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XT-2 Grip issues with battery, intermittent malfunctions, etc


occubusjive

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Всем привет.

Купил VPB-XT2 и столкнулся с описанной проблемой... бился с проблемой более 2 месяцев. После прочтения поста решился на эксперименты с камерой.

Проблема решилось довольно странным и простым способом.

Закрутил кольцо фиксации до "хруста", так, что тушка отпечаталась на прокладке ручки.

За целый день экспериментов ни один из аккумуляторов не отвалился (показал красный значок 0 заряда).

Но столкнулся с перегревом камеры (4К видео, следящий автофокус, стаб, режим BOOST).

gallery_23701_605_346331.jpg

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Translation by Google - please use English if possible!

Thanks!

 

I bought VPB-XT2 and ran into the described problem ... I fought with the problem for more than 2 months. After reading the post I decided to experiment with the camera.

The problem was solved in a rather strange and simple way.
He twisted the fixation ring to "crunch", so that the bird was imprinted on the lining of the handle.
For a whole day of experiments, none of the batteries fell off (showed a red 0 charge icon).
But I encountered overheating of the camera (4K video, tracking autofocus, stab, BOOST mode).

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Looks like this years long problem persists. I too have the double dead batteries indicator with genuine 126s fully charged in my vertical grip.

 

So do we assume this is an indicator issue and not a contact/power issue ?

 

either way this sucks.

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Reading this post caused me to go and check my own XT2 and Grip.

Mine worked fine, but checking the possible 'electronic' trouble areas one has to be aware that the electrical contact between the body and the grip is a multipin plug that does not make contact like a normal plug and socket.

The plug male ends protruding from the grip are not fixed but spring loaded to allow for any mechanical tolerance issues between both parts when joined together

The Female socket on the camera is in fact part of a printed circuit board.

Contact between pug and socket relies on low pressure contact between both.

Any ' dirt or residue' on the camera board could cause poor or no contact on an individual or multi pin basis which would possibly lead to many of the issues listed. Likewise any issue with the velvet gasket on the grip or sticky male pins could be a problem.

Keep the rubber cover on the camera at all times  its not mated to the grip.

A good quality electronic contact cleaner could be used to wipe the female printed board on the camera but Fuji should recommend this.

A good camera or electronic shop may help with this.

 

I instantly lost that rubber cap on both my xt1 and xt2 but only my xt2 has this problem. I've never heard of this issue with xt1(maybe im wrong and its a thing). I also used my xt1 heavily. Like lots of brazing lots of beatings, all weekend raves, festivals, world travel etc and really no problems. vert grip on and off and on again. I've been much more careful with my xt2 as im using it for client work mainly and this vertical grip issue is a big problems. Let me know if anyone has updates.

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I have the same problem and I use 3 original Fuji 126s batteries. This problem occurs all the time and I don't know how can I solve this. I think that this problem would be corrected by a new firmware. I don't think that the problem is mechanical, but logical.

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  • 5 months later...

So, I am late to this topic, but it finally happened to me.  I tried every troubleshooting method I could and finally found what has appeared to be a consistent fix for MY issue.  The issue is the same as mentioned, so this may help you, at least until a proper repair can be made.   My batteries were not being recognized, so the boost mode would not work, and occasionally I would see the grip batteries indicators pop up for a second or two on my screen and then disappear.  While checking all of the contacts I slowly unscrewed the grip tension wheel while the camera was still on.  I found that the batteries would suddenly show up after about two full rotations.  The contacts have apparently, over time, had some sort of short created by the constant pressure and now will lose contact if the grip is fully tightened down.  I temporarily fixed this by putting some 1mm thick mounting tape down on the grip in a few spots, to fill the tiny gap created by not having the tension down fully (don't take off the plastic film, or your grip will be permanently fixed to the camera).  Now, I can securely tighten the grip down to full tension, but still have that small gap, so there is not full pressure on the contacts.  This is a bit of a ghetto fix and probably not a permanent solution, but now my batteries are consistently showing on screen and the boost mode function is working fine.  I can barely see a bit of light between the grip and camera, so any weather sealing that was there is no longer, but at least I've identified the problem for my camera and maybe it will help you in a pinch until you can get it repaired.  

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Not that I'm glad to have problems with the grip, but I'm relieved to see this thread and realize I'm not imagining it. Within the last couple of months my X-T2 grip has also developed problems, with one battery not being recognized as full even when it is (I use only Fujifilm branded batteries). I have to remove the battery and re-insert it, sometimes several times in a row.

I've always found that the batteries drain unusually fast when the grip is left attached to the camera. This also happened with the X-T1. Clearly there's some flaw in the design. If the camera is left in 'standby' the batteries drain VERY quickly. But they shouldn't.

I've spoken with Fujifilm tech support about it in the past, but the guy just shrugged verbally, so to speak. No, they don't seem to be acknowledging this problem.

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  • 1 month later...

Had to make an account just to post on this thread. I have had the same issue since purchasing my X-T2 in June 2017 at a store here in Ottawa, Canada (camera + grip + 3 official 126S batteries in total). Not that it matters, but this was my first pro digital camera. Did a ton of research, saved up for months, and was tremendously excited.

