Strange battery grip error

[Cyza]

I bought a generic Battery grip for my Canon 60D of ebay after seeing many posts from members of this site saying that there's were fine and that their was minuscule difference between the generic and official ones. Mine came on Wednesday and until now had been working fine. Now it causes an error in my camera. As i take successive photos or even try to turn video mode on it crashes. What exactly happens is that the light on the right hand side goes a constant red, then the top screen says: "Busy" then "err" starts to flash on the top screen. The error remains after turning the camera of and only returns to normal after taking the batteries in and out of the grip, but as soon as you try to use the camera again the problem returns.

The camera works fine however with out the grip, so it's obviously the grip's fault. If it matters I tried with multiple SD cards including a class 10 one.

anyone have similar problems? googling it provided no answers.
would really love to fix it rather then sending back as it was from Hong Kong and apparently I have to pay for the return shipping.

[Old Skool]

Strange one - wonder if the contacts on the grip are making contact in the camera - try cleaning the grip contacts & see what happens. I think the contacts are spring loaded so make sure one isn't stuck down.

[KeeFy]

Have you left a feedback for them? If not tell them the problem and you want a new one as the current one is faulty and you want a new one. Tell them postage back is $30 registered and you want them to pay for postage first before you return if not you'll just dispute payment. Because you're located in Australia, Paypal australia WILL offer you a full refund should you not decide to return the item and file for a dispute due to faulty item. It's part of the Trade Practices act as Paypal has a office in Australia.

Don't worry about it, just go for a refund and buy a new grip or request a new one. You'll be safe with paypal. I've spent more than $10K via paypal/ebay and the biggest refund i've ever gotten was $400 without any dramas.

[Cyza]

Strange one - wonder if the contacts on the grip are making contact in the camera - try cleaning the grip contacts & see what happens. I think the contacts are spring loaded so make sure one isn't stuck down.

I only had the grip for 5 days, so I seriously doubted that problem would be with dusty/dirty contacts/connections/springs but I thought I'd try it out anyway, to my surprise the grip worked soon after. I was still doubtful and thought it was a short term fix, but once again to my surprise went and helped a friend with filming for his media project and was filming for a good 2-3 hours and whole time no problems. Not sure whether I should still return this one in exchange for a new one, or go use my Camera for an extended period of time and if still working fine after then leave it.

[vk2gwk]

The quality of the contacts (coating) of a "generic" grip" may not be as good as on a original Canon one. As the currents through these contacts are very low any "poor" contact will result in a resistance that disables the function. So this may well have been the cause of your problem. I have an "el cheapo" grip for my 5D2 but did not have any problems "yet" - will keep this post in mind when it happens

[davearnold]

My "generic" battery grip on my 450D, went through a "uncoperative" phase, about a month after I got it, and then came good, have not had a problem since.

[Bennymiata]

It was probably just a dirty contact, which you have now cleaned.

Funny enough, I bought agenuine grip for my 60D, and two days after I got it, it wouldn't screw into the camera.
One of the shafts holding onto a gear inside had broken.
Got a Zeikos grip from B&H at half the price of the original, and it has worked perfectly.