help! Nikon D 90 with MD80 grip says batteries are dead when they are charged

[jnphoto]

Hello!

I have been experiencing a new problem the last few days and I'm not sure what the problem is.

I charge the battries on my nikdon d90 and put them into my grip, it says there is full battery. After a while the battery indicator will flash and say that it is dead. I take the batteries out and put them back in and it works for awhile and shows full battery but then it says no battery again.

What could be causing this? I took the grip off and put it back on to see if it got loose somehow abd it seems like its working now but I just want to be sure. I have a huge shoot tomorrow and don't want to end up without a working camera.

Any and all help/advice is appreciated!

 

[SCraig]

Try it with AA batteries instead of the packs. You should have gotten a holder for AA batteries with the grip. You could have bad battery packs or a bad charger.

 

[jnphoto]

I've checked the status of the batteries and they say that they are at 80 percent so I'm thinking my batteries are fine. Could it be my grip that's the problem?

 

[DarkShadow]

Do you have off brand battery's in that grip

 

[jnphoto]

no both of the batteries are Nikon. I've had the camera and grip for almost 2 years now and have never had a problem until recently. It will be working fine and then randomly tell me I have no charge left but when I take them out and put them back in it says they are charged, but then it will do it again. Very frustrating!

 

[DarkShadow]

Maybe take the grip off and use each battery in the camera and if the problem goes away then it sounds like a bad grip.

 

[SCraig]

Look in the grip where the battery contacts are and see if they have corroded or are bent flat so that they don't make good contact. If they are corroded you can CAREFULLY clean them with a pencil eraser, then blow the grip out with air. If they are bent flat you can use a stiff piece of bent wire to lift them slightly. If you do either be careful! They can easily be broken. Also look at the contacts in the camera and on the top of the grip where it goes into the camera.

 

[KmH]

It could be the grip is loose (happened frequently with my D90/MB-D80), or the the contacts in the cameras battery compartment have an issue.

Remove the grip and make sure none of the grip to camera connector pins are bent, or dirty and that the camera connectors are also clean..

 

[jnphoto]

Thank you for all your replies. I cleaned and checked the prongs and took my battery back and double a batteries with me to the shoot. Fortunately eveything was functioning fine today so hopefully it just needed a cleaning.

 

[Steve.sladovnik]

It could be the grip is loose (happened frequently with my D90/MB-D80), or the the contacts in the cameras battery compartment have an issue.

Remove the grip and make sure none of the grip to camera connector pins are bent, or dirty and that the camera connectors are also clean..

If you folks are have a problems with the MB-D80 when installing on the D-90 join the club. After purchasing a brand new MB-D80 in the US and leaving for a trip in South America, I discovered that the MB-D80 is NOT "plug and play" as it is shown to be..

After arriving to my destination, I began to search the internet for a possible solution to this same problem. I quickly found a number of videos and "tips" (all with the same concern) which the majority pointed me to having to "bend" a connector inside of my D-90 to make the MB-D80 connect properly Sad that NIKON, the grandaddy of sturdy, rugged, quality camera gear now requires one to "fiddle" and "bend" connectors to make its add on products work but I have to admit, it did work.

At the bottom of the the battery well (inside the D-90) there are three (3) very small copper looking connectors. they need to be in a STRAIGHT LINE or you will get a blinking notification that your battery, is out of juice. I used my rather chubby index finger to move the little conductors around a bit & after the 2nd attempt, it identified the MB--D80 & indeed connected.

My D-90 is less then 5 years old and its a workhorse. I only buy original Nikon NEW equipment and have never seen so may complaints about one item which all point to a flaw in the manufacturing. I don't think it should be left up to customers to bend and twist anything to make a product work. I have informed NIKON