How do I repair this faulty DSLR coupler?

[John K]

Hi guys,

Over the weekend, my el cheapo Chinese DSLR coupler for my Canon DSLR failed. Basically it would work and then stop working. Thinking that the connector to the battery casing was loose, and in an amateur effort to make it work out in the field, I stuck a small piece of aluminium foil in the plug hole which then made it fail completely!

Rather than get a new unit, would like to have a go at fixing this.

Was thinking that using a hot knife I could take the battery casing apart and simply cut the end of the plug off and solder the two wire ends to the inside of the battery casing. Would then cover the soldered ends with either silicone or some araldite, and glue the casing back together.

Have access to a soldering iron but have never soldered before.

The battery casing has clearly +ve and -ve marked ends that sit into the battery compartment.

Any advice on how to best do this? and how do I identify the +ve and -ve wire ends from the Power Adaptor to match what is inside the battery casing?

Need to make sure 100% that I don't fry my DSLR!

Thanks in advance.

John K.

[killswitch (Edison)]

You sure you didnt short out the PSU?

You need a multimeter. Cut the tip off and do a DC voltage check on the bare wires. If it displays a negative voltage (-7.2v) then the polarity is incorrect (relative to the multimeter probe's polarity).

The battery casing has the polarity marked so just solder the wires into their respective plates. Insulate the wires inside the coupler to prevent a short.

Once its put back together do another DC voltage check on the battery plates before you put it in the camera.

[John K]

Originally Posted by killswitch

You sure you didnt short out the PSU?

Thanks for advice - pretty sure that PSU is ok as the plug feels "hot" when plugged into the battery compartment unit.

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

Just a question...is the supply an original canon unit or is the adaptor just a knockoff (its mitsumi...I think this is an OEM or at least they make good PSUs)?

Do you have a multimeter to confirm the PSU output is ok. You can use a fine piece of wire in the low voltage inner plug hole for a meter probe (don't short it out)

Most cases like on the PSU or adaptor can be cut apart with a sharp knife and plastic welded back with acetone (depends upon the plastic type).

Also many of these small cases have a fine slot/lip that is part of the gluing the case together process. I use a small bladed screwdriver in this slot and tap the back of the screwdriver handle (with some force) to break the original case glue seal. You need to work your way around the case small steps at a time tapping and breaking the seal and moving on.

Sometimes you make a bit of a mess but I have managed to open many computer swith-mode PSUs like this and successfully repair them and glue them back together. Usually it's the lead.

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Crikey John, I would just bin it. If you have not had experience soldering, the best you could expect would be that it might possibly be fixable - the worst does not bear thinking about.

[John K]

Originally Posted by Shiraz

Crikey John, I would just bin it. If you have not had experience soldering, the best you could expect would be that it might possibly be fixable - the worst does not bear thinking about.

Well decided to chicken out with mucking about with this even though I took it all apart.

For $20 ordered a new unit from ebay as I did not want to risk damaging my DSLR.

The only thing I am thinking of is to somehow silicone the coupler to the connector so that I dont have to plug and un plug the connected every time and so that the DC connector is permanently plugged into the coupler.