The confusing sight of both grip batteries registering as dead, when I knew they were fully charged, happened the very first time I used the grip. After noticing this a few more times over the following weeks, I sent the grip in for repairs (Fujifilm Canada near Toronto). When I received it back 6 weeks later I was told there was nothing wrong with it. Within minutes of testing it out of the package the issue re-appeared... I remember feeling pretty crushed.

I haven't been able to consistently replicate the problem, but seems the combination of CH and AF-C,  with the grip set to BOOST (a setup that's the very reason to own the grip) almost guarantees it. However I largely suspect it's a connectivity issue between the grip and the body, not a shooting settings issue. Different levels of tightening give different chances of it happening, where the tighter = the more likely.  I should point out that, as others have mentioned, the camera works absolutely flawlessly without the grip, and I would bet my life on the X-T2 otherwise. But it doesn't feel like the same machine when I put the grip on.

Last spring, nearing the end of my warranty, I decided to sent both the camera and the grip in once more. This time I even included a thumb drive with 2 videos of the issue occurring.

After receiving and testing it, Fuji emailed me to say there appeared to be no issue with either item. They acknowledged my videos but were not able to replicate the issue. This was puzzling to me. I called a rep and pressed them on this, I told them I had had the issue consistently since day one, and what happens when they send me the camera back and this keeps on happening? How can I trust it? How do we solve this?

To ease my concerns, the lab agreed to replace the camera's main board as a solution. I appreciated they were going out of their way to help me with this. However when I got my camera and grip back, with a new main board, the issue quickly re-appeared. I have felt rather helpless since.

I have shot my niece's soccer games, pet portraits, friends' softball games, and a Formula 1 race among others -- situations where boost mode and AF-C are exactly why I paid more than an X-T20 -- and each time the red batteries would make an appearance, making me doubt this pro-grade camera. Reading all these accounts of similar issue and realizing that Fuji must know it's a problem but doesn't acknowledge it is making me pretty upset. I had heard they're supposed to have great service, instead now I feel like they're ignoring or covering up a known manufacturer problem.

I will keep checking this thread for any fixes in the future.

Edited by GogoSlika
clarity
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure if it helps - but I just realized - I've never detached my grip from XT2. Always use only 2 batts. Which I guess means - its not the case with contasts between body/grip.

What happens is I put the plastic tray with charged batts to the grip - they reed: empty stright away - so I take them out and in - and it works. So for me - it would rather mean - the contacts inside the grip. Fuji - as I predicted - didnt find any issue with it. (apart from this - the camera freezes on ocasions, quite rarely. i guess I have to live with that, but Id never suggest anyone to buy xt1/xt2 for serious work. I do use it for serious travel - and I learned how to live with its flows. Id still use Nikon d700 - which was the Machine!!... except too heavy with lenses)

Edited by Torturro
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  • 5 months later...
On 11/24/2018 at 1:04 AM, JBW1763 said:

So, I am late to this topic, but it finally happened to me.  I tried every troubleshooting method I could and finally found what has appeared to be a consistent fix for MY issue.  The issue is the same as mentioned, so this may help you, at least until a proper repair can be made.   My batteries were not being recognized, so the boost mode would not work, and occasionally I would see the grip batteries indicators pop up for a second or two on my screen and then disappear.  While checking all of the contacts I slowly unscrewed the grip tension wheel while the camera was still on.  I found that the batteries would suddenly show up after about two full rotations.  The contacts have apparently, over time, had some sort of short created by the constant pressure and now will lose contact if the grip is fully tightened down.  I temporarily fixed this by putting some 1mm thick mounting tape down on the grip in a few spots, to fill the tiny gap created by not having the tension down fully (don't take off the plastic film, or your grip will be permanently fixed to the camera).  Now, I can securely tighten the grip down to full tension, but still have that small gap, so there is not full pressure on the contacts.  This is a bit of a ghetto fix and probably not a permanent solution, but now my batteries are consistently showing on screen and the boost mode function is working fine.  I can barely see a bit of light between the grip and camera, so any weather sealing that was there is no longer, but at least I've identified the problem for my camera and maybe it will help you in a pinch until you can get it repaired.  

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Just had to make an account to CONFIRM and thank your findings. I had the exact same issue with everyone else. Grip not recognized\batteries showing up dead.

While not having access to that thick tape, I simply put a piece of tissue (adjusting thickness through testing), and sure enough, the grip works properly again. Correct charge and recognized. 

Note that my grip and camera were bought since initial release, and have had the issue for the entire past year, and finally now found the fix. Thanks again, JBW1763. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...

Hi All - i am a bit late to this but am also experiencing problems. I have all original fuji equipment and am using the battery grip for the xt2. All functions on the battery grip work fine APART from that the batteries inside the grip are not used to give the camera any power nor are they displayed (it is as if i didnt have a battery grip). I would have thought that if it is a connection issue the other functions of the grip wouldnt work, but they do. I have not updated my firmware so it might be to do with that, but i am a complete loss! Any help would be much appreciated. 

