problems with Minlota Autometer IV F, please help

[thalo]

dont know exactly where to post this, so i thought accessories might be the best bet.

i have a Minlota Autometer IV F that i acquired with a film camera. i was using it just yesterday (all up to this point it has worked fine) and when i would turn it on it would flash and not function. i found out, from reading the manual, that when it flashes it means low battery. so today i changed the battery and when i put the battery in the screen came on but wouldnt react to pressing any of the buttons/controls. it wouldnt even shut down after 10 min (it has an auto shut down after this amount of time).

i pulled the new battery, put in the old one, the screen came on and i was able to turn it off with the power button. put the new battery in and now i can turn it off with the power button. still doesnt register any button pushes, etc.

any thoughts? anyone else have any issue similar? it is about 15 yrs old (at least the camera that it came with is that old, an Hassy 501c), but it has always been kept in its case in a padded hard case. just want to see if anyone else has had this kind of problem before i think about sending it away for service, if even possible.

cheers

[c2thew]

use more batteries to test it out.

[Jon]

What kind of battery does it use? And what did you put in?

[thalo]

it uses 1 AA. had a duracell in it. i put in a rechargeable i got from harbor freight and have tried other AA (duracell and costco brand). same results no matter what i put in. does anyone know if the meter uses any kind of fuse?

[Jon]

Well, it seems unlikely that it'd have a blown fuse if putting in the old battery let you turn it off. Try pulling all the batteries for a while (maybe a day or so) and then put back a known good carbon-zinc AA cell and see how it goes.

[Savas K]

This link leads to a downloadable pdf of the manual for that model:

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/minolta/minolta_autometer_iv_f/minolta_autometer_iv_f.htm

[thalo]

Well, it seems unlikely that it'd have a blown fuse if putting in the old battery let you turn it off. Try pulling all the batteries for a while (maybe a day or so) and then put back a known good carbon-zinc AA cell and see how it goes.

i will give that a try. thanks for the comments.

This link leads to a downloadable pdf of the manual for that model:

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/minolta/minolta_autometer_iv_f/minolta_autometer_iv_f.htm

thanks for the link. i have checked this earlier and i have the original manual which is the same thing, but there is no troubleshooting section in it. thanks for all your comments and suggestions. if all else fails it will be $181 for flat rate service (sony handles the service for KM since 2006, http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?news_id=120&region_id=1) or go for a new meter.

cheers

[Savas K]

Do you have the accessories for this unit? They are hard to find. At $181.00 to fix the Auto Meter, seriously look at the latest units by different manufacturers to see what you can get. My opinion - $181.00 makes the Auto Meter totaled. Put that money into a modernized unit.

[thalo]

that is what i was thinking. also with something like sekonic i can get the radio transmitter module.

cheers

[Wilt]

$181 to fix an Autometer IV...one could buy a used Autometer IV or V for that much (or less, as I did!)