Light meter issue

[George Collier]

I use a Voigtlander VC Meter II with my Leica M's. Recently, it's been not coming on sometimes (like right now). I have changed the batteries a couple of times, back and forth between new ones and the ones that have been in the meter for at least a year. Note that I do not use the meter for the majority of exposures, only when lighting is unusual. Sunny 16 is quite reliable.
At the moment the older ones are in it and it won't come on, after just swapping batteries 3 times. I finished a roll 2 days ago and it was fine.
I notice that the lower contact point on the negative down side is flat to the base but the positive contact point has some lift (spring) to it. The contact points on the lid are the opposite.
Any ideas?

 

[BrianShaw]

Hi George. This is just a wild guess but based on a similar issue I experienced with another electronic device. I belive your meter uses a SR-44 battery. In that same diameter is another battery that is about 1 mm taller. Could you have used that instead, and mashed the contacts? Unfortunately I can't recall the equivalent numbers for the two different batteries without doing some research, and just don't have time for that but you can certainly google up a table of batteries and their dimensions. I made that mistake and rectified by carefuly bending the contact back to the "springing position" for proper contact with the proper battery.

 

[xkaes]

rectified by carefuly bending the contact back to the "springing position" for proper contact with the proper battery.

That's what I was going to suggest. Make sure they are clean -- and the battery too -- and gently bend the contacts out a little bit to make the contact snug,

 

[George Collier]

What I found out -
The backup batteries I had, about 1 1/2 years old, were bad. They were Kodak but made in China for Kodak. I noticed the the packing did not have the special seal/membrane over the surface of the batteries on any of the 4 from 2 packs. And the small groove between the contact and the edge of the batteries (on the negative side) had a kind of corrosive looking white crust in each one. The new batteries (Energizer) had the sealed packing and worked fine. Watch out for the batteries.

 

[xkaes]

When you car breaks down always check to see if there is gas in the tank.