I had the same problem, but it seemed to be a bit more sporadic. I'd occasionally get the "Charging Paused - Check Battery Pack" error. The battery pack itself looks a bit strange, since the white plastic covers the bottom, right side and it seems that there is no possible way for the battery to make contact with the camera. However, I saw the following suggestion on another site (which the poster claimed came from Flip technical support), and this technique worked for me:
1) remove the battery pack from the camcorder 2) connect the camcorder to a powered USB port on your computer 3) when the "Connected" indicator comes on, insert the battery pack into the camcorder 4) safe eject your camcorder from your computer 5) reconnect your camcorder to your computer 6) the battery pack should now begin to charge within the camcorder
Check the battery. I had the same problem and its the plastic on the back of the battery pack preventing contact with the (-) contact. Removed it and it works fine now.
I came across the same "Check Battery Pack" message last night when trying to charge my Flip Ultra HD for the first time last night. My husband just took an exacto knife and "trimmed" the plastic around the (-) part of the battery and cleaned the terminal a bit and it works!
I got my Flip two weeks ago and love it - but man, was I having troubles recharging my fully drained battery pack. Tried lots of things I found on the net - but when I finally took a razor blade and very carefully cut away the plastic on the negative terminal of the battery pack - YIPPEE - it now recharges lika a Champ. Thanks to those who went before me!
that is crazy but it worked like a champ. How is it that this high tech HD fine tuned instrument gets fixed with a razer blade cutting plastic.that is crazy but it worked like a champ. How is it that this high tech HD fine tuned instrument gets fixed with a razer blade cutting plastic.
After numerous suggestions from tech support at Flip, including taking battery out, putting it back in, deleting and reinstalling software, and leaving the battery out for 3 days, I decided to cut the plastic away from the (-) side of the battery as suggested in solution #1 and bingo, it worked immediately. It makes sense.
Thanks for the advice. I was having the same issue and once I carved out the plastic it worked great!Thanks for the advice. I was having the same issue and once I carved out the plastic it worked great!
i realised my problem was my computer has power saving. So if I leave flip plugged into it and go away it shuts down after 15 mins so flip dosnt charge!! If I am working at the computer it charges finei realised my problem was my computer has power saving. So if I leave flip plugged into it and go away it shuts down after 15 mins so flip dosnt charge!! If I am working at the computer it charges fine
My Flip UltraHD (new Dec 2009) went dead as a doornail this week, and after I plugged it into the USB, it reamained dead!
Try this - unlock the battery cover (base of uint), slide the cover off (cover is on the lens side of the unit, not the screen side) take out the battery pack, put the battery pack back in and reclose the cover. Plug in and it works again! Now it's charging from the USB like it was supposed to.
Not sure why the unit does this, but it took a while to figure out.
Take out battery pack and leave Ultra HD alone for 2-3 days. The manufacturer tested the camera before sending it to you, but did not allow enough time for the residual charge within the Ultra HD to disappear. This is why you might have received the battery pack with some charge already on it. This issue has occurred only in the Ultra HD model. As a result of this residual charge within the camcorder, it will give the "Check battery pack, charging paused" error after 10 seconds of being connected to the USB. The source of this info is a The Flip costumer support representative. I have not tried it out myself yet, but have started allowing the camcorder to discharge.
Unlock the switch on the bottom of the camera. This will allow the fascia front to slid off. Mine came with standard AA batteries inside - this wont recharge so you need to replace them with rechargeable ones.
What I've found is on the battery pack itself, you have 2 plastic things that stick out. You need to make sure the smaller one sticks out enough out of the battery pack, as the purpose of it is to come into contact with a little sensor in the flip cam battery compartment that senses if you have the rechargable battery pack in place. Now that I've pulled it out more, it charges straight away.
I had the same problem wouldn't charge so removed the plastic that was covering the contact on the battery pack that was the only reason i could think of but it will only charge from a computer not from a usb mains adapter which is odd can't get my head round that really.
My Ultra HD also will not charge, ever since the first time we DID charge it. Flip also gave me the info in solution # 9 above, but it DID NOT work for me. They did not suggest leaving the battery pack out for a few days. I'm currently waiting for an exchange authorization. I also have the Flip wall-outlet power adapter for recharging, which also will not charge the battery pack.
My Flip Ultra HD has the same charging issue. After a minute of being plugged into my USB port, it would say "check battery pack charging paused". I pulled the rechargable battery pack out and used a small pair of sissors to cut the plastic away from the bottom battery terminal that was covered. That did the trick and now it charges right up.
I also have this problem with the Ultra HD Model. Luckily, you are not bound to the using fip charge pack. You can simply charge batteries yourself, and use them instead of the charge pack. It's a little less convenient, but in my situation it was fine because I have been using rechargeables for everything for years.
