david_h._hartman Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 <u>Straitening The Nikon SC-17 TTL Cord.<br> </u><br> The Nikon SC-17 TTL Remote Cord has a length of 2.7m (9 feet). The practical length as a coiled cord is about one half that or 1.4m (4.6 feet). The SC-17 cord can be relaxed quite well though not perfectly by dipping it in boiling water for a minute or two and then pulling it tight. Care should be taken not to immerse the ends in the water. Several iterations are required for best results. The cord should be untwisted during each successive treatment. A potholder is good for this. Due to the length it takes two people to do the job or perhaps a helping refrigerator door handle. Do not pull too hard on the fittings at the end, pull on the cord itself if possible. After treatment the cord can be laid on a kitchen floor with a pan at each end to keep it straight as it cools further. YMMV<br> <br> Up to three SC-17 cords can be combined for a total length of 4.2m coiled or 8.2m straight. I know there are more sophisticated ways of controlling remote speedlights but on a tight budget the discontinued SC-17 cord is an effective, low cost alternative.<br> <br> I use my straitened SC-17 cords with my Nikon D2H and SB-800. One cord is kind of short and one could easily trip on it so I use two, usually one straight and one coiled. I dont want to trip and pull over a tripod.<br> <br> Currently I own only one SB-800 but later Ill use additional SB-800(s) and Nikons CLS (Creative Lighting System). The speedlight connected with the SC-17 TTL cords will be the master (not necessarily the main or key light) and other speedlights will be cordless slaves.<br> <br> I hope you find this helpful.<br> <br> Best,<br> <br> Dave Hartman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee hamiel Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 Interesting David - thanks for sharing. Maybe I can turn elbow macoroni into ziti now! I always enjoy resourceful solutions to topics that some may wish to do. Interestingly enough I have been tempted to turn straight cords into coiled cords - SC-18/SC-19 - I'm curious as to whether your approach would work if wrapped around a dowell or mandrel & then chilled? Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnabdas Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 Dave, I need to shorten my SC-17. Kirk don't do it anymore. Would you call that a DIY job? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward_lippe Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 Very creative thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_leck Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 See http://aljacobs.com/shorten%20sc-17.htm for instructions. I tried it and the procedure worked very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted October 23, 2005 Author Share Posted October 23, 2005 Lee,<br><br>I dont know how the heat is applied but heat is how the SC-17cords are curled. There is a lightly flattened surface inside thecoils where the cord lay against the mandrel as it was formed. Idont know if boiling water is enough heat to do this. Idtry a 1/2" (12.5mm) aluminum rod as a mandrel. I wouldsecure the SC-18 or 19 cord gently, heat it and then chill it. Ifyou knew the right temperature you might heat the aluminum with aheat gun, let it cool to proper temperature and equalize, thenapply the cord. This would require some kind of protection forthe hands. Im guessing the proper temperature is above 210*F (100 *C) but not too much.<br><br>The cable covering of the SC-17 and SC-18 cords look the same tome. There are more wires in the SC-17 and its fatter butotherwise I think they are the same material. I cant seeany reason why an SC-18 or 19 cord cant be coiled. My mainconcern would be over heating the cable and melting it. Thesecond would be under heating it and not have a good coil withgood memory.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Dave Hartman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted October 23, 2005 Author Share Posted October 23, 2005 Arnab,<br> <br> I guess to give an honest answer I would have to actually do the job so I did. If you are handy with a soldering iron its kind of fiddley but not too bad. If you do this stuff often it would be pretty darned easy.<br> <br> Its a little harder to uncoiling just a few coils but not that bad. I dipped the middle of the SC-17 cord in boiling water and straitened about eight coils. The trick is to heat just the coils you want to straighten without heating your fingers. I went through about a half dozen iterations then cut to cable in half. I chose a length of 24 coils. The 18 coils used by Kirkphoto seem a touch short for my purpose.<br> <br> I see Chris Leck posted a link to a good instruction page for shortening the SC-17 TTL Cord. Instead of cutting the cable 1 on the outside I cut it on the inside hard against the gray outer covering. This left about 1 of individual wire without the gray covering inside. Then I dipped the black vinyl stress relief thing in the hot water and it pulled off pretty easy. For one who is dyslexic it is important to put the stress relief thing back on right away and triple check that it is on in the correct direction. I unsoldered the short wires one at a time replacing them with the shortened cord as I went.<br> <br> Like Alan Jacobson I chose the camera end because the speedlight end has more wires in it due to a couple of side connectors. It would be a mess to stuff them all back in plus there would be more soldering and Id think closer quarters. I may have looked in the other end long ago but I didnt bother this time. I just went with the camera end.<br> <br> I never heard the thing about hairspray before but it appeals to me. Ill have to get some and spray the connection and slip it back an forth a bit. Anyway I did pretty much the same thing as Alan Jacobson and the warnings about melting the plastic and all would be the same so just follow his instructions. To make sure I didnt screw up I used a continuity tester to check for short circuits. In other words I checked to see that those pins that should not have continuity did not.<br> <br> If you dont want to do the job yourself Alan Jacobson wants just $20.00 to do the job and that is pretty reasonable.<br> <br> The quality of the cable used by Nikon is great. The small wires have nylon fiber inside for durability. The center hot wire is sheilded and then the whole cable is sheilded. Ive never had an SC-17 cord fail.<br> <br> I never shortened an SC-17 cord before because I only had three. I'm a big believer in backups so I didn't want to shorten one. Thursday I had a spot of good luck when I was given two SC-17 cords and a Nikon DE-3 prism, minty fresh. Anyway thats the long, the short and the straight of it.<br> <br> Best,<br> <br> Dave Hartman.