Since I own a 4, and it seems to be a battery-eating one, I've been watching
this discussion with interest. I understand the fix, and that it's either
very expensive or next-to-nonexistent. But I've been wondering...
Has anyone tried troubleshooting the circuitry itself? It makes sense that
that wouldn't have been Olympus' choice many years ago; it's virtually
always cheaper for a manufacturer to simply replace the circuitry with newer
circuitry. As the saying goes, however, "That was then, this is now."
John Hermanson, you seem like the guy who would know: is there a means of
interrupting current flow mechanically (?) that wouldn't be (assuming
properly engineered) a total kludge? Is there a circuit schematic available
for these? Maybe a bunch of us (theoretically) bright people can
reverse-engineer it and develop a fix.
---
Scott Gomez
-----Original Message-----
From: Chip Stratton [mailto:cstrat@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 20:49
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [OM] Older Battery Eating OM 4's? Serial Nos.
There does seem to be a lot of variability in the drain characteristics of
the circuits that predate the '4T' type circuit. I've measured current
drains in OM4 bodies that definitely did not have a 4T circuit, and found
idle drains ranging from 15 to 30 microamperes. I think the 4T type circuits
run around 8-12 microamps.
My first Olympus, an early OM4, sucks around 20 microamps.
The idle current draw is a bit difficult to measure with precision since it
varies over about a 1-2 second period.
As cheap as the silver cells are when bought in bulk, I don't worry about
it too much anymore, I just replace them before an important shoot if they
are more than two or three months old, or if the weather will be cold.
Chip Stratton
cstrat@xxxxxxxxx
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|