Battery Pack for SB800 Flash

[david_king11]

Hi folks, I have a Nikon D200, two SB800s, and a variety of lenses. I have

done about a dozen weddings and also shoot corporate events on occasion and I

was wondering what kind of battery pack I should get for the SB800. I wasnt

something that will give me substantially faster recycle times (compared to the

4 AA battery way) without frying my flash. My initial thoughts are to go with

a Quantum battery pack. I am probably not interested in the Nikon - even

though that is what is reccomended by Nikon and covered by the warranty.

 

Also, What is a decent bracket to go along with my D200/SB800 combo?

[Matt Laur]

Remember that no matter what battery pack is powering the flash, it's the frequent discharge of the flash that's going to fry it. The power supply really doesn't have much to do with it, per se. More power just allows you to recharge faster, which allows you to discharge faster... and THAT's what heats things up and kills the flash. You might be better off using the 5th AA slot that Nikon provides, and using a third SB-800 that you can rotate into place while a hot unit relaxes for a few minutes. A hot flash is just asking to get killed, no matter what's powering it. Do you use the second unit as a backup, or as a slave so that you can throw more light? That's another way to reduce the demand on the recycling and batteries.

[david_king11]

I use the second flash as a back up and then on occasion, I will use it as a slave. I just find myself missing too many shots or underexposing too many shots because of the slow recycle time. I have used the 5th battery, but that does not seem to solve my problem.

 

I see almost every wedding photographer using these battery packs. People always tell me the danger of using them, but if that was the case, why would so many people use them?

[ShunCheung]

Flash recycle time is critical for wedding photography. I only shoot weddings occasionally and I am quite happy with Nikon's own SD-8A, which has been hard to find for a couple of years. However, something like Quantum batteries seems to be more popular.

 

If you need to make a lot of flashes, especially at/near full power, in quick succession, I would alternate among 2, 3 flashes (you don't have to alternate after every flash, but once in a short while) so that each flash has time to cool off.

[ellis_vener_photography]

If you go with a Quantum, go with one of the Turbo models. The other quantum batteries add capacity but not recycling speed.

 

Other reliable alternatives are the 30 watt Digital Camera Battery ( http://www.digitalcamerabattery.com ) and the Dyna-Lite JAckrabbit battery.

 

Yes you can definitely fry an SB-800 or similar flash by constant and rapid full power shots -- as in you are a papparazzi style photographer who blasts out shot after shot in the hopes of getting something, anything. But it happens with far less frequency than you might get the impression from the above posters.

[ShunCheung]

I am not sure what kind of impression I was leaving, but Nikon has very specific guidelines about continuous shooting and letting the flash to cool off. See page 51 of the SB-800 manual. For example, they are suggesting a 10-minute "cooling off" period after 15 consecutive full-power flashes at 6 frames/sec. I would assume that Nikon's guidelines are very conservative, but you probably don't want to find out about the limitation of your flash the hard way.

I have never melted a flash, so fortunately I have no personal experience about it.

[david_king11]

Shun -

 

Just purchased the Quantum Turbo. I will listen to you and carry both flashed around and let one cool off while shooting with the other. Hopefully I do not have any flash frying stories in the near future either.

 

Also picked up the 10.5mm fisheye for the superwide angles.

[Ed_Ingold]

You will have no problem frying the flash with a Quantum Turbo (several models) if use common sense and follow the instruction booklet. You should use no more than 10 full pops in a 10 minute period. At half-power or less (most shots are far less), you can take 40 shots or more in that time.

