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I have a Canon PowerShot A80 - which is obviously an old camera - dating back to 2003. Everytime I take one or two shots, it switches itself off, stating to change the battery pack. I changed a few types of battery, but it stays the same. Any idea how to solve this? Because I tried pushing the spring against the door more and also tried taking out the battery and memory card and leaving it for 20 minutes. There is no rust in the battery compartment - I even cleaned it.

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    \$\begingroup\$ It's not clear to me that you are methodically replacing bad batteries with known good ones. It sounds to me like you are doing it a bit haphazardly. \$\endgroup\$
    – osullic
    Commented Jul 8 at 17:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ Perhaps the button cell needs changing too. \$\endgroup\$
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Jul 8 at 20:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ @EuriPinhollow in the user manual: pp26-28 going by the print page numbers, from p30 of the PDF. \$\endgroup\$
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 9 at 13:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ @ChrisH NiMH work, but in my experience they run out much faster with the A series, and that's when the camera's in perfect working order. I gave up on them and switched to alkalines. I think they really only work at the peak of their voltage. So if the camera's degraded, and the battery's degraded they may not work for long at all. \$\endgroup\$
    – davolfman
    Commented Jul 9 at 16:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ @EuriPinhollow that's true, but go back through the thread and you'll see that I'm only dismissing the possibility of changing a button cell that doesn't exist, not commenting on what a dodgy clock battery would do \$\endgroup\$
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 10 at 9:10

3 Answers 3

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If you're testing with rechargeable batteries, even freshly charged, try it with brand new alkalines. NiMH cells don't last for ever and they can fail by losing nearly all of their capacity or getting a high internal resistance. Either of those will cause the camera to see a low voltage.

Assuming alkalines from a new pack don't help, at this point you've got nothing to lose by trying a couple of things. Both of these risk damage or even total destruction

Battery Terminals

Even though you've checked, I would want to get into the battery compartment and look not for rust but for the corrosion caused by leaked batteries. Rust (iron oxide) is brown, but what you'd get if batteries had leaked is much paler and harder to spot deep inside a battery compartment. "Cleaning" as you say you've done with a dry or damp cloth, or any likely chemicals, won't do much.

Some people say you can remove it with a pencil eraser but I've never had much luck. very fine sandpaper is the way to go, either on the end of a flat rod or after disassembly. You need to remove every trace from the contact points. It's highly insulating and even a speck will prevent contact with the conductive metal.

External Power Supply

Canon made an external power supply for this camera, part number ACK600. It may still be available, or third party equivalents are; they claim to be 4.3V (surprisingly low given that alkaline batteries add up to 6V and NiMH to 4.8V). It has a fairly standard barrel connector. If you have a selection of old power supplies, as I do, I'd look for one of 4.3V or slightly more (but definitely not over 6V, and don't put batteries in at the same time if >4.3V in case it tries to charge them) and a suitable connector, and splice them together. I can't find the polarity online but it may be marked on the camera. If not I'd try centre positive.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks I will try it \$\endgroup\$
    – user118761
    Commented Jul 10 at 6:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ It is working fine with the external power supply \$\endgroup\$
    – user118761
    Commented Jul 10 at 6:41
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    \$\begingroup\$ Good news. Now you have to choose whether to use it like that (I use a DSLR of similar age almost exclusively with a power supply) or to keep trying to sort the battery issues \$\endgroup\$
    – Chris H
    Commented Jul 10 at 9:12
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    \$\begingroup\$ Great it is working fine with alkaline batteries…thanks \$\endgroup\$
    – user118761
    Commented Jul 11 at 9:11
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any idea how to solve this?

Get a new camera.

I'm no fan of disposable tech culture, but we're talking about a 21 year old device here. It's done it's job, time to move on.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I second that. If a fresh set of four AA alkaline batteries also exhibits the problem, then this thing is gone to where toasters go to rest in peace. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kai Mattern
    Commented Jul 8 at 18:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ Note that the OP's link is headed Canon camera museum :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Jul 8 at 21:27
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    \$\begingroup\$ @WeatherVane Note that link was not added by the OP. Let me know if you want to delete these comments. \$\endgroup\$
    – Philip Kendall ♦
    Commented Jul 8 at 21:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ There may be a number or reasons for the OP to want to use THAT camera. It's wrong to dismiss them. In the end the problem was solved very easily using alkaline batteries. Sometimes we just overthink. \$\endgroup\$
    – Duncan Drake
    Commented Jul 11 at 14:49
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If you tried new batteries and it says so then it's malfunctioning and you cannot fix it without disassembling it. Oxidation could indeed cause this problem but you've already checked for it.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ When I need to clean battery terminals, I simply use an ink eraser. Cheap, replaceable and usable for its intended purpose. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nelson Adams
    Commented Jul 9 at 23:26

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