Keychain Camera not working?

My keychain camera (standard 808 camera) will not turn on. No lights turn on when I plug it into the computer, or hold the power button. Also, when I put the memory card into the computer, half the time the files will read and half the time they won't.

Any ideas? Or should I just pick up a new camera?

Open it up and check if the battery is disconnected or puffed....

That's all that I can think of. From an Electrical standpoint, those cameras have so many cut corners that if they started square, they'd be a circle. This goes for alot of those "Mega Cheap" Chinese electronics. Filtering capacitors and ESD protection are usually omitted for cost, making the poor thing a sitting duck for electrical noise and static discharge.

If the battery is OK, just buy a new one. They're pretty cheap anyway.... and if the battery is OK, you just earned yourself a 1S Lipo!

I don't know if these things are still widely available. I found that when they were available that they were so cheap, it was good to buy several and pick out the good ones from the lemons. As I recall I bought 3 or 4 and one was a lemon. Overall I considered this a good deal. I use two at a time on my 4x OT. I put one on the booster and one on the glider. They have sat on the pad for several launches even in hot weather for a long time and yet produce relatively good video and sound when finally launched. I figured it was worth the extra cost to buy a few!

If you can find a different charger with the right USB plug, try that. The cord that comes with the camera is garbage and it's possible the battery isn't charging. I had that problem with mine. Unfortunately I trashed mine after opening up the case...I broke the wire connection from the battery to the board and my soldering skills are not up to the repair.

The first one of these I got had a bum USB cable so it wouldn't be that surprising if it went bad.

The last one of these I ordered was only 6 bucks but it came via slow boat from china. Took like three or four weeks to get here. That was around 2 years ago, probably get them even cheaper now.

I have one that requires occasional use of the reset pin to bring it back to life.

I forgot and left mine on the usb cable overnight and it wouldn't hold enough charge to get more then 60 seconds of video after that.