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I lost my battery door months ago after misplacing it and upgrading to an external battery pack grip. The camera (Canon 5D) one day mysteriously stopped working and I assumed the battery pack was kaput. Although the LCD moniter on the battery pack is fully functional, it cannot seem to supply power to the camera. All the batteries work and are fully charged, but when putting them into the camera (not the battery grip) the camera cannot turn on.

Should the camera be unable to turn on without a camera battery door, or is something more sinister wrong with my camera? Ultimately I want to know if I should buy a battery door? Is there any way of testing if I need one before committing to buy one?

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There's a little switch that is triggered by the battery door and grips that allow the camera to power on. When that switch isn't triggered by either a battery door or the grip it won't power on. Getting a replacement door is your best option, since it will properly protect your body, battery and trigger the switch, but in the meantime, you can rig something up to push the switch in and allow you to use the camera.

It's possible that the little tooth on the grip that triggers the switch on the body broke off and that's why the body isn't powering on.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Are there any other systems at work? I think I am pushing down on the tooth enough, but can't turn the camera on. \$\endgroup\$
    – James
    Nov 9, 2013 at 23:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ The tooth isn't on the camera, it is on the grip or battery door. The camera has a contact switch that is fairly recessed inside a hole at the corner of the battery well on the outside wall and the back side of the camera. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Nov 10, 2013 at 3:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ Sorry, poorly worded. So there is a small 'lever' in a recess next to the battery that the tooth pushes down on. I am manually pushing down on this and it still won't turn on. \$\endgroup\$
    – James
    Nov 10, 2013 at 14:49
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    \$\begingroup\$ Then there probably is something else wrong. My 7D, after a fall, sometimes requires me to reposition the conduits inside the body for the battery to connect correctly. If you know someone else with the same camera body, you can try the grip and batteries on on it. The batteries will work in any 5D, 6D or 7D, but the grips are body specific. \$\endgroup\$
    – Benjamin Anderson
    Nov 12, 2013 at 17:16

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