I have a FLIP Ultra model that also does not charge. Where is this battery pack everyone keeps talking about? My flip won't charge at all and it's very frustrating. I'd be happy to use my own batteries but can't seem to find where they're supposed to go in! Thanks so much
If this is model U2120, there is a black plastic actuator that should be depressed when the battery pack is installed. By using something non conductive like a piece of paper to actuate that actuator I was able to enable the charging circuit and my battery pack started charging. Don't do this if you are using standard rechargable batteries. It's only designed to charge the battery pack.
The problem with my flip is that it wasnt getting enough current from the usb. if you are using a usb extender or hub make sure it has a seperate power source or your usb cable will lower your current due to the length causing too much resistance in tue cable. when i plugged it straight into the usb it worked. like i said, your computer might not be supplying enough current to charge the battery so the circuit inside shuts off.
The Flip HDUltra requires a High-Power USB port. The Flip will not charge if it is plugged into most 4-port (or less) hubs. Try plugging the Flip directly into the computer. If that fails, check this link to the Flip support site. I should also mentions that some Blackberry's had the same issue. With some operating systems, a special driver was required to up the available power on the USB ports. This might apply to some people coming here.
I found that two platic skins were overlapping, so carefully freed the contact up a little. That did not resolve the issue completely. Then tried removing and reinserting the pack. Also did not do it straight away. Got the low warning two more times. Tried eject. The camera disconnected and reconnected. Tried that twice, as I wanted to keep the camera from using energy for the bus. That did not work. My personal theory is that with a very low battery the USB bus driver consumption exceeds the available residual charge. The camera posts a warning. The only solutions seem to be total drain (so the camera does not have power to activate the bus), or inching up power over several attempts. The plastic on the back I believe may be an independent manufacturing issue.
Sorry, this is not a solution at all. Just send it back. The first one I ordered from Amazon, I sent back after it would not charge at all, tried all solutions, got a replacement one sent out and that one was no better. Very disappointed, def would not recomment at all.
This is the solution.the charging issue is due to heat.charge battery with usb connection.remove battery cover, place small fan over the battery (I bought one at Target $5.00.) battery will fully charge.I contacted Flip tech support and passed this onto them.
Mine wouldn't charge either and I had left it connected to the USB port for over a day! I took someone's suggestion and removed the battery pack (not the plastic at the bottom of the negative) and reinserted it. It shows that it is charging now.
I have the same problem. I just called flip to verify if in fact that plastic should be removed as suggested aove and they said "no". So I would not reccoment doing this even if it works. Of course they had no other solutions for me. I am going to exchange mine.
Answers & Comments
I had the same problem, but it seemed to be a bit more sporadic. I'd occasionally get the "Charging Paused - Check Battery Pack" error. The battery pack itself looks a bit strange, since the white plastic covers the bottom, right side and it seems that there is no possible way for the battery to make contact with the camera. However, I saw the following suggestion on another site (which the poster claimed came from Flip technical support), and this technique worked for me:
1) remove the battery pack from the camcorder
2) connect the camcorder to a powered USB port on your computer
3) when the "Connected" indicator comes on, insert the battery pack into the camcorder
4) safe eject your camcorder from your computer
5) reconnect your camcorder to your computer
6) the battery pack should now begin to charge within the camcorder
Check the battery. I had the same problem and its the plastic on the back of the battery pack preventing contact with the (-) contact. Removed it and it works fine now.
I came across the same "Check Battery Pack" message last night when trying to charge my Flip Ultra HD for the first time last night. My husband just took an exacto knife and "trimmed" the plastic around the (-) part of the battery and cleaned the terminal a bit and it works!
I got my Flip two weeks ago and love it - but man, was I having troubles recharging my fully drained battery pack. Tried lots of things I found on the net - but when I finally took a razor blade and very carefully cut away the plastic on the negative terminal of the battery pack - YIPPEE - it now recharges lika a Champ. Thanks to those who went before me!
that is crazy but it worked like a champ. How is it that this high tech HD fine tuned instrument gets fixed with a razer blade cutting plastic.
It totally worked! Thanks man!!!
After numerous suggestions from tech support at Flip, including taking battery out, putting it back in, deleting and reinstalling software, and leaving the battery out for 3 days, I decided to cut the plastic away from the (-) side of the battery as suggested in solution #1 and bingo, it worked immediately. It makes sense.
Thanks for the advice. I was having the same issue and once I carved out the plastic it worked great!
i realised my problem was my computer has power saving. So if I leave flip plugged into it and go away it shuts down after 15 mins so flip dosnt charge!! If I am working at the computer it charges fine
My Flip UltraHD (new Dec 2009) went dead as a doornail this week, and after I plugged it into the USB, it reamained dead!
Try this - unlock the battery cover (base of uint), slide the cover off (cover is on the lens side of the unit, not the screen side) take out the battery pack, put the battery pack back in and reclose the cover. Plug in and it works again! Now it's charging from the USB like it was supposed to.
