Canon A640 overheating and catching fire

My camera seems to have a serious fault it seems the battery compartment has an overheating problem which could lead to explosion or fire.

I work as a surveyor and take about 7,000 pictures a year so tend to replace my camera every year, the Powershot A640 was my new camera for this year.

When I attempted to use it for the first time I inserted some AA NI-MH Rechargable Batteries (From my previous A series Canon Camera) and put the A640 in its carry case attached to my belt. 15 or so minutes later as I was at the top of a ladder I noticed smoke and heat coming from the carry case. I removed the camera which was extremely hot, burning my hand in the process, I managed to open the battery compartment to see what was going on and found that half the camera had melted (was Soft to the Touch) and my batteries had overheated and are bonded to the battery compartment. I found out from subsequent searches that the A540 had some overheating problems of a similar nature however I did not realise how serious the problem was and that it can also affect other more expensive Canon cameras like the A640. In the space of 15mins my A640 had overheated to such an extent that not only had it melted my carrycase interior but the battery compartment had welded the carry strap to the hand grip and made all the metal buttons on the top pop out. Ironically even though it burnt me I am just grateful that I had the camera on me. I would dread to think what could have happend if it was in my filing cabinet in the office or in the boot of my car (places I normally store it) when this overheating occured as it could have caused a fire in less than half an hour. I contacted Canon UK and they were not bothered or fussed at all they just told me to return it to the dealer I purchased it from as it was less than a week old.

I wanted to find out if any other users had experienced a similar problem and also what I should do.

I do not want another Canon A640 user to go through what I did. I use my camera everyday as a work tool and the last thing I expect from a Canon Camera is for it to maim, kill me or burn my business down.

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why do you replace it after 7000 shots in a year? I shoot around 8000-9000 shots a month and my cameras have lasted a long time

sucks to hear about the battery issue though, maybe they'll warranty it?

Hot Shot wrote in post #2641770
I contacted Canon UK and they were not bothered or fussed at all they just told me to return it to the dealer I purchased it from as it was less than a week old.

I wanted to find out if any other users had experienced a similar problem and also what I should do.

Well you were already told by Canon what you should do. Not sure if anyone else has had the same problem though.

I would have expected some words of apoligy for their defective product.

CRE@TE wrote in post #2642654
I would have expected some words of apoligy for their defective product.

What is to say it wasn't the batteries that were defective?

You've probably got a case for a lawyer there....

Robukincan wrote in post #2642873
You've probably got a case for a lawyer there....

Yeah let's perpetuate the sue-happy trend.

Robukincan wrote in post #2642873
You've probably got a case for a lawyer there....

Before you go all sue happy...I think it is probably important to find the cause of the problem...was it the camera, was it the batteries or lord forbid...was it some form of user error?

Woolburr wrote in post #2642925
Before you go all sue happy...I think it is probably important to find the cause of the problem...was it the camera, was it the batteries or lord forbid...was it some form of user error?

Concur 150%

Return the thing to where ever you bought it from as long as it wasn't ebay or off the back of a truck after a week you should be able to exchange it, buy new batteries and test it out in the store before you leave... as for the lawyer comment.. a P&S camera doesn't even seem worth the trouble... But, i'm curious.. do you sue over defective toasters or scratched c.d.'s as well?...

Any product from any company can be a lemon. If I had only had it for a week, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. I would have simply taken it back to the dealer for a replacement or refund and moved on. As for suing, that's just starting trouble where there need not be any!

I don't see the validity of this OP. A640 uses 2 AA battery. Let say each battery has 3000mAH capacity. Total voltage of 2.6V. I don't believe that there is enough to amperage to generate enough heat to cause the damage that the OP is saying.

OP only have 2 post and did not post any pictures. I'm curious!!!

A640 uses 4xAA. And the rate of discharge is what causes a heat problem, not the total capacity. I have a lock de-icer that runs on 2xAAA cells. And it gets hot.

If you think manufacturers (be they battery, camera, or otherwise) don't owe a duty of care to their customers to not burn or otherwise cause injury (assuming no neglience from the customer), then that's cool .... we all have our own opinions, be they popular or un

I'd generally class a lemon as something that was a dud, just didn't work or failed to work properly right out the box ... not something that had the potential to burn/cause injury or damage etc.

I'd be extremely unhappy if no apology was provided, call back and start by talking to a manager (at Canon)! [and i think if I was the manager and found no apology had been issued I'd be falling over myself trying to make that customer happy...] I don't think this chap's issue should be trivialized in any way.

Hope this all works out for you!!

lostdoggy wrote in post #2643455
I don't see the validity of this OP. A640 uses 2 AA battery. Let say each battery has 3000mAH capacity. Total voltage of 2.6V. I don't believe that there is enough to amperage to generate enough heat to cause the damage that the OP is saying.

OP only have 2 post and did not post any pictures. I'm curious!!!

I agree...that the OP should return the camera for a different model...unless he suffered damage that was irreparable, he shouldn't sue...however, it would be hard to take/show a photo if 15 min. after the batteries were put in, the camera melted.