HELP - Nikon FE battery issue

Hello!

I've recently come into the world of film photography with a Nikon FE SLR that I bought a few months ago, so bear with me. It was in pretty good condition when I bought it, just needed a good clean and light seal replacement which I've done. It was working really well initially, and I shot several rolls of film with no problem.

The issue started after I hadn't used it for a few weeks (it had been sitting with the batteries still in it). All of a sudden, none of the electrical shutter speeds worked (the mirror stayed stuck up until the shutter dial was changed to M90), and the camera essentially only worked on M90. The light meter still worked fine and the battery check light was good, but I changed the batteries anyway. When I changed the batteries (fresh SR44 batteries) it initially worked perfectly again for several hours, but then I left it for about 1-2 days and it was back to only working on M90. I then took the batteries out, put the same batteries back in again and it's magically working again (but then will stop working if left with the batteries in for more than a few hours, or sometimes when I'm in the middle of using it).

This makes no sense to me. If it was an electrical issue, I wouldn't expect it to work intermittently. It's almost like it's running the batteries down super quickly, but that doesn't really make sense because the same batteries seem to work when taken out and put back in again. Honestly, It's driving me crazy.

Any ideas about what to do would be greatly appreciated!

Batteries will have a tendency to recharge themselves with no current drain on them for a few hours.
Use a digital volt meter to check the battery voltage both before use and after failure. SR44 battery should read 1.56V to 1.6V out of the package, by the time it reads 1.5V it may not provide enough current to operate the electronics.
Think of it this way X voltage is necessary to unlock the valve and Y current is needed to open it.
I would inspect the battery contacts, battery cover threads, and the base plate for tarnish/corrosion. The contact at the bottom of the battery chamber should be bright and shinny not satin.
You may need to remove the base plate and inspect the wiring to the battery chamber.
The shutter release is a multi contact switch and some contacts may be tarnished.
The FE also has motor drive contacts. The motor drive contacts disconnect the camera battery when a motor drive is attached. The battery or ground contact may have tarnish and cause a break in contact or limit the current needed to fire the shutter.
Lastly the shutter timing electronics may be failing.
Download the service manual at https://learncamerarepair.com/product.php?product=253&category=2&secondary=8
The battery wiring is highlighted in yellow on this copy of the wiring diagram.

There is a short somewhere in the circuit and it's draining the batteries - which do recover to some degree once the load has been removed. If you have access to an electronic multi meter here's a quick test:

• Remove the battery cover and batteries.
• Make sure the advance lever is in the OFF position.
• Set the multi meter to read resistance (ohms or the Omega symbol)
• Touch one probe to the spring contact inside the camera and one to the baseplate.
• The multi meter should indicate an open circuit (no electrical contact between the two). If there is any resistance at all, something is bleeding down the battery.
• You'll have to figure out what that thing is, starting with what @shutterfinger suggested.

Hopefully you can get this sorted out. The FE is great little camera. I like mine a lot.

Do you have a MD11 attached?

Thanks everyone! I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't actually inspected the battery chamber properly and it was a bit dirty, so I've cleaned that up. I did notice that in the battery chamber, one of the threads is very slightly damaged, although it still screws in well and sits tightly in the chamber, would that do anything? I've also changed to SR44 1.55V rather than SR44W 1.5V batteries (which I just noticed are actually different batteries, although they look almost exactly the same), and the camera seems to be working again, although who knows how long for. I don't have an electronic multimeter, and I'm much too scared to take the base plate off, so I guess if it stops working again I'll just take it in to a shop to get it looked at!

NB. I don't have an MD11 attached.

parrosie77 said:

I did notice that in the battery chamber, one of the threads is very slightly damaged, although it still screws in well and sits tightly in the chamber, would that do anything?

Click to expand...

It will cause one to be extra careful installing the cap to prevent cross threading.

parrosie77 said:

I've also changed to SR44 1.55V rather than SR44W 1.5V batteries (which I just noticed are actually different batteries, although they look almost exactly the same), and the camera seems to be working again

Click to expand...

Funny how the correct batteries solve problems.

Enjoy your camera and this site.

shutterfinger said:

It will cause one to be extra careful installing the cap to prevent cross threading.

Click to expand...

That's good to know - what do you mean by 'cross threading'?
And yes, the battery thing does seem pretty obvious, I just thought they were the same battery [rolls eyes]

Check very carefuly for a hairline crack in the battery box. The FE and FM series are prone to these as the plastic gets brittle wjth age. This can push the back of the battery box out to then short the back of the spring contact against the case. Different cells have very slight differences in thickness plus depending on how tight you screw in the cover it can also push out the back of the box. It can be hard to see this, use a torch and a magnifying glass.