580 EX II 110 volt connection?

[Rrdstarr]

I know there is the battery pack, CP-E4, but can you connect it to the wall for continuous power?

Also what is the thread size of the "bracket" connection on the side near the power connection?

Thanks, Rick

[tim]

NO! It's for the battery pack only. Try that and it'll blow up. If you need that sort of power buy yourself studio strobes.

[Rrdstarr]

Okay that is what I thought but wanted to be sure!

Thanks again!

[Curtis N]

... but can some of these battery packs such as quantum be plugged in and charging while they're being used?

As for the thread size of the tapped hole in the side of the 580EX II, it is apparently not a standard size. I took mine to the hardware store and tried various bolts, both SAE and metric, to no avail. Canon loves to do proprietary crap like that.

[PacAce]

Originally Posted by Curtis N

... but can some of these battery packs such as quantum be plugged in and charging while they're being used?

As for the thread size of the tapped hole in the side of the 580EX II, it is apparently not a standard size. I took mine to the hardware store and tried various bolts, both SAE and metric, to no avail. Canon loves to do proprietary crap like that.

Unfortunately, no, they can't be (at least not with the Quantum packs) which is a real bummer. It would be so convenient if it could be. But Quantum does sell an AC equivalent of their battery packs that plug into the wall.

[Marbeck]

Originally Posted by Curtis N

... but can some of these battery packs such as quantum be plugged in and charging while they're being used?

As for the thread size of the tapped hole in the side of the 580EX II, it is apparently not a standard size. I took mine to the hardware store and tried various bolts, both SAE and metric, to no avail. Canon loves to do proprietary crap like that.

Hi Guys,

The thread size seems to be 1/4-28. Witch is a US fine thread.I have some thread gauges and the 1/4-28 fit the best, although the gauge would not go all the way through and I'm not about to take the flash apart just to see. Hope this helps.

Martin

[jmb4370]

It is possible to use rechargable batteries in the CP-E4, and then mod the case to accept a charger plug. On most devices, inserting the power plug from the AC adapter will usually physically disconnect the internal batteries, since if non-rechargable batteries are in the device, this would cause a problem... If an extra battery tray is dedicated to rechargable batteries only, an extra electrical contact can be added to the tray to pick up the charge circuit. The alternative would be to provide a manual switch so that if rechargables are used, the AC adapter can charge the batteries in the tray as well as provide power to the device.

[Jcrompton]

If you are going to mod the battery pack for a charger, another option would be to purchase a 6V power supply or wall dongle with a long cord and just connect the wire + to + - to - etc in the battery pack. With a dongle you could run a long length of wire from the dongle to the flash.

[jmb4370]

Jcrompton:
Don't forget that the CP-E4, and the CP-E3, use 8 AA cells, not 4, so you would need to adjust your voltage to match when using an AC power supply instead of the batteries.

[Curtis N]

Originally Posted by Marbeck

The thread size seems to be 1/4-28.

Sorry, I tried it. No dice. The threads in the bracket hole of the 580EX II are even finer than fine.

If Canon does this stuff just to irritate me, they're succeeding.

[Curtis N]

Originally Posted by PacAce

Quantum does sell an AC equivalent of their battery packs that plug into the wall.

I can hear the cash register at Quantum ringing already.

[PacAce]

Originally Posted by Curtis N

I can hear the cash register at Quantum ringing already.

Yeah, me, too. The Turbo 2x2 pack has two sockets for powering two devices. Either one of these sockets can also be used to plug in the charger. Why they couldn't design it so that one socket can be used to power a device while the other is used to recharge the batteries or provide power to the device connected to the other port is a real mystery to me.