Yashica Electro 35 GSN - No Power

[HardKnockRiffe]

Hello, all!

Jumping right into it - I purchased an Electro 35 at an antique store the other day thinking it was a steal at $35. Couple that with the man hours spent exhausted on this thing and I'm starting to realize that the owner stole from me. 🙂

I make my Frankenstein battery and try the Check Battery button - nothing. I redo the battery and try again - again, nothing. I go online and check some forums (this one among others) and find that the contacts on the battery compartment are a source of failure. Let's crack this thing open!

Once I take the bottom plate off, I was surprised that the cylinder fell out. It didn't have a connection on the end of the cylinder as shown below:

So now I have to do some more investigation. Taking the top plate off, I noticed two things almost immediately. One, the brown wire that leads to the flash mechanism is cut and, two, there is a loose white wire that has been pulled off it's connection:

Flash wire:

White wire:

After some deductive reasoning, I found that the brown wire connects to another wire that is housed in the top cover so I soldered that together. After frantically searching for what this white wire connects to, it dawns on me that the only thing I can think of that is missing a connection is the battery compartment! Things are looking up! After soldering the white wire to the battery compartment, I put everything back together.

I throw my FrankenBattery in andbrace for the moment of truth. I press the Check Battery button and...

NOTHING!

So, guys, I'm stuck and need some help. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, I'd be very grateful.

 

[john neal]

I have seen all sorts inside GSN bodies, but you have checked that the battery contact inside the housing is still there? Or that it can actually pass current to the white wire? Corrosion here is frequent and can be catastrophic

Also check the other end of the white wire - I had one that had actually carried battery gunk all along its length and rotted off the other end too (really!). Check that the battery check switch is working and that all the wiring connections on the circuit board under the top plate are sound. Oh, yes - you have checked that your battery adapter is passing current?

Beyond that, I would have to see it, it has been a while since I worked on one of these. Check to see if Kim Coxon still has the workshop manual up on his Pentax website, that can be very helpful.

 

[HardKnockRiffe]

Thanks, John!

I'll check the contact inside the housing. As for the white wire, I actually thought that may be the issue so I ran a new one all together. I'll update once I check and test.

Bryan

 

[farlymac]

You also might think about shrinking your photos to a more reasonable screen size. 800 the long side is big enough.

The brown wire is the PC sync socket wire. The white wire connects to the top of the battery compartment, and a couple of red wires (one for the meter circuit, the other for the Battery Check) connect to the bottom ring, which holds the battery compartment in the camera.

Corrosion from the battery usually travels up the white wire, eating the strands all the way to the PC board at the back of the meter, necessitating complete replacement.

PF

 

[nparsons13]

After doing the rewiring, you checked the battery test light, but did you check to see whether the red and yellow exposure lights were working? As farlymac says, there are two red wires connecting to the battery compartment bottom ring, and one can be bad while the other is still making a good connection. Also, the battery test switch mounted to the circuit board can sometimes be out of alignment so the red button doesn't press it properly. So it's possible for the exposure lights and shutter timing to work even though the battery test light doesn't.

Does the shutter work without a battery? If so, if all else fails, you can still use the camera at the default speed of 1/500. With ISO 400 film you'll have a good range of f-stops to work with.

To be fair, most antique store/thrift shop/pawnshop folks don't know anything about the electronics in these cameras, and if the camera cocks and the shutter clicks, to them that means it's working.

 

[HardKnockRiffe]

There aren't any working lights on the camera. The shutter does fire without the batteries.

 

[HardKnockRiffe]

Yeah, I didn't intend for the picture to be as large as they were. I replaced the white wire this morning and still haven't had any luck.

 

[HardKnockRiffe]

We have power!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

 

[farlymac]

Alright! Now we just need to see some photos from it.

PF

 

[nparsons13]

Can you tell us what did the trick?

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

After trying a couple of these, I wrote an article with a sequence of tests for an Electro. There are a number of things that can go wrong. In good shape, it's a great picture taker.

 

[b1bmsgt]

Congratulations!! It's always nice to have a little success in life...

Russ