Not sure why the unit does this, but it took a while to figure out.
Does cutting the plastic really work?
Take out battery pack and leave Ultra HD alone for 2-3 days. The manufacturer tested the camera before sending it to you, but did not allow enough time for the residual charge within the Ultra HD to disappear. This is why you might have received the battery pack with some charge already on it. This issue has occurred only in the Ultra HD model. As a result of this residual charge within the camcorder, it will give the "Check battery pack, charging paused" error after 10 seconds of being connected to the USB. The source of this info is a The Flip costumer support representative. I have not tried it out myself yet, but have started allowing the camcorder to discharge.
Unlock the switch on the bottom of the camera. This will allow the fascia front to slid off. Mine came with standard AA batteries inside - this wont recharge so you need to replace them with rechargeable ones.
I have the slideHD, there is not a switch at the bottom?
What I've found is on the battery pack itself, you have 2 plastic things that stick out.
You need to make sure the smaller one sticks out enough out of the battery pack, as the purpose of it is to come into contact with a little sensor in the flip cam battery compartment that senses if you have the rechargable battery pack in place.
Now that I've pulled it out more, it charges straight away.
I had the same problem wouldn't charge so removed the plastic that was covering the contact on the battery pack that was the only reason i could think of but it will only charge from a computer not from a usb mains adapter which is odd can't get my head round that really.
My Ultra HD also will not charge, ever since the first time we DID charge it. Flip also gave me the info in solution # 9 above, but it DID NOT work for me. They did not suggest leaving the battery pack out for a few days. I'm currently waiting for an exchange authorization. I also have the Flip wall-outlet power adapter for recharging, which also will not charge the battery pack.
My Flip Ultra HD has the same charging issue. After a minute of being plugged into my USB port, it would say "check battery pack charging paused". I pulled the rechargable battery pack out and used a small pair of sissors to cut the plastic away from the bottom battery terminal that was covered. That did the trick and now it charges right up.
I also have this problem with the Ultra HD Model. Luckily, you are not bound to the using fip charge pack. You can simply charge batteries yourself, and use them instead of the charge pack. It's a little less convenient, but in my situation it was fine because I have been using rechargeables for everything for years.
I have a FLIP Ultra model that also does not charge. Where is this battery pack everyone keeps talking about? My flip won't charge at all and it's very frustrating. I'd be happy to use my own batteries but can't seem to find where they're supposed to go in! Thanks so much
If this is model U2120, there is a black plastic actuator that should be depressed when the battery pack is installed. By using something non conductive like a piece of paper to actuate that actuator I was able to enable the charging circuit and my battery pack started charging.
Don't do this if you are using standard rechargable batteries. It's only designed to charge the battery pack.
The problem with my flip is that it wasnt getting enough current from the usb. if you are using a usb extender or hub make sure it has a seperate power source or your usb cable will lower your current due to the length causing too much resistance in tue cable. when i plugged it straight into the usb it worked. like i said, your computer might not be supplying enough current to charge the battery so the circuit inside shuts off.
The Flip HDUltra requires a High-Power USB port. The Flip will not charge if it is plugged into most 4-port (or less) hubs. Try plugging the Flip directly into the computer. If that fails, check this link to the Flip support site.
I should also mentions that some Blackberry's had the same issue. With some operating systems, a special driver was required to up the available power on the USB ports. This might apply to some people coming here.
I found that two platic skins were overlapping, so carefully freed the contact up a little. That did not resolve the issue completely. Then tried removing and reinserting the pack. Also did not do it straight away. Got the low warning two more times. Tried eject. The camera disconnected and reconnected. Tried that twice, as I wanted to keep the camera from using energy for the bus. That did not work. My personal theory is that with a very low battery the USB bus driver consumption exceeds the available residual charge. The camera posts a warning. The only solutions seem to be total drain (so the camera does not have power to activate the bus), or inching up power over several attempts. The plastic on the back I believe may be an independent manufacturing issue.
Sorry, this is not a solution at all. Just send it back. The first one I ordered from Amazon, I sent back after it would not charge at all, tried all solutions, got a replacement one sent out and that one was no better. Very disappointed, def would not recomment at all.
This is the solution.the charging issue is due to heat.charge battery with usb connection.remove battery cover, place small fan over the battery (I bought one at Target $5.00.) battery will fully charge.I contacted Flip tech support and passed this onto them.
I was able to get a total green charge indicator,never even knew it had this before. good luck!!
Mine wouldn't charge either and I had left it connected to the USB port for over a day! I took someone's suggestion and removed the battery pack (not the plastic at the bottom of the negative) and reinserted it. It shows that it is charging now.
I have the same problem. I just called flip to verify if in fact that plastic should be removed as suggested aove and they said "no". So I would not reccoment doing this even if it works. Of course they had no other solutions for me. I am going to exchange mine.