Battery life: Trans Pack E and 550EX

[john sage]

When using a Canon Transistor Pack E with a 550EX, does anyone have

any guidelines as to which batteries are exhausted first, and which

should be replaced first when the combo finally goes dead?

 

Assuming that I start with fresh batteries in both places, do I

replace the AA's in the 550EX, the C's in the Trans Pack E, or all of

them?

 

As I understand it non-exhausted AA's in the 550EX are required for

the combo to work at all.

 

 

- John

[bill_goldman]

Common sense would dictate that the C batteries in the Transistor Pack E need to be replaced when the recycle time becomes excessively long. With the Transistor Pack E disconnected from the 550EX, you can then easily tell if the AA batteries need replacing when the recycle time becomes excessively long or the ready light fails to come on at all.

 

Also, if you are using the combination and the AA batteries in the 550EX become exhausted while the Pack is still functioning, the 550EX will stop operating or malfunction.

 

Have you considered using rechargeable NiMH batteries, at least in the 550EX?

[medina photography cherry]

It is my personal experience that the batteries in the 550EX flash become exhausted first. I also noticed that the first 4 batteries in the CP-E3 pack are used more than the last 4. Now I have not used a tester on any of these, just seems that way when I recycle the batteries and test in the flash. I have 2 identical units and they both perform the same way.

[cliff_henry]

John,

 

I use recharable Ni-MH 4500 mAh C cells in my Transitor E pack and have never had them give out; even shooting for 10 hours and 15 rolls.

I start each wedding with them fully charged. They are available from several supplers on-line, just Google.

 

I use recharable Ni-MH 2300 mAh AA cells in my 550EX and never had them give out. With the Transitor pack plugged in the AA's only power the lights and complete the circuits. They supply no power for the flash.

 

You could test your battery life as described by other post.

 

If you shoot a lot then I would recommend you look into getting recharable batteries.

 

Cliff

[john sage]

Thanks, everyone.

 

 

Cliff:

 

>> I use recharable Ni-MH 2300 mAh AA cells in my 550EX and never had them give out. <<

 

"..give out.."?

 

Meaning never fail, not that you've never recharged them, I presume.

 

If you come back by, how frequently do you have to recharge, or do you recharge after each shoot, as I do with camera batteries.

 

 

Thanks again,

 

- John

[cliff_henry]

Sorry for my wording John.

 

I recharge both the "C" and "AA" cells before each wedding. I've never had to change or charge batteries during a wedding shoot, about 70 shoots in last two years.

 

BTW, I use "AA" Lithiums in my PB-E2's on EOS-1V & EOS-3. My tests show these to be the most cost effective without going to rechargeables for the bodies.

 

The best "AA" e2 Titaium, $9.95/8 @ WalMart, last 62, 36 exp. rolls, which is 16 cent/roll.

 

Lithiums, $19.90/8 @ Walmart, last 187, 36 exp. rolls, which is 11 cents/roll.

 

I haven't tried Lithiums in my flashes.

 

Cliff

[bill_goldman]

Cliff; I'm not sure you are correct in your statement that your Transistor Pack E provides all the power for flash recycling and the 550EX only provides power for the display and electronics. The reason I say this is that the 580EX has a custom function that allows selection for having only the power pack or both the power pack and Speedlite provide power for recycling the flash; since the default setting is for both. Unless they have changed the design between the 550EX and the 580EX, I would assume they operate similarly.

[john sage]

>> Bill Goldman , nov 01, 2005; 01:06 a.m.

 

Cliff; I'm not sure you are correct in your statement that your Transistor Pack E provides all the power for flash recycling and the 550EX only provides power for the display and electronics. <<

 

 

The Trans Pack E documentation only states "..The Speedlite always requires four AA-size batteries regardless of whether the transistor pack is in use.."

 

 

Sounds like the AA's are integral to the flash functioning, which kinda matches my experience: as soon as I put 4 new AA's in the 550EX, the combo is back up and running again...

 

 

- John