MB D12 grip problem on Nikon D800

One last question for me today.  I have a MB D-12 battery grip for my D800.  I haven't used it and just decided to for the first time.  However when I attache it to the D800, it shows the battery is drained.  Which is strange because before putting into the grip, all batteries were 100% charged.  Manual is absolutely no help.  

Can you help me out please?  

My experience with the D800E was not brilliant
because of the mickey mouse batteries it had. I
got the 8 cells holder with no pack in the body.

ADDENDUM

Don't forget to set the grip up on the menu!

Yes, you have to select the grip via menu.

Also, I've never cared for a grip, the modern camera batteries are quite good.

So I had a similar issue.

I bought a used D800e with a vertical grip, not an original Nikon one and it didn't work. Noticed that when the body
didn't have battery in it and inserted the battery into the grip a green light would come on and there would be a low battery status indication on the top LCD.

I took the plunge and bought two new recommended 1900mah batteries and no joy.

I bought a used Nikon Mb-d12 grip and that didn't work either.

I also bought a genuine Nikon battery and the AA holder. No joy.

I came to the inevitable conclusion that it must be the body and not wanting to send it Nikon and lose the thing for months and be charged a fortune, I decided to explore the body for issues.

Now I'm a bit of a tinkerer and work in IT and have swapped numerous laptop system boards out so I'm not too frightened of opening something up.

In my first foray, I was able to get the base off and look inside and there want anything obviously wrong.

This morning I had the motivation to really get in there and I got the base and back off and re-seated the ribbon cables.
Once re-assembled the grip worked. The little board that has the connector for the grip literally has power and a small ribbon cable so there is literally nothing to go wrong with it.

If you have a jewellers screwdrivers set, a good light (headtorch) and some patience it's literally a 30 minute job to open it up and re-seat the cable.



You don't actually need to go this far, the ribbon cable for the base connector is the one coning off the green board at the bottom.


Closeup of the connector board.

Just to say, I was very careful. Worked though it methodically.

There are 4 hidden screws under the base rubber pad so gently pull back a corner of that pad and peel it off. Leave the four screws that surround the tripod mount as they just bolt the base to a steel plate inside.

Also you need to expose 1 screw hidden behind the top of the rubber thumb area to the right of the rear display to get the display off.

The display has three ribbon cables connecting it to the body which I disconnected but in reality if you can support it, you could re-seat one end of the base connector ribbon cable and then try to see if that helps.

A couple of tips, make sure you can see what you're doing so have a light and magnifying glass or magnifying glasses to make your life easier.

I dind't need to pry or force anything, the base came off once I ran a fingernail around the edge and the back just lifted off.

Also make sure your screwdriver is magnetic so you can get the screws in and out without dropping them inside!

I did make the mistake of not flipping down a couple of the ribbon cable latches during reassembly and the camera threw a few wonky errors via the top display.

Once I realised what I had done, I corrected the issue and after re-inserting a battery and pressing the release button
the error cleared.

I was not honestly expecting what I did to resolve the problem but to my shock it did and I can now see the grip battery and all the controls work! I'm very happy!

Have you found a solution yet?
What was it?

Oh dear...

[email protected] wrote: Oh dear...

The question was meant for the OP.