Repair time: Nikon MH-25 charger repair.
Вставка
- Опубліковано 21 лют 2019
- Problem: Unit no longer charging after a fall to a carpeted floor.
Opening this thing is a bear, its mostly glued shut.
So if you have a heat gun, get that out, and you will be a few steps ahead of me.
This unit is poorly designed, and the components seem to invite failure, and a one way trip to the trash.
There should be a recall on this piece of trash.
This is a $50.00 charger, so I kinda expect a little more at this price point.
At the very least, make it so that if you do wish to try to service it, that you don't have to destroy it to get it open.
Others with the same issue:
• Nikon MH-25 battery ch...
• How to open a MH25 bat...
• Nikon MH25 - Розваги
I recently dropped my MH 25a charger(just a year old), it stopped working. Now I landed up here :)
Unfortunately I don't have a soldering iron, would have to give it to a guy. But cool video, at least now I know what has gone wrong.
Its never a bad idea to have a cheap iron and some solder kicking around for quick fixes like this.
Had exactly same issue and fixed by just re-solder thanks for video
I'm glad it helped, its an easy fix if you know where to look. And with nothing to lose, its well worth doing.
Thanks for sharing this info. I repaired mine with your help but it failed again while I was in England. I was resigned to buying a new one but a camera shop in Bristol sold me a charger that connects to a phone charger. It is half the size & you use your phone charging lead. The brand name is hama & it cost £11.
I’ll have to look into that, thanks.
Mine fell 18 inches onto a vinyl floor and stopped working. Won't be buying another Nikon charger for $49. Overpriced and this seems to be a problem with these units. Bought a 3rd party charger. Will try to fix the Nikon and use as a back up. Thanks again for a clear understandable video.
Yea, thats a really bad design, and its going to be that component, so at least you know what you are looking for.
Some of the links in my description box go to others that have repaired it as well.
Worked like a charm! thanks for saving me from having to buy a new charger. This repaired one now lives in the shop!
Glad it helped. It’s just too bad that the Nikon engineers let us down so badly on this one.
@@JimsEquipmentShed I took the hot glue gun to it. It won’t be coming free again!
@@kurtisfafard6648 Yup, that’s the best way to deal with it. Prevention for the next time.
Great video! Crisp comments, easy to understand! Repairs worked great for me. Thanks for putting on!
Always happy to see a cheap fix working out! Nikon should redesign that for sure.
Nice, thanks.. same problem here.
Well, at least you know it’s fixable now.
@@JimsEquipmentShed Sure, just need to buy a simple WELDING IRON to make the repair
Thank you for taking the time to make and upload this video. Today it has helped me. Just wanted to drop a comment out of gratitude :-)
Not a problem at all, I’m glad it helped!
Thanks a lot for the video, Jim - I also had the same problem of the Transistor solder tracks getting broken. Fixed it and its working fine now !!
Glad it worked. I’ really amazed that they didn’t design that better.
At the very least, they could have made it easier to disassemble…..
@@JimsEquipmentShed Very True - I have applied some hot glue to stabilize the Transistor and prevent damage again. Looks like they did not perform the Drop Test :)
@@ashitg65 Yea, that design only works for a device that is never actually used….It’s amazing to me something that simple slipped through the cracks….
I had the same problem with the charger I have, I wonder how many duff chargers are out there because of this issue. After resoldering the track I finished off by gluing the component to offer some support and rigidity in an aide to prevent this fault happening again.
Very good tutorial Jim. My charger is working again.
M1ZXZ Yea, Anything you can do yo keep it from getting rattled back off is a good idea. It’s a really poor design.
Great job, I love home remedies, especially without the use of specialized equipment, which allow me to fix the device myself at no extra cost
Yup, this was a lot cheaper than replacing the charger. I wish they has assembled the case entirely with screws though, they didn't need to fight us on this.....
Thanks a lot, same issue with my device and I didn't drop it. My repair was just a bit of bumf pressing the transistor(?) in the right direction :-D
It doesn’t take much, one of our users swears that maybe he tossed it into his camera bag, but it certainly didn’t hit anything hard. (Other that’s the end of the power cord, and a loose trigger release. )
I think that component just weighs too much to be left unsupported. Eventually they all seem to break.
Great video Jim. I dropped my charger from my hand onto a marble floor whilst on holiday in Italy and it stopped working. On return home I could not figure out how to open it. Your video was perfect. Sadly, no obvious physical issues with my unit, and there is no way I am going to attempt to fault find in the 'robot vomit' of SMD parts. Ver flimsy design for something likely to be used whilst travelling.
Even if it doesn’t look bad, just try resoldering that connection.
That is most likely going to be the problem, even if it looks ok.
It was amazing to me that their engineers let that poorly designed mess slide by.
Today I've picked my MH-25 for charging the battery of my D600 but didn't worked... I've searched some tutorials for open the unit and found this video.
After a bit of work I've extracted the board from the box and found the same problem of yours! I've fixed it and secure D7 with a drop of hot glue on components side of PCB. Now the bad boy is securely tight in place :)
Thank you
I'm glad it helped! Its a shame that they engineered this unit so poorly, this is really basic stuff in the world electronics.
