# 7D Coin Cell reminder!



## viggen61 (Aug 9, 2013)

This past weekend, I had a little scare with my nearly three year old 7D.

Friday, I charged both LP-E6s (genuine Canon) in preparation for a trip to a seaside wildlife refuge on Saturday. Installed them in the grip, and I was set.

Saturday, went to the refuge, and shot about 1,800 images over the course of 12 hours or so, using a 100-400. There was an occasional light rain, but I was mostly in the car, and in any event, the camera got little more than sprinkled on. It was never "wet".

Sunday, went to another refuge, and was happily shooting hummingbirds and goldfinches at the wildflowers. Suddenly, I would get one image, but the second in the burst would bring on an "Error 30". This went on for some minutes.

Thinking it could have been more water than I thought from Saturday, I started by removing the grip, and trying each battery individually. Once I got a short burst, but that was all. And another time I briefly saw the "set clock" screen before it shut down again. I also tried it without the lens, but it still would not power up.

By this point, the camera wasn't even turning on, just a blinking battery outline in the top LCD. So, I packed things up for the day. I'd shot about 200 more images on the day.

Got home, and charged the LP-E6s again. Both started at one blink. When the first was charged, I tried it in the camera again. Still nothing. 

Monday, I stopped in at a home center and picked up a new CR1616 coin cell. I figured I didn't have anything to lose by changing it, even if the 7D would need to go to Canon.

Got home, popped in the new coin cell, and all is well! Grip, both batteries are fine, and even better, all the photos from the weekend had the proper date and time.

A good outcome, to be sure, but I was a bit surprised that there was no warning at all that the coin cell needed replacing. 

So, just thought I'd remind folks, if they don't already, to carry a spare coin cell, especially if the one in the camera is more than 2 years old. They're only $4, and last a long time in storage. The ones I got said (in the fine print) they were good through sometime in 2021 in storage!

Happy shooting!


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## candyman (Aug 9, 2013)

I can imagine you are happy things turned ok.


Just curious....all your in camera custom settings were still in place?


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## 2n10 (Aug 9, 2013)

Awesome that there was no other problems with the camera and it was such a simple fix. Thanks for sharing and reminding.


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## moocowe (Aug 9, 2013)

The same thing happened to my 7D on holiday last year.

First day in New York, top of the Empire State Building, take 2 photos... camera turns off!
15 minutes later it let me take another couple of photos before it turned off again and I had to wait another 15 minutes.
I replaced the button cell the next day, but the camera continued to do this throughout the entire trip.

I think the problem with mine was that I had just updated the firmware to 2.0.1 or 2.0.2, which I believe a few people had problems with.
I haven't had any problems since updating to 2.0.3.


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## mrsfotografie (Aug 9, 2013)

Do you store your camera with or without LP-E6s on board? I always have one in the battery compartment; Upon reading these posts I was just thinking this may extend the life of the button cell?


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Aug 9, 2013)

Those cells usually have lasted me more than 5 years, so we now need to change them out sooner.


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## viggen61 (Aug 9, 2013)

candyman said:


> I can imagine you are happy things turned ok.



Yes, indeed!



candyman said:


> Just curious....all your in camera custom settings were still in place?



Seem to be. At least my custom menu was all there!


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## viggen61 (Aug 9, 2013)

mrsfotografie said:


> Do you store your camera with or without LP-E6s on board? I always have one in the battery compartment; Upon reading these posts I was just thinking this may extend the life of the button cell?


Generally, I always have the grip with the two LP-E6s on board. It rarely goes more than a week without use. I don't recharge after each shoot, unless there's another big day coming up immediately after. Often I'll go out with 50% or a little less in the batteries.


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## viggen61 (Aug 9, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> Those cells usually have lasted me more than 5 years, so we now need to change them out sooner.


Maybe, but who knows. I bought the camera October of 2010, I don't know how long it sat about the shop I bought it from, then there's Canon's warehouse, customs, shipping, the warehouse in Japan, and who knows how long the batteries were waiting to be installed at the factory!

I hate to be wasteful, but maybe I should just schedule a replacement every 30 months!


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## candyman (Aug 9, 2013)

viggen61 said:


> candyman said:
> 
> 
> > I can imagine you are happy things turned ok.
> ...


Thanks for letting us know,


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## sagittariansrock (Aug 11, 2013)

viggen61 said:


> This past weekend, I had a little scare with my nearly three year old 7D.
> 
> Friday, I charged both LP-E6s (genuine Canon) in preparation for a trip to a seaside wildlife refuge on Saturday. Installed them in the grip, and I was set.
> 
> ...



Very useful post, thanks!


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## viggen61 (Aug 12, 2013)

I may have spoken too soon! ??? :-[ :'(

I need to go through some more troubleshooting, and I still believe the coin cell was on its last legs, if not already gone, but the Err 30 came back to haunt me this weekend.

Saturday I was taking some shots of another camera I'll soon be selling on that Auction site, and when I attached my NiftyFifty, I got the error. Re-seated the batteries, and it was ok all day.

Sunday, I was out again, looking for humming and other birds, and it came back in force. A few power resets left it working briefly, but eventually it went completely dead, this time not even with the blinking battery outline.
So, I removed the grip from the camera, and installed a single battery. Now it seems to be working fine.

Could my grip - the one part of the whole setup that isn't water-resistant be bad? That's what I'm going on at the moment. But I have to see if the camera will survive the coming weekend running on one battery at a time without giving me an Err 30 again.

It's probably not worth trying to have Canon repair the grip, when they sell them for $229...

In the meantime, I'll see if I can dry it out, or maybe even disassemble the grip. How hard can it be? :


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## unfocused (Aug 12, 2013)

Just a precaution before sending anything in – Almost every time I've had a similar problem I've later noticed that the grip had worked itself loose. A few turns of the adjusting screw has always fixed the problem.


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## viggen61 (Aug 12, 2013)

unfocused said:


> Just a precaution before sending anything in – Almost every time I've had a similar problem I've later noticed that the grip had worked itself loose. A few turns of the adjusting screw has always fixed the problem.


Thanks, but at this point it's been off and on and off and on so many times...


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## CaiLeDao (Aug 12, 2013)

Hi I had the sam error on my 7D early this year. Mine turned out to be a known issue and needed returning to Canon for a fix. Been fine since. Very similar symptoms try googling the error and this may help with the thought processes to get a resolution.
The error is related to shutter errors and if the cause isn't low battery power then Canon seem to replace the shutter mechanism. Mine has been fine since.


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## lol (Aug 12, 2013)

Err 30 is supposed to indicate something related to the shutter. If you used it much maybe it is on the way out?


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