Bronica SQ-Ai No Power

I get a SQ-Ai that does not get battery power. The button batteries are good and the contacts at the battery holder look good and get spring tension. Is there anything else I can check?

The SQ-Ai is really a bear with its new design battery compartment. I always try to avoid it.

Are you testing with a prism finder or waist level finder. When using a metered prism, that takes over the shutter speed, and so a problem with the prism finder might cause some functional problems. If you don't have a WLF, just remove the prism and see if the battery LED indicator will light.

Hmm -- makes me glad I targeted the SQ-A!. Never held an Ai in hand, are there contacts in the physical holder to grab each button cell or is it just a mechanical piece? If it has contacts there would be two sets of contacts at play.

The other possibility these days with low turnover of some of the older more arcane batteries is that even a "new" battery may be less than 100% -- do you have a voltmeter you could use to check each cell and, if there is a way to get test probes on the points, verify the 6-point-something volts for the combination at the button holder terminals?

I have an electronic copy of the Ai manual and it doesn't give any assurance one way or the other as to whether the shutter release lock disables all power or is maybe just a mechanical function on the release button.

Anyway as an olde guy troubleshooter, after cleaning the contacts -- and perhaps the button cell surfaces -- with a cotton swab and alcohol, I'd next grab my voltmeter and contemplate the questions I raised above.

The buggers are more complex than one might think and can indeed be frustrating..
Good luck!

voceumana said:

Are you testing with a prism finder or waist level finder. When using a metered prism, that takes over the shutter speed, and so a problem with the prism finder might cause some functional problems. If you don't have a WLF, just remove the prism and see if the battery LED indicator will light.

Click to expand...

The battery testing has nothing to do with fiinder. Also the entire battery holder works fine with my main camera. I knew this camera did not get power when I got it.

I remember the battery compartment design of the SQ-Ai was often called a major downfall in some discussions - can't find it on Photrio but take a look at :

https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/bronica-sq-ai-stopped-working-options.509405/
and
http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=2109.0

I used a small piece of card between the batteries and the door to add a bit of pressure when I had similar issues. Fingers crossed it’s still working ok. Needs to be thin enough to avoid springing the door open though!

ITD said:

I used a small piece of card between the batteries and the door to add a bit of pressure when I had similar issues. Fingers crossed it’s still working ok. Needs to be thin enough to avoid springing the door open though!

Click to expand...

Exactly what the guys in the linked threads above did - may be worth a try ...

ITD said:

I used a small piece of card between the batteries and the door to add a bit of pressure when I had similar issues. Fingers crossed it’s still working ok. Needs to be thin enough to avoid springing the door open though!

Click to expand...

This is what I did, too. Works great.

Yes, but still no go with this one.

You could contact Jimmy Koh.
Apparently, he no longer repairs these but may have some suggestions on troubleshooting.

On my SQ-Ai, the battery test button doesn't seem to work--perhaps my batteries are a bit weak--but, the shutter speed control works, meaning the electronics are working. If I "dry shoot", after the mirror is up, and before I wind to cock the shutter, the regular shutter release seems to act as a battery test, and the LED lights. Also, the LED flicks on as the shutter is released when it is cocked. If yours doesn't work--i.e., the shutter timing won't change, then contact Jimmy at Koh's camera--at least he can offer advice.

Update: I installed new batteries and the indicator now functions, so I suspect the old ones were just weak.

If the camera was sold with disclosure that the electronics did not work. then that's what you got.

The red led is a visual indicator that the shutter has closed.
It's especially helpful on long exposures since the shutter action is so quiet.

I know this is an old thread, but people still look for answers here and I have just had a go at an SQAi body that was looking in a similar state to the OP and I actually found a solution (at least to mine) so I thought I would share this in case it helps someone - not power or lights on the SQAi body and thus no shutter/mirror firing.

The solution - The two contacts beneath/inside the body for the battery compartment to connect to had some oxidisation on them and didn't make proper contact, which was the first problem. There are 5 screws to drop the bottom plate off - 2 at the rear and one at the front of the bottom plate and then 2 more underneath the textured rubber by the tripod screw. Once removed the plate will come off, but watch for the spring loaded black pin by the one front screw (by the motor drive connection pins) as this can spring out. Once inside you can see the two small connection pins at the back of the battery compartment and the two flat spades on the circuit board that they are supposed to contact - cleaning both these with petrol/alcohol and also just ruffing the metal surface regained the battery contact and the lights came on the camera again. I suspect this is the most common battery fault here and adding a piece of card in with the batteries as people have described above would put a bit more pressure on these internal contacts, but if it is really oxidised, will not make the difference (I tried the cardboard first and nothing)

So lights are on now, but shutter still not firing. I actually looked at the manual for this one and in section 13 it said the light will come on if the shutter button is pressed, but it still won't fire due to several states the body may be in - in my case it was 'the lens release button is depressed'!! For some reason on my body which I haven't figured out, the lens release button does not return to its home position and stays semi pushed down - if I just manually push it back (up) to the home position, the body fires and works as normal. I don't know if this is a common problem also, I have tried a small drop of oil etc, but it is still stiff to return - job for another day I think.

Any, a combination of working out both issues has returned a dead body to life and if your SQAi body is in a similar state, this might help you.