Sekonic L-208 battery issue

[Federico_Brigatti]

My Sekonic 208 has been working flawlessly for the past 8 years, but this week I noticed the needle did not budge when I pressed the button to take a light reading. I tested the battery and got no response from the needle, so I went and bought a pack of fresh CR2032s and put one in. I performed the battery check and the needle swung all the way to the right, indicating a full charge; took a couple of readings and everything seemed fine for a little while, but after the third reading, the meter went dead again. I put another fresh battery from my newly purchased pack and could not get the meter to work at all. I fiddled with the battery cap and made sure the +/- contacts faced the right way. Eventually, I noticed that I would occasionally see the needle spring to life while fussing with the battery and battery compartment, but it would very quickly revert to its dead-meter behavior.

The contacts in the battery compartment are not oxidized and the battery cover clicks securely into place.

Has anyone experienced this problem and can suggest a fix?

I contacted Sekonic and they will attempt a repair for $55, but I wanted to see if I should try something else before sending it in.

 

[madNbad]

Could be it developed a short or something on the circuit board is failing. You have already gone through any of the user accessible repairs, a trip to Sekonic will give you a working meter.

 

[runswithsizzers]

It's a long shot, but - I have had camera meter outages due to oxidation that was not visible. That is, the meter contacts looked fine, but cleaning them with a pencil eraser made the meter work again. More likely a loose connection.

I can't remember what the battery contacts looked like in the Sekonic 208 (I no longer have it). Is it possible that a contact tab or spring might be bent/compressed enough to reduce contact with the battery?

 

[BobD]

I would try cleaning the battery area with alcohol. Batteries can get an invisible film of oil that prevents conduction.

 

[xkaes]

These are all great suggestions.

I recently bought a "dead" Gossen Super Pilot SBC. I discovered that the battery cover had to be put into place very carefully and precisely to get the contacts connected.

If there's not been any previous battery leakage, it probably just needs a good cleaning of the contacts, and making sure that the contacts are well connected. If they are off a tiny bit, that can be the problem.