NIKON Coolpix 950 Troubleshooting

Many of these cameras have an interlock kill switch to shut camera off if the door to the memory card is open. This is supposed to kills power when you remove the chip so you don't fry the chip. can you see if that is somehow activated?

milo

Thank you for the reminder,

this Coolpix tells me: "no memory card" if the door is not closed.

But may be the memory card is short circuiting the camera, which in turn will shut down all power and not show any sign of life.

RHABE

RHABE,

Have you tried NIKON service center?

There may be a a free repair in it for you, depending on any recalls

I have a coolpix 950 also, and a few years ago, after about 17,000 photos, I began to have problems with the camera not wanting to turn on when I rotated the switch. Took it to a service center and the diagnosis was it needed a replacement switch barrel. That fixed the problem.

This solution sounds simple-minded, considering the info you have provided, but consider that letting the camera sit unused for three months may have permitted a slight panina to form on the contact surfaces of the switch. That, combined with contact wear (you did not mention the number of photos you have taken, indicating the relative "age" of the camera), could have created the problem where the camera won't "come to life."

It might be the rotating switch.

Don't know about their cameras but do know Nikon used cold soldering on many of their early total station circuit boards....check relays (if you can find them)?

Temperature fluctuations caused the solder to separate from the board.

Thanks to all for your advice,

I deeply dug into the electronic interior and found the rechargeable backup battery:

Sanyo ML12220, see: http://www.abcde.de/data/ml1220.pdf

So either this is dead or the charging circuit is dead or it has lost most of its charge by non-frequent use and batteries not in place.

Momentary voltage is 0.7 V.

Nominal voltage is 3V.

Capacity is 15mAh.

Recommended charge/decharge with 0.1 mA or 3.1 +- 0.15V.

The ugly situation is going on that all the electronic boards had to be disassembled to get access. I have no idea if I have success of reassembly. Considering the spent time this is a fascinating hobby.

In the pic below all disassembled parts are shown and on the right circuit board a white square on the metallic shield is in the place where below the shield the battery is located.

In the photo below the shield is removed and the battery with its blue shrink tube visible.

RHABE

Great detective work.

I presume that you have concluded that the battery is kaput. You might try an experiement to see if you can check out the rest of the system.

If you have access to a regulated DC power supply, you might be able to "jumper" a 3.0 volt source around the battery to see if the system comes back to life. Choose a moderate current limit so you don't run the chance of frying something. Even if the charging circuit is defective, that should still get you some action.

If you get "life", then all you need to do is change out the battery; otherwise, keep looking.

note: you might be able to purchase replacement pc boards from some Nikon dealters, or Nikon itself.