Strange Battery Problem

[DieHipsterDie]

Put a new battery in my Canon A1 and things didn't quite work right. It would only fire half the time and the shutter speed was all messed up. 2 seconds sounded like 1/1000.

Pulled the battery from my AE-1, put it in and everything is just fine.

Are these cameras so voltage sensitive that a slightly bad battery could cause problems? Anyone else witnessed this?

 

[John Koehrer]

As long as you have it working in the AE1, try the battery check.
If it's marginal it will give you problems in the A1

 

[titrisol]

Maybe the contacts are dirty????

Clean them with a rubber eraser (the ones in the cheap pencils are good enough)

 

[DieHipsterDie]

The second battery I put in was a Kodak and it fits more snugly than the Eveready that I had before. No problems since.

 

[MattKing]

The second battery I put in was a Kodak and it fits more snugly than the Eveready that I had before. No problems since.

Your A1 would be approximately 30 years old. That is certainly enough time for the battery contacts to lose some of their "spring", or to be bent away from their optimal position. This may be a case where the mechanical connection wasn't complete, but a slightly larger battery compensated for the problem. Gently moving/bending the contacts a small amount might make the difference with the other, slightly smaller battery.