If they have heavy components, they really need to be secured better.
Thanks for the video...I opened mine and put it back together without doing anything...and it works 😂😀👍
The solder joints might be touching again temporarily, you should hit those with a soldering iron just to make sure the connection is good.
(Or the next time it gets bounced, it will probably lose connection again.)
Ohhh, shame on whoever made this charger and also Nikon quality control and engineers. I searched on youtube and found 3-4 videos about it. All have the same issue. I made thin "nose" on my soldering tool and will fix tomorrow. Most challenging part was to figure out how to open. Thanks for your video!
Yea, if they are going to engineer theses things so poorly, the least they could do is make it so that the case unscrews.
The glue thing was really short sighted.
Not as short sighted as their electrical engineering department, but still........
@@JimsEquipmentShed after soldering i will fix that detail with hot glue I think. To hold it on the plate well.
Aigars Liepins Yea, that’s what I did as well. It’s unfortunate Nikon didn’t do that in the first place.
Hi guys! I realized my MH-25a charged has a hole with a pin in the middle right behind the plug in piece. I´ve take a bicycle spoke, bent it with a curved shape (hook) to insert it through the mentioned pin. Then clamped the spoke and pulled out holding the other part of the charger. I´ve been able to open it so in a very clean way without damaging it much. But once opened have found everything seeming to be on place, so, as I know about electronics theres nothing I can do. Thanks for the video again.
RMG Wheels & Spokes Lab. that’s cool! I’m always up for a new trick or two! Thanks! I never even looked at doing that. Take a really close look on your charger, sometimes, until you wiggle that thing, you might not see the cracked wiring trace.
Thanks for the video. What a piece of trash. I was sat down on the chair. Picked up the charger with the battery in after a charge, hold it from the cable and the unit disconnected from the connector and fall down to the floor something like 30cm or so. It was so stupid to me to think it was damaged that I just checked the outside which didn´t have even a scratch, but something told me "try it"... and when I plug it in the light didn´t turn on, then did some noise blinked and isn´t working any longer. A D500 camera useless now because of a crapy charger... come on... My D90 had a better charger. I have 2 charged batteries and we are lockeddown. :( :(
RMG Wheels & Spokes Lab. Yea, at the very least, you can do this fix and that will get you through lock down.
Because of the glue, it kinda (as you can see) damages the case if you are not careful. But at least it will give you a charger until you can get a replacement.
Totally agree on the D90 charged.
Those things are tanks!
I don’t have any videos on repainting them. I’ve never seen one break.
Thank you so much! Had the same problem and i could solve it! Thaaanks!
Clara Pedrol glad it helped!
I had exactly the same issue in my charger. Watching your video helped me a lot to fix the problem. Thank you so much Jim.
Not a problem at all, I’m glad this has helped so many people.
Honestly, I figured it might, as it’s a really horrible design.
I hope they design the next series a lot better.
Thanks for sharing. I will look into getting a third-party charger also. Shame on you Nikon! SMH
Yea, its crazy Brian. This is basic electrical engineering 101, the components must be supported, and protected against the inevitable.
Its not like Nikon is just starting out....
thanks it worked
Thankfully, it’s a fairly easy thing to fix once you know where to look.
Thanks for your helpful instructions. How exactly would you go about opening the device using a heat gun?
Timeless Blues Foundation run the heat gun along the seem and it should help loosen it (the adhesive) up enough so that it wont crack.
Then just use superglue to hold it back together again.
That's exactly the way I split the case apart. Slowly heat the plastic, otherwise the plastic will distort if heated to much, so take it slow and easy, I then used a safety blade and gently pressed into the case between the two halves. It will be much easier if you only heat one section at a time and use the blade until that particular section is apart then move onto another section and repeat the process. Patience & perseverance is key to a nice clean job that you will be satisfied with with hacking and destroying the case.
As a retired Electronics Technologist with over 30 years' experience, I can tell you that this charger is not any more badly designed than most other pieces of home electronics. It just wasn’t designed to be dropped on the floor. It may have been supplied by a third party under contract to Nikon. One short drop onto carpeted floor won’t usually break parts free from a board. It mostly happens after repeated knocks or drops and people don’t notice it until it fails.
There are many parts on this PCB that could be compromised if you drop it often enough and it would not be cost efficient to “brace” all of them. What you could do, now that you have it apart, is to use a hot glue gun to drop some glue around any parts that are heavier and stand off from the board. That was common practice years ago, but you don’t see it as much anymore, possibly due to cost-cutting measures.
I have several different Nikon chargers and I dropped one of mine on a hardwood floor a few years ago. One of the fine traces on the board cracked and it stopped working. A simple solder repair put it back into service. If you solder a trace that has cracked, remember to solder a small piece of wire across it to beef up the join.
On another note, if you keep your soldering iron tip clean you won’t struggle so much with your repairs.
In our fleet of Nikons, this was the only style of charger that had this issue.
And it was the exact same fault.so sorry if you worked on this design, but it was insufficient.
