350D seldom works..

hi, I took my old 350D on vacation to Sicily and had a few problems with it.
Occasionally it just would not power on, at other times it powered on and worked for hours.

When it failed it would not power up at all, and the only way I seems to get around this was to pop the battery out and insert it again (after several times of 're-inserting' the battery it worked, but it could take up to 5 minutes to get the camera working again. highly annoying.)

It is very strange. I was cursing the batteries, but when I did get the camera working, it would work fine, sometimes for the whole day until the problem re-occurred. So I am not sure it is the batteries. The contacts look good also.

I was blaming the heat (but at only 26'c this should not be a problem), and humidity (it was not too humid) and even the volcanic activity of the Sicilians islands.

I took 2 batteries with me, and both fully charged, and charged them both during the evening also.

I read this as I thought it may have been an issue with the batteries:
https://photography-on-the.net …p?t=809701&high​light=350D

But I am thinking it is something else (considering when the camera did work, it worked perfectly).

Any thoughts on this?

I may be a problem with the battery door. I have read that there is a micro-switch on the door that could be causing the problem and by "replacing the battery several times" the switch finally makes a proper connection allowing the 350D to work.

If they are after-market batteries they may only last a year or two. Mine would appear to be fully charged when in the charger, but juice dropped rapidly when in camera. Try a new battery first.