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted October 23, 2005 Author Share Posted October 23, 2005 Here is a shot of the inside of the lower half of the camera end. Note that the wires are soldered on to very small pins. There was no cleanup of old solder needed. One wire came off and the other went on.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vivek iyer Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 Thanks, David. Yet another useful contribution from you. Where the heck are those p net hero icons? I must ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuskyMason1 Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 Thanks Chris that is a good link for shortening the cord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee hamiel Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 I also have an SC-28 - Is this wiring configured the same or are there more for the ittl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShunCheung Posted October 23, 2005 Share Posted October 23, 2005 We have gone thru this several times. The internal wiring for the SC-17 and SC-28 are completely identical. The SC-17 is fully compatible with iTTL and the SC-28 adds nothing new. In fact, the SC-29 is the same also as far as flash control goes, except that the SC-29 has additional wiring for switching on and off the AF-assist LED on the base unit that mounts on the hot shoe. http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=008mhJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted October 23, 2005 Author Share Posted October 23, 2005 <em>I never shortened an SC-17 cord before because Ionly had three. I'm a big believer in backups so I didn't want toshorten one. --dhh<br></em><br>That isnt too clear is it? What I meant was I felt I needed3 coiled cords. Even though an SC-17 has never failed me I likebackups. Now with five total I feel comfortable with two longcoiled, one short coiled and two long straight.<br><br>The price of the SC-17 (when new), SC-28 and SC-29 is kind ofsteep but the quality is there so its not quite a bad as itmight appear.<br><br>The SC-28 has a lever lock rather than a thumb wheel. Otherwiseas mentioned its electronically the same as the SC-17. TheSC-28 and SC-29 have the cable exit from the camera shoe on theleft where as the SC-17s cable exits at the front of theshoe. Some SC-17(s) have the hole for the pin and lever locksystem and some do not. I like the newer lever lock as it neverbinds like the thumb wheels do.<br><br>The SC-29 has the ruby red focus assist but no sockets foradditional SC-18 and 19 cords. The SC-18 and 19 cords have beenreplaced by the SC-26 and 27 cords. Im sure the SC-29 canbe daisy chained like the rest but the focus assist light willonly function if its holding an SB-800 or SB-600 speedlight.This probably isnt important as most setups will likely usesome kind of modeling lights. <br><br>Im using a 50 watt halogen semi-flood lamp but hope toswitch to LED(s) and battery power. Im thinking of hanginga 6v gel cell battery near the bottom of a light stand to powerboth the speedlight and modeling lamp. That will have to waitunless I can find the stuff I need gratis. Id also likeabout a half dozen more SB-800 and a couple of SB-600. That willdefinitely have to wait.<br><br>Im glad to see folks found this useful. Id like tosubscribe to PHOTO.NET but I just cant do it at this time.The idea here is to add value to PHOTO.NET and helps those Ithink of as friends.<br><br>Best,<br><br>Dave Hartman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guts80 Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 So would this proccedure apply to the newer SC-28/29 cords too? From what I see of the 17/18 cord, the outer covering seems to made from a harder rubber such as those found on telephones, whilst the rubber on the newer cords are more, for a lack of better words, rubbery and softer and also have a matte finish. If this observation is correct, would these difference affect how one should straighten the newer cords? I think not, but better safe than sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted April 26, 2006 Author Share Posted April 26, 2006 Shing,<br> <br> Im sorry I didnt notice this question sooner. I cant really say as Ive never held the new SC-28 and 29 cords in my hand. They might require higher temperature to soften enough to straiten. There could be silicone in the covering. Then again they might be just as easy as the SC-17 cords to uncoil. You could be first to try ;)<br> <br> Water is an easy medium to work with as the temperature is about 210*F until its all boiled away. The temperature of boiling water depends one altitude. Various oils can be headed much hotter making them much more dangerous both to skin and cable If boiling water at about 1,200 feet or lower won't do it I'd give up.<br> <br> Ive straitened two cords and I straitened one end on two cords from the shortening project. As I recall the shortened SC-17 cords sold by Kirkphoto didnt have this touch.<br> <br> Best,<br> <br> Dave Hartman.<br> <br> I gotten a trifle braver since I wrote original posts. The last time I did this I brought the water to a good rolling boil and then turned off the heat just seconds before submerging the cable. This might mean the cable is heated 5 perhaps 10*F more than before. There is a danger of heating the cable too much and melting it. When I did my first cable I was pretty sure boiling water was not too hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nic_randall Posted May 28, 2006 Share Posted May 28, 2006 I think I've already gleened the answer from the topics above...but could someone confirm that you can use more than one SC-17 strung together without causing damage to the flash gun. Also, if anyone has a surplus stretched one in perfect working order and the price ain't mega high, I could be interested in a purchase. I'm UK based and have a Paypal account. Kind regards, Nic. nicam@btinternet.com www.nicrandall.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_h._hartman Posted September 6, 2006 Author Share Posted September 6, 2006 Nic,<br> <br> Yes, these TTL cords can be strung together. What I read here at PHOTO.NET is up to three may be used. Ive done this and it works fine. Each cord add resistance so at some point daisy chaining cords will cause errors or failure of the system. I do not know of an official recommendation by Nikon. <br> <br> Ill attach a copy of the <u>Nikon Accessories for TTL Multiple Flash Photography</u> instruction leaflet packed with the SC-17 TTL Cord. This instruction manual covers discontinued products. A manual for the new replacement products such as the SC-28 and 29 is available at official Nikon sites world wide, e.g. Nikon USA, and Nikon, UK. The new manuals are road map style and include various languages. The one Im posting here is English only.<br> <br> Best,<br> <br> Dave Hartman.<br> <br> PS: the attached file is not dialup friendly. It can be read in most browsers. I recommend opening it in a new tab or window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now