[doccamera]

I just use a simple 6 volt 4.5 amp sealed lead acid battery made by Power Sonic model PS-640 F1($7.00) with a $20.00 Sealed Lead Acid 6 volt charger and an overpriced Quantum cord for the SB 800. I soldered a 6 inch length of 18 Gauge DC wire with a female connector to the battery terminals and converted the end of the Quantum cord to match my chosen male connector. The 4.5 amp battery weighs about 2 lbs. and sits nicely in a small cheap black waistpack. This combo gives me the same clean 6 volt output that I would get from a set of Alkaline batteries with enough power to go over a thousand full power flashes (not in rapid succession or you would melt the flash head). At $7.00 a piece for the batteries, it is easy to buy extar "spares". I have shot an entire graduation ceremony of 2000 students at 1/4 power and still had plenty of juice to do about 200 PR shots without worrying about the battery dropping out on me. Sealed Rechargeable Lead Acid batteries are easily obtainable online or at your local "real" Electronics Store.

[patrick_viebey___orlando__]

Ralph: This is exactly what I was considering, but can you shed more light on "converted the end of the Quantum cord to match my chosen male connector." Which Qauntum cord did you use? Which color wires went to pos/neg?

 

I'm considering doing the same thing, with either a 5A (C cell pack) or 10A (D cell pack) NIMH pack. 5A should give me 2x, 10A 4x (likely wayyyyy overkill).

 

Here's where I found some nice pre-made 6v NIMH packs with charger... http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3128

 

I'm also designing in something to show the battery state, using this LED voltage indicator: http://www.amazon.com/Expert-Electronics-Battery-Voltage-Indicator/dp/B0006O5LUY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1199307526&sr=8-1

[doccamera]

My favorite Power plug for a "sure fire' connection is the W.S. Deans ultra plug. The plugs are usually available through RC car Hobby shops or Tower Hobbies online. It does not fail, is super easy to solder and provides a bomb proof, fast connection. I use the Quantum MKZ3 which is made for low voltage power.

Be careful when using NiMH packs as a 7.2 volt configuration can charge up to 10 volts and drain down to 5 before giving up. This unregulated voltage drain can wreak havoc with the current draw on a delicate shoe mount flash like the SB 800. The parts inside are not built to handle high current and unregulated voltage like a Metz 45 can. That is why I power my Shoe Mount flashes with 6 volt Rechargeable Lead Acid and my Handle Mount flashes with two 7.2 volt 3000 mAH NiMH RC car batteries. The larger flashes have higher watt components in them that can handle and dissipate the heat much faster. The Shoe Mount flashes use a lot of mini resistors and transistors and 1/8th watt devices all packed together in tight spaces with no room to breathe. This makes for thermal meltdown if everything isn't perfect.

[doccamera]

I forgot to add that you should use a continuity checker on the positive and negative wires to make sure you solder the right polarity. I have converted three MKZ3 cables and they do not follow a pattern. One assembler used the black lead for the positive terminal and the white lead for negative. In another one the red lead was the negative and the black was positive. My third met the normal expectation of Black being negative and Red being positive. Basically...Assume Nothing when converting your cable.

[neville_smith]

I have the Quantum Turbo and use it to power one of my SB800. I am getting a little confused with :

 

"For example, they are suggesting a 10-minute "cooling off" period after 15 consecutive full-power flashes at 6 frames/sec."

 

Does this mean a rest after only 15 bursts of the flash?!

 

I was using 2 SB800's off camera the other day for about 5 hours with a one hour break in a studio setting, one was powered by the Quantum and one was powered by Energizer 2300 mHa recharegable batteries.

 

I had not problems with this arrangement and no evidence of overheating, am I missing something here?

 

The two problems I did have is that the screen goes to energy saving mode too quickly (I am about to research the fixt for this) and I had some 3000mHa rechargables which did not work in the SB800 - maybe dodgy batteries!

[ShunCheung]

Neville, when you are shooting inside a studio, I wonder what kind of burst frame rate you are using? I have seen photographers going "machine gun" style in fashion photography.

 

For weddings, for example, I have made quick successive flashes probably at 1 sec apart; that is as fast as the SD-8a power pack would allow. And I do feel that my SB-800 gets quite warm after 15 minutes or so. In my case, it is a lot more than 15 consecutive flashes but then I am also not shooting at 6 frames/sec; I simply don't have that fast a recycle time from my setup.