Hi everyone! I have an RCA modle cc540 camcorder.
Hardly used over the years. I recently dug the thing out and found that a tape, and the battery had been left in it for at least three years. Now the view finder is blank.......(yup, I removed the lens cover!) <wink> I tried charging the battery, and I am not sure that it takes a charge as the light blinks and goes off in about 5 minutes. Also if you use the adapter you can hear the camera run, and when you hook it to the TV, you get a playback, but it's very dark. Any suggestions folks? Thanks
RCA camcorder
Sun, 07/10/2005 - 16:48
#1
RCA camcorder
I'm no battery expert, but I'm guessing that your battery is shot considering that it was left idle for 3 years. Here's a great article on how to best treat your rechargeable batteries as an FYI:
http://www.techlore.com/article/10080/
Are all of your tapes playing back dark? You're sure that you have it hooked up to the TV correctly?
My RCA CC540 did the same thing- and it was being used fairly often.
It's not a power problem since it powers up just fine and takes good video-
The problem is I just can't see what I'm filming because the viewfinder is dark.
I'll take any suggestions too.
thanks.
Does the camcorder still work and take video, just the viewfinder doesn't work? So, if you take some footage and watch the video from a TV, does it work?
Yes, the video works just fine-
The only thing that doesn't work is the viewfinder-
Can't see a thing with it- I'm shooting blind.
Same with me. Mine seems to record, but like sharifa I am shooting blind. I can record, and then play the tape on the tv, but until I see it on the tv, I have no idea what I've recorded. Can't see a thing through the view finder.
anybody ever figure out what was wrong with the viewfinder?
Those viewfinders are the CRT type or the LCD type have a proble also with surface mounted capacitors most of the time. Now with the Flatscreen or LCD viewfinders, I have found alot of bad connecting ribbon cables that connect up the viewfinder to the main camera board. Not really a job for the end user. Good Luck and let us know if you get oit repaired.
The CC540 has a CRT type, if memory serves me correctly. Yes, this is most likely a cap. These models had mini-radial caps though. Some of these also had problems with the connector on the Video processing board. In other words, the problem may be at the board side, not the viewfinder.
Dan