Pentax Ist DS Battery light Flashing empty

After i broke the hotshoe, soldered the wires together and took a few pics. Now

im getting an empty blinking battery. This says that the battery is dead but

its a brand new charged battery. What could this mean and how do i fix it.<div></div>

I can't claim to be able to fix your issue but just for clarification--after your "fix", it worked OK for several shots but the battery appeared to drain very quickly. If you recharge again, does it again work for a few shots but drain quickly?

I have a feeling something more than just the shoe is broken...

yes it did at first but now it doesnt work.

also the infrared light on the grip stays on

could it be that something got shorted out....what would that something be??

Did you epoxy the hot shoe back into the body, or can you still pull it out and look underneath? Do you have any pics of the under side before you put it back in? That might make it easier to diagnose.

I was also thinking 'short'. The constant illumination of the self-timer lamp on the grip is a bad sign.

Raul, This type of equipment is not home repair type of stuff unless you really know what you are doing and have the schematics to follow. My advice is time to quit while the camera still functions and get it into a repair shop.

 

Having been in the electronics field for 10 years. I've seen far too many home repairs that ended up causing more damage than the original issue. Without the proper equipment to test the unit anyone would be guessing. That being said, My bet is a cracked circuit board is causing these issues. You might have re connected the hotshoe the right way but there could very easily be other damage that you can't see or test for.

 

Putting power to a cracked or shorted circuit board is a sure fire way to fry the camera.

I don't know about your broken DS, but I have learnt from past repairs that if the flash circuit was short, some part of the circuit could overheat, the battery indicator will blink, and the circuit would be fried for good if you keep trying (doesn't take long). Since the impact was severe enough to strip all wires off, quite possible there are more damaged underneath the top then you might think.

How close are any ICs to the hotshoe you soldered? It is very easy to damage temperature-sensitive ICs when you heat wires/solder close to them. You can damage all sorts of regulation circuitry easily. Just an FYI, because I've seen this happen with small PCB and lots of very sensitive microelectronics, especially various ICs, on them, including regulators.

 

Otherwise, I agree, it sounds like a short circuit and it's now pulling more current. Try a few Energizer e2 Photo Lithiums (push out a solid 2.8A+ at 6.0V -- far in excess of the typical sub-2A at 4.8V of NiMH) and see if you get a half-battery or only a hundred or so shots before they go empty. If so, it's definitely too much real-time current draw.

i epoxied the hotshoe on after that was when the problems started

ive tried a fully charged battery

and also note the red self timer light on the grip stays on

i was not soldering near any ic's

but even if that was the problem as soon as the wires were disconnected one would think the camera would start working again

but it doesnt

some glue DID get on the strip underneath though