Chosen Solution
I put in a fresh 6V battery into my camera a week ago and now the shutter won’t fire. I know the battery is drained because the needle is above the index (5.6 mark in viewfinder) instead of below. Is this an issue with the capacitor or corroded terminals? I bought it locally and the guy said it was his Dad’s camera. Thanks
The battery chamber contacts & wires often corrode up. Did you see any corrosion within the battery chamber? The pins are clean and are not discolored? Getting to the chamber wires requires a fair amount of disassembly. Review this service manual to locate the MG3 on the bottom of the camera so you can measure the battery power Canon-AE-1 Service Manual.
corroded terminals might cause a symptom of a dead battery because of a high resistance connection. Best test the batteries outside the camera.
I also don’t know for sure the answer, but at least I have a more logical supposition. The camera has coil under the bottom plate that is basically an electromagnet to control shutter speeds. It has a very thin wire that lets power flow to it. However, that wire has only a thin insulation and it might short circuit at some point. If that is the case, is not complicated to fix, but it requires precision. A workaround would be to only let battery while shooting. 5 mins, or even 10 maybe won’t drain the battery; at least it makes the camera usable
