Hasselblad 500 EL/M problem

[polszki]

Hi All, I need some help with my Hassy. It was working great for a while, but now if I press the shutter button nothing is happening. Almost nothing. What you can hear is a little click from inside the camera when you press the button and also you can see that the little pin that checks for the dark slide is trying to move. It does the same when you forget the dark slide in.
Also I found out if I pull (maybe I shouldn't) this pin the camera fires and works. So it feels like the camera is lack of power to push this pin out. Can it be low battery problem? I have tried to charge it with the original charger, but no luck. Maybe the charger is faulty?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Xmas]

Check the battery for voltage immediately after charge and next day borrow a multi meter...

 

[mgb74]

Checking battery voltage without any load on the battery may give misleading results. I would go ahead and check with a multimeter, but keep in mind that the voltage supplied by the battery under load may be less than you're reading. So a fully charged battery should test slightly above (10% ?) it's nominal value.

The original battery is a Ni-cad I believe. They have a limited life. It's more likely that the battery is bad than the charger is bad.

When I was considering an ELM purchase a while back, I thought about purchasing one of the adapters that use a 9v alkaline battery.

 

[frank]

Get one of those 9v battery adapters. $30 or so? Works great. (Or borrow one for 2 minutes.)

If your camera still doesn't work with one of these, it's time for an overhaul.

 

[noacronym]

Solder up a battery pack out of 5 Eneloop AAA batteries, wrap the assembly in chipboard, and solder some sort of contact at each end. The 9V adapters are a bad idea. They have too much voltage and no capacity.

 

[BorgeH]

Or you can build a 9 V adapter your-self with a 9 V battery cap and a used 35 mm plastic film can.

Most people have some old electronic equipment where you can salvage the 9 V battery cap.
I also used some office paper holder for + and - pole on the can. Try som different brands of film cans, some are longer than others.
Be very careful with the polarity of the battery and the adapter. In the camera the + pole is first inserted.

The higher voltage is no problem, the Hasselblad motor is rated for higher voltage and you are not operating the motor continuously.

I use my home-built adapater in my ELM with no problems. I think it is better using alkaline batteries than cadmium-cells.

If you camera still is "weak" I think it is time to send it in for a CLA. Is it still weak if you operate it without magazine? You can always try to apply some drops of thin oil on the moving gear (facing the magazine) on the camera and see if it helps.

 

[film_man]

Regarding the adapters, I had a 9V and then got a 2CRP one, much nicer as the whole thing is self-contained in one slot and there are no dangling wires or rattling batteries in the 2nd slot. The battery lasted much longer than the 9V too.

 

[polszki]

OK, so I have found out it's not the battery or charger the problem is. If I take out the batteries and the fuse and connect to the charger the camera still "works" if I pull the little tab, mirror is moving and the motor is working as well. Any ideas what the problem can be?

 

[MattKing]

The fuse?

 

[polszki]

good news everyone! I took apart the bottom part and there was a little plastic piece that was blocking the lever pushing out the tab on the back. I don't know where the plastic came from, looks like it broke off from somewhere. Plastic removed, put together and it's working again! yaaaay!

 

[frank]

Happy ending!