Unusual Canon A95 Behavior

[Whyren]

Just curious to see if anyone here has had a similar issue. At first, I thought my Canon A95 might have been simply having the E18 lens error, or some battery issue, but now I'm perplexed.

The camera's been pretty well taken care of (never dropped, stored in case, no harsh weather short of maybe light rain once in a while). One day it would extend the lens a bit, then stop and say change the batteries. Now it won't even extend (it may briefly illuminate the LCD, though). I've used both freshly recharged batteries and new alkaline ones with no result. Note that the viewscreen has never said "E18" either.

Upon connecting to an outlet, the camera mostly works. In "review" mode, it works perfectly, no issues at all. In "capture" mode, it will extend and retract the lens, but only briefly, then shut off and say 'change the batteries' (while connected to an outlet?). This, however, is only when the LCD screen is operative. When the screen is closed, the camera will activate fine, stay on, even take pictures. It would be great if I could fix this myself, but I'm becoming less confident. Has anyone had any experience with this?

 

[ChrisA]

I think the motor that moves the lens is drawing more current than it should. The current draw lowers the voltage. The lowered voltage trips the "change battery" alarm. The voltage depends on the total current draw with includes the motor and the LCD and other stuff too.

The reason for the motor drawing more current is that there is for some reason more mechanical resistance. Either the lens got bumped while extended and in not aligned or there is "junk" (dust and dirt) in the gear train. Likely the later. Someone who is very careful could clean and lubricate the lens retract system. You need to be very carefull not to get lubricant into the optical path. If you do it is nearly imposable to remove.
Could also be that the motor has simply reached to end of it's life.