Yashica Electro 35G dead

[fasteddie]

Hi, I just acquired a very nice Yashica Electro 35G in very nice condition but upon inserting a good battery the camera is dead. No battery check light. Battery compartment is clean.

Any suggestions of starting points for fault finding this problem please?

Thanks

 

[Greyscale]

The first place to check would be the wire leading to the negative battery terminal at the bottom of the battery compartment. Some dis-assembly may be required. But clean the battery terminals first, even if they look clean they could be tarnished.

 

[b1bmsgt]

clean the battery terminals first, even if they look clean they could be tarnished.

This means the spring at the upper end of the battery compartment, the contact surfaces on the battery door and the contact ring just inside the battery compartment. 😀

Russ

 

[Frontman]

Also check to make sure the battery you are using is good, and that you are putting it in the right way. If you are using an adapter, make sure the positive side of the battery is on the same side as the battery compartment cap.

 

[Harlee]

After trying some of these suggestions, you may have to resolder the white wire which is soldered to the battery spring. The battery chamber comes out quite easily after removing the bottom plate and the two phillips head screws holding the battery chamber in place, pull out the battery chamber and see if the white wire is still soldered to it. It may still be soldered but over time as the camera gets older the solder joint may not be making a complete circuit with the negative side of the battery. I've repaired 3-4 Yashicas by resoldering the white wire to the negative side of the battery chamber.

 

[Frontman]

Another suggestion, if the plastic plate which holds the red test button is warped outward, you might have to press the button quite far for the lamp to illuminate. Also, the test lamp bulb may be burned out. Check and see if the camera works without bothering with the test lamp. The contacts for the shutter and meter can also get dirty over time if the camera isn't used. You can clean up the contacts by holding the winding lever fully open while depressing the shutter button rapidly for 20 seconds or so.

 

[fasteddie]

Thanks everyone. Upon removal of the battery compartment I found the white wire had corroded and was no longer in contact.
I've fixed it now and all the electrics seem to work.
But another problem has shown up.
It has a sticky shutter. How do I gain access?

 

[Frontman]

Thanks everyone. Upon removal of the battery compartment I found the white wire had corroded and was no longer in contact.
I've fixed it now and all the electrics seem to work.
But another problem has shown up.
It has a sticky shutter. How do I gain access?

Remove the lens nameplate with a rubber stopper or lens spanner. Underneath you can see the notches in the metal ring which holds the front lens element in place, use your lens spanner, or a pair of needle-nose pliers with long tips to remove the front lens group by turning counter-clockwise. After the lens group is removed, you will have access to the shutter blades. A few drops of lighter fluid may loosen things up and allow the shutter to work properly. Once the fluid has dried up, set the camera to B, and clean the inside of the rear element with a pure cotton swab and lens cleaning fluid. You can also clean the inside of the front element group while you have it out.

 

[btgc]

It has a sticky shutter.

How it manifestates? Electro is a camera which very rarely has sticky shutter. Most probably it works on default 1/500th making impression shutter doesn't open. Did you check against light source with open film door?

 

[Sid836]

Sorry to invade on this. I have a GTN that has a white wire cut off from the battery compartment. I am not a talented man in soldering as it is most certain that I will burn all of my fingers, but not making a proper solder down there. Does that white wire come out again at that little circuit board at the bottom of the camera? Can I solder a new wire from the bottom of the battery chamber to that circuit?

 

[fasteddie]

How it manifestates? Electro is a camera which very rarely has sticky shutter. Most probably it works on default 1/500th making impression shutter doesn't open. Did you check against light source with open film door?

Upon further examination I find that without a battery it fires at whatever the default setting is (500th?) but with a battery on all settings of Auto, B and flash it opens about 60% then drags slowly for another 20% before giving up. I don't have an original battery so I'm using 4X LR44 in a tube

 

[btgc]

Upon further examination I find that without a battery it fires at whatever the default setting is (500th?) but with a battery on all settings of Auto, B and flash it opens about 60% then drags slowly for another 20% before giving up. I don't have an original battery so I'm using 4X LR44 in a tube

I think LR44's shouldn't give this effect, but I've never tried Electro with them (either original merc. cell or lithium 6V cell). If cells are going flat whole exposure would be affected not manner how shutter open - but let's see what others comment on this.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

A good Electro will definitely work fine with 4xLR44. Mine do.

 

[Sid836]

Quick question, how could one re-solder the hard to reach white wire at the bottom end of its battery chamber?

 

[fasteddie]

Quick question, how could one re-solder the hard to reach white wire at the bottom end of its battery chamber?

Remove the top of the camera. Remove the base of the camera. Remove the battery chamber to clean the solder tab (it's actually the end of the spring) and tin it with solder. While you're at it clean the contact spring inside the chamber and the rim of the chamber where the cap makes contact.
Then I know of 2 ways to do it.
Draw the wire out through the front of the camera under the viewfinder to gain access to clean and tin it. Then re insert the battery chamber and you should see the solder tab through the gap under the viewfinder. With a thin enough solder tip you might be nimble enough to solder through the gap.
If this is too fiddly then solder a short piece of wire onto the battery chamber solder tab before re installing into the camera so you can draw this and the original wire out from under the viewfinder at the front of the camera to solder them together and insulate them. Don't add more wire than is necessary as there's already plenty taking up that space.

 

[Sid836]

Many thanks for the advice. I will do this late today.

 

[Sid836]

That's it! My Yashica is alive again! An easier way to solder the white wire is to unscrew the battery tester at the back of the camera and pull out that wire from there. Solder another wire to it pass it through the battery tester opening back to its place, solder it on the battery chamber and... I love my Yashica!

 

[fasteddie]

That's it! My Yashica is alive again! An easier way to solder the white wire is to unscrew the battery tester at the back of the camera and pull out that wire from there. Solder another wire to it pass it through the battery tester opening back to its place, solder it on the battery chamber and... I love my Yashica!

Excellent News.

I still don't know what's causing the shutter drag on mine though so it looks like opening it up and taking a closer look.

 

[Sid836]

Could it be condensates of humidity on the leafs? I had the same problem on an olympus pen ee. I was constantly opening the front lens cleaning up the leafs of the shutter and after a while it was becoming slugish.
I have realized that it must had been humitidy after storing it in a box with a silica desicant sack with it.

 

[b1bmsgt]

I still don't know what's causing the shutter drag on mine though so it looks like opening it up and taking a closer look.

In the course of my work on numerous Electros, I have found that this is pretty common on G's and GS/GT's. I have never seen it in GSN/GTN's to the best of my recollection. I'm not sure exactly what causes it but it sometimes responds to the lighter fluid. Be advised though that Electro shutters will often stop working entirely while the fluid is still in the mechanism in a liquid state. After blowing it dry with compressed air and letting it evaporate for awhile they usually start working again. I also make sure not to have a battery installed while it is wet to avoid any possible electrical damage.

Hope this helps.

Russ