D40 - drained battery not charging properly?

annatitov

New member
I was traveling recently and when I unpacked my camera, I found that it had been switched on by accident during baggage handling, and of course the battery was drained.

I'm trying to charge it now in the standard adapter that comes with the camera, but rather than having the usual steady blinking light, the blinking is irregular and has great gaps in between.

Has anybody else had similar issues with their battery after accidentally draining it? I tried putting it back in a while ago (normally I have enough charge to at least switch on the camera after 15 mins), but nothing happened. I'll wait a little while longer with it charging, but is there a good chance the battery's completely kaputt?

Thanks!
 

carguy

Senior Member
Welcome to the site. Could very well be the battery is toast.
Do you already have a spare battery to use in the mean time?
If not, hit your local camera shop and buy another Nikon EN-EL9 battery.
 

nickt

Senior Member
It was probably time for it to go. While it's not a good idea to drain every last drop of power from the battery every time, it won't kill a good battery. But it can put an already failing battery out of it's misery. The camera shuts down before it gets to the point of hurting the battery. There are strict protection circuits in lithium ion batteries because they tend to rapidly vent with flame if not treated well. Your camera probably ran the battery down and then shut itself off. The battery then self-discharged even further because it was not in good condition. It got to point where the protection circuit decided it was unsafe to allow the battery to charge. You might have pushed it over the edge, but it was probably heading for failure anyway.
 

WayneF

Senior Member
The D40 was introduced in 2006. That would make any original battery be pretty old, and suspect. They lose maximum capacity over time, and 3 or 4 years is getting old.
 

carguy

Senior Member
The D40 was introduced in 2006. That would make any original battery be pretty old, and suspect. They lose maximum capacity over time, and 3 or 4 years is getting old.
I still have my original D40 battery surprisingly :)

I alternate between that and a spare OEM battery I bought in September 2012.
 
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