was talking about that little backup battery that makes sure your time and other settings are remembered. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

June 28th, 2002, 10:31 AM	#99
Steve Kim Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: McLean, VA Posts: 47	Bad service from Canon XL1S repair in Jamesburg, NJ Saga contiunes... XL1S repair in NJ received my XL1S PAL in Tuesday morning according to FedEx tracking. I have not received any response from them and called them today (Friday 6/28/02). They said that according to their testing, there is no problem in the cam and they shipped it back to me. I was upset that they didn't even call me to explain how they tested and ask me more about the problem. My problem (as you may already read about): I bought my XL1S PAL from Canon UK through ZGC in February, 2002. The original battery burned out within a few days and I called ZGC. They cannot explain why it happened. And I thought I just had a bad battery from Canon and replaced it with the one by RadioShack and things worked fine for 2 months. In May, 2002, I found the backup battery burned out again, put a new one and it was burned out 10 days later and I replace it again. Same thing happened a week later. I sent the cam to Canon XL1 Repair, Jamesburg, NJ a week ago. The Canon repairman was not able to find the problem and concluded there is not problem in my cam and returned it to me. I should have asked them to keep the cam with a new backup battery at least 2 weeks to find how the backup battery is drained so quickly. Canon rep said they usually don't keep the cam for repair that long period time. According to my experience with the problem, they cannot regenerate the problem unless they keep it as least 2 weeks during the battery drain. Canon rep. suggested me to return my cam to Canon Repair and let the head technician take care of this problem. I will do that. I am not sure what to do if they cannot fix the problem again. Any advice? PS: I apprecite Chris at ZGC for the help.

May 13th, 2002, 12:20 PM	#91
Alex Dolgin Contributor Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Lexington, Ma Posts: 286	Keep in mind that while using some of the external 7.2V converters you would loose the benefit of the VF "fuel gauge". The camera thinks that it is powered by the external AC power supply/charger and disables the icon. Alex Dolgin Dolgin Engineering http://www.dolgin.net

May 14th, 2002, 02:41 PM	#92
Ford Minton Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: San francisco Posts: 54	I cannot afford Anton Bauer batts on my best day. So I got in touch with Doug at Long Valley Equipment about his DeWalt battery rigs. He is working on a set-up for the XL1 for me. I am really stoked as his adapters are pretty bomb-proof and totally affordable compared to A.B. offerings. They are also 12v so you can run OCL's or a TFT off of them as well! Will let you know how his solution works out.

May 16th, 2002, 04:55 PM	#93
Ford Minton Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: San francisco Posts: 54	I use an NRG belt and recommend them (and I have put mine through hell). The belt I use has a set-up where the battery itself actually velcro's to the belt and then XLR's into a connector box. That way you can swap batteries off and on the belt so you don't have to deal with disconnecting the belt from accessories and the camera. I dunno if other manufacturers' belts offer this but it is a nice feature that comes in handy all the time. they also have a "fuel gauge" so you have some idea of where you stand battery-life wise.

June 21st, 2002, 03:41 PM	#97
B. Moore Major Player Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Glendale, AZ Posts: 181	Canon says don't leave a battery on the camera when your not using it. The battery will trickle discharge. If you try to open the tape transport, with the battery on the camera, with the camera in the "off" position, the door will open and the tape transport will come out. This tells or proves to you that the battery is always "on" and ready. Now take the battery off the camera and try the same thing. Result: the door opens but the tape transport will not pop out. If you leave the batt on the camera for a week, it's been "everyready" waiting for you to put in a tape and therefor has been discharging 24/7. That's one possibility..... The other possibility is you have an xl-1s with a problem.

June 28th, 2002, 12:26 PM	#100
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Chris at ZGC is indeed awesome. Was Canon Service in Irvine aware that this was a PAL unit? I think you should take them up on their offer to send it back in. The head tech is (I think) Jerry Sullivan. I'm not sure but I thought all PAL units go to the UK for service issues. I'm willing to bet the problems lies in some form of incompatibility between the Panasonic CR2025 back-up battery and the PAL version of the XL1. It may require some other battery type? Send it back and make sure they know it's a PAL unit. Don't give up on the Service facility just yet. Keep trying and good luck, __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

June 28th, 2002, 12:49 PM	#101
Andrew Leigh Major Player Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Posts: 220	Chris, I have the PAL version with the CR2025....no problem. Andrew __________________ PAL XL-1, DV Raptor, Premiere TOTAL AMATEUR - DOING IT FOR THE FUN

June 28th, 2002, 01:41 PM	#102
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Thanks Andrew! Now to be sure that CUSA realizes that Steve's camera is a PAL unit... __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

June 30th, 2002, 06:07 AM	#103
Alex Dolgin Contributor Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Lexington, Ma Posts: 286	Steve, what exactly do you mean by "burned out"? What is the simptom? After you took the battery out, did you have a chance to measure the voltage on it? Thx Alex __________________ Alex Dolgin Dolgin Engineering Camera DC Power accessories, Fast 4 position Battery Charger http://www.dolgin.net

June 30th, 2002, 08:30 PM	#104
Steve Kim Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: McLean, VA Posts: 47	Voltage: before and after XL1S PAL The voltage of a brand new backup battery was 3.3 V and a couple of week later on XL1S, it had reduced to 0.3 V. The original one was made by Panasonic and all others were made in Swiss and I purchased them at RadioShack. I measured them before and after except the original one. I did not notice any external changes except the low voltage.

June 30th, 2002, 09:57 PM	#105
Alex Dolgin Contributor Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Lexington, Ma Posts: 286	Yes, this pretty much excludes the possibility of the bad contact connection... I would say that you are right, there is a fault in the camera, drawing much more current than it should. The tech should be able to connect the ampmeter in series with the battery and actualy see what the current is. It should be very small, microamps. Alex __________________ Alex Dolgin Dolgin Engineering Camera DC Power accessories, Fast 4 position Battery Charger http://www.dolgin.net