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  • 2 months later...

This post was very helpful. I have the X-T3 and have been seeing the same grip issues. It seems there is either a short or faulty contact between the grip and the camera. The display sometimes shows all three batteries, then switches to just one battery (the in-camera). I also saw a brief warning displayed about the camera grip draining the battery quickly but I couldn't read it completely before it disappeared. I'm guessing the camera thinks I'm using the internal battery to power the main body and the grip; and it is not recognizing the two batteries in the grip.

It's disappointing to know this has been a problem going back to the X-T2 and it hasn't been completely fixed or addressed with the X-T3 grip. Now that the X-T4 is out I wonder if it will also have the same challenge.

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Exact same problem here with X-T3 grip. I rarely remove the grip from my camera since early 2019. Always fully tightening the grip to the camera whenever possible. Put batteries only in the grip (except when updating firmware). Mostly charge batteries in the grip.

The grip start behaving strangely 1 month back. Initially, boost mode were rapidly activated and deactivated without touching the boost mode switch. Then comes battery indicator issues. The issues were initially infrequent, then worsen within last week. Coming from X-T1 with VG-XT1 and never had any problems, I checked few things on the newer cameras:

1. Got small portion of dirt on my camera contact pads. Cleaned it and trying to attach the grip straightly seemed solving my problem. It seemed okay to tighten the grip, though not too tight that might damage the mechanism. X-T3 (as well as X-T2) grip pads are somewhat less spaced than the X-T1's. Dirt build up might lower the impedance between pads, hence either the "short circuit" or bad contact.

2. Prior to X-T2, fuji cameras do not communicate with the battery. They just sense the battery level by its voltage. Only 2 battery contacts are used in both X-T1 and the grip. X-T3 and X-T2 communicate with the battery (possibly uses serial signal), and might rely on it to determine the battery level (hence displayed value in percent). Once the communication disrupted (by dirty contacts or so), battery level reported to the camera might be off. In my case, I only put 2 half charged batteries in the grip, LCD shows 3 batteries, all red. But strangely one of them is 100% instead of depleted. The next time I restart the camera, it would ON for just 1 second, no battery indicator shown, then turn off by itself.

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6 hours ago, h2r_mr119 said:

Exact same problem here with X-T3 grip.

I always wondered if this was a problem with the X-T3. I did not upgrade from X-T2 to that camera...and now I am wondering if it remains a problem with the X-T4.

I ran across it yet again two days ago. I had forgotten to disconnect the grip from the camera body. Two batteries were at full charge and the one in the camera was at about 50%. A week and a half later, perhaps a bit longer, all were fully discharged. I used to think it was a problem with leaving the camera powered up but in 'standby' mode—no, it happens even with the camera supposedly powered down.

It's pretty frustrating to call Fujifilm tech support, only to have this quickly dismissed by their main U.S. tech support guy as a non-issue. After that happened I realized I was in one of those situations where the techs might examine a camera, declare it to be "working within spec," and that's the end of it. Well, it might be that "spec" itself is a problem. I do hope they fixed this in the X-T4. It would be kind of outrageous if they haven't.

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  • 1 month later...

Hey.

I was having the same issue as you all experience, and have been looking for answers for a month now without luck. But I finally got it to work! I know it sounds ridiculous, but try just take a piece of cloth to clean the contact plate on your camera. Mine was looking perfectly new, without scratches or dirt, but somehow it started to work by just rubbing it for 2 sec.. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/7/2020 at 10:13 PM, Imbow said:

Hey.

I was having the same issue as you all experience, and have been looking for answers for a month now without luck. But I finally got it to work! I know it sounds ridiculous, but try just take a piece of cloth to clean the contact plate on your camera. Mine was looking perfectly new, without scratches or dirt, but somehow it started to work by just rubbing it for 2 sec.. :)

Having this problem for ages and been searching for sloutions ever since, guess what? "rubbing it for 2sec"  THIS WORKED!!! Thanks Imbow! 

 

EDIT

Although the system behaves different after rubbing the conttactplate I have to admit that I responded too fast. This mornig 2 depleted batterys and they were not! Sorry folks

Edited by Spuffnix
Things changed
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  • 2 months later...

Hello everybody, same issue here :( . My solution after reading all these comments was to take very very thick sand paper and sand very gently the contacts of the grip and cameras. Till now it's working, I hope it fixes for other people also and waiting for replies if it was working for you.

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On 11/2/2020 at 4:05 PM, KOTSOS5 said:

Hello everybody, same issue here :( . My solution after reading all these comments was to take very very thick sand paper and sand very gently the contacts of the grip and cameras. Till now it's working, I hope it fixes for other people also and waiting for replies if it was working for you.

HI! Still working for you? I'm looking to try with my camera and grip. Which kind of sand paper did you use?  Thanks

Update: I've sanded camera and grip contacts. The camera recognized very fast the grip but the red problem with one of the batteries stilled on. I've sanded a bit also the grip contacts for the batteries. Now seems it's working perfectly since one hour ago.

Edited by xbar
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