Why Does My Sony Cybershot Dsc-w1 Shut Off When Switching Modes?

[leroyjenkens]

I have a Sony Cybershot Dsc-w1, and it's been acting funny lately. I charged the batteries all the way up and turned it on and it kept shutting back off immediately. There's a dial on top of the camera that changes what you want to do. There's a settings option, film option, still picture option, etc. Well, if it's in the settings option, it turns on and stays on, but if it's in any other option (any option that takes pictures or film), then it just turns on and shuts right back off. Any ideas what the problem might be? I'm going on a trip next weekend and need this camera, so I have to know if I just need to buy a new one.
Thanks

 

[phinds]

You might have a weak battery. I once had a situation where I fully charged a set of batteries and my volt meter said they were fully charged but they wouldn't drive the camera and what I discovered was that when even a small load was put on them, the voltage dropped significantly.

 

[leroyjenkens]

You might have a weak battery. I once had a situation where I fully charged a set of batteries and my volt meter said they were fully charged but they wouldn't drive the camera and what I discovered was that when even a small load was put on them, the voltage dropped significantly.

Thanks. I just found some different batteries to try and they work. I did exactly as you said, I charged these other ones all the way up (but for some reason the light on my charger will go out and when I unplug it and plug it back in, the light comes back on. I assume when the light is out they're not charging. But it keeps doing that. Maybe these batteries are just bad) and took this camera out to a nature hike and was disappointed that the camera wouldn't work.
But yeah, thanks. I'm glad it's not the camera that's the problem.

As for that battery charger, do you think it's the batteries causing the light to go out or do you think it's the charger that's the problem? Maybe I could try charging them in something else and seeing if they work.

 

[phinds]

As for that battery charger, do you think it's the batteries causing the light to go out or do you think it's the charger that's the problem? Maybe I could try charging them in something else and seeing if they work.

Most likely it's the batteries but you won't know for sure until you use the charger for a different battery. Putting the batteries in a different charger may not be conclusive.

 

[AlephZero]

The charger will use some fairly simple tests on the charging current and voltage, to decide when the battery is fully charged and switch off. This is because modern rechargeable batteries don't like being overcharged.

But if the battery is faulty, e.g. it has a high internal resistance, those tests will give the wrong result and the charger may "switch off" early.

Similarly the camera will also sense the battery voltage, and shut down completely before it gets low enough so that the camera electronics don't work properly - that could corrupt video that you had already recorded, etc, which is not a good idea!

It's not worth trying to work around the fact that the batteries is out of specification. Just throw them away (or better, recycle them).

FWIW if you recharge a "fully charged" good battery, it is quite normal for it to "charge" for a short time (a few minutes at most) before the charger switches off. Charging the battery generates heat, and that changes the battery voltage. (And for some types of battery, the charger may sense the battery temperature and shut down if it gets too high).