You can't really call it a fault if it got dropped on the floor. It's a fact of life that the rougher you treat electronics equipment the more likely you are to have problems. If you have a fleet of chargers that are in constant use and they're getting dropped a lot they're gonna get broken. You can't call that a design flaw. That's more along the lines of abuse. Open up all the cases and put a dab of hot glue at the base of the voltage regulator so it supports the part. That'll stop a lot of the breakage and you'll have fewer repairs and unhappy end users.
@TechSavvy. Design it with support like the old ones were, and it won’t break.
The old ones didn’t.
@@JimsEquipmentShed It's too late for a re-design, now. Damage control only.
Yup, thats the reason for this video, it's an easy fix.
But it's not too late for them to put this warning into the engineering tech notes for the next design possibilities.@@TechSavvy.
My MH-25 charger stopped working but not same issue. Transistor solder connections seem fine. All solder connections on circuit board look OK. Here is tip on separating plastic case. I used a sharp chisel. Tap with hammer around all four sides. Seems to separate small amount of glue used. I welcome any other ideas on what could be wrong with charger?
I like the chisel idea, as I wasn’t pleased with the damaged case.
I would resolder them anyhow, as sometimes those trace breaks are about impossible to see by eye.
@@JimsEquipmentShed I took another closer look and found the apparent problem. A small crack in circuit board where power connector spring clip is mounted on board. The current path is interrupted. I will try jumpering with a wire soldered to spring clip pin and to TH1 pin where board path leads. This spring clip holds the swiveling power adapter. Another poor design since a lot of torque is exerted on this very thin part of circuit board when connecting and disconnecting the power cord. CAUTION best to leave your power cord always plugged into charger. Only remove from wall.
Swips Eightyeight Yea, anything that moves, and it doesn’t really need to, is a bad design.
Glad you found the issue.
I see that a bunch Jim !
Yea, terrible design Shawn, its amazing that they fail to support a component that actually has a hole designed into it for just that purpose.
Sir what is the name of that blue part near transistor.... Plz
its a ceramic disc capacitor for RFI - EMI suppression.
I just dropped mine as well.. Trying to break into it right now.
My problem was not the transistor but a broken PCB where it's very narrow between the slot and the AC in.. Gonna fix it with a piece of wire instead.
And it works again!
@@erik.... Excellent! Although it would have been better had Nikon just built it better to start with....
same problem hanging transistor found
I’m glad I published this fix, I kinda figured it wasn’t going to be an isolated event based on the poor design.
Have same... just used trashbin to solve the problem... wow nikon... wow...
Yea, thats one way to do it! ;-) I just hate throwing away a $40.00 charger. (No matter how crappy its quality is.)
Hello, i just repaired mine , the problem is the same
Excellent! I’m glad the fix is easy, but also kinda sad that Nikon made such a poorly designed product in the first place.
Rugged design was what made me choose them over canon.
I just took apart my charger and it had the exact same fault with it. Broken solder.
Excellent! It’s nice to find a free fix eh? ;-)
I faced the same problem with my charger.
Did you fix it the same way?
@@JimsEquipmentShed yes ... Thanks to you
와 뜯는 것 까지가 내가 할 수 있는거네. 물론, 나사 풀어서 뜯은게 아님.
사야겄다. 10년 썼으면 많이 썼다..
Could you see the broken part once you opened it?
@@JimsEquipmentShed Even if there is a broken part, I think it wasn't broken before I opened it, but it was broken when I opened it because I opened it by making a hole in the case.
I think the wrench used in assembly is a wrench that is not commonly used so I couldn't open it normally.
It's okay. I bought a new one the next day.
@@user-gr2jx1cb2k In any event, it was interesting to take a look inside right?
OMG, this free wiggling Thyristor inside the charger seems to be mechanically a bad Nikon Design, at least after a drop on the floor, and no more charging. Should being re-soldered again simply. I'd suggest using a good old desoldering pump, to get old solder off the PCB. And just using a soldering iron with a finer point, no offense.
I've just bought a cheap 3rd party charger (less than 10 bucks, instead of the original here, which costs >80 EUR up to 99 EUR, unbelievable), because i've lost my MH-25 somewhere (it never went defective, since my Nikon D7000, but was never falling down, too)
Yea, it is a terrible design, and it actually pushes the trace right off the board.
So desoldering wouldn't have helped, that was a bridge over a cracked joint.
The nikon engineers could have fixed this for sure with about three seconds of thought.
If I really cared about the ascetic of it , I would have run a jumper wire and cleaned it up.
In this case, I just needed a solid connection.
That charger is in a fleet of like items, so substituting it with an off brand knock off wasn't an option.
@@JimsEquipmentShed I see. Yeah, at least you've fixed it! Good work. For such little electronics via PCB inside, i would really never spent close to 100 bucks new. It's being too overpriced via Nikon.
Eu também deixei cair o meu .. Estou tentando arrombá-lo agora 2021 BR
Ja! Ja! Yes, sadly, they are very easy to break. Very poor design.
Русские есть?
“Russians Are” what?
Learn to solder before you try this kind of repair.
George Lynch Yea, not my best work ever, but floating traces are not as easy as they look, feel free to post your video.