A New Bare Bulb Flash Arrives

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He cannot be beat for his passion for photography and customer service

FYI - Using Lithium AA's in a Cheetah transmitter might not be a good idea. I tried them, and the display went super bright and unreadable. Put the standard Alkaline AA's back in, and all seems to be well.

No way an normal AA should do that, irrespective of the chemical composition. I have seen AA size Lithiums which were 3.6v-3.7v nominal instead of 1.5v - that'd have that effect before burning out the circuitry (unless it's extremely tolerant of over-voltage). I wonder if you accidentally got hold of some of those? Here's one example . (Notise the spelyng ov "UltraFire"!!). Possibly very slightly long (<1mm over-spec) but I bet that'd never be noticed with the coiled-spring contacts in the Tx unit.

Notice particularly the voltage and the fact that they are definitely described as AA. A mistake just waiting to happen, especially if you're a flashlight/torch afficianado too, so easy to grab some batteries without really looking.. Here's another link. I've checked about a dozen different places and they all definitely say "AA" - correct in sizing but that voltage is way, way off what we need for this application.

Here's another, this time not a rechargeable. At least the vendor does warn that they are the same size as common-or-garden AA but 3.6v, always assuming that we actually read down that far!

Did you?

There should be a criminal charge for anyone selling AA batteries with a chemistry givint 3.6V output.

There are enough possible form factors available without a need to mirror the AA batteries. And if shipped with solder tabs, a user would at least have to invest a tiny bit more time before deciding how to use them.

Whortleberry wrote in post #16098100
No way an normal AA should do that, irrespective of the chemical composition. I have seen AA size Lithiums which were 3.6v-3.7v nominal instead of 1.5v - that'd have that effect before burning out the circuitry (unless it's extremely tolerant of over-voltage). I wonder if you accidentally got hold of some of those? Here's one example . (Notise the spelyng ov "UltraFire"!!). Possibly very slightly long (<1mm over-spec) but I bet that'd never be noticed with the coiled-spring contacts in the Tx unit.

Notice particularly the voltage and the fact that they are definitely described as AA. A mistake just waiting to happen, especially if you're a flashlight/torch afficianado too, so easy to grab some batteries without really looking.. Here's another link. I've checked about a dozen different places and they all definitely say "AA" - correct in sizing but that voltage is way, way off what we need for this application.

Here's another, this time not a rechargeable. At least the vendor does warn that they are the same size as common-or-garden AA but 3.6v, always assuming that we actually read down that far!

Did you?

These are Lithium Energizer AA's, and both measure 1.81V. I put them in my backup transmitter just for grins, and the results were the same. The display is readable, but looks as though it's super-backlit.

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About 1.55 V is the highest you get from normal non-rechargeable batteries. And that 1.55V quickly drops down depending on how big load you connect.

Normal AA accumulators will give somewhere 1.2-1.3V from almost full to almost empty.

Anything giving more than 1.55V shoudln't be used, except in equipment that specifically says it supports it. Some electronics can handle a quite wide voltage range. But some electronics have a very narrow limit from acceptable to overvoltage. A LED designed for 3.2-3.6V could be run without a current-limiting series resistor when used with two AA batteries. They don't reach the knee where they reach 100% power. But with your batteries, you would get above that knee - and the result then is that the LED would suddenly try to get any current it can get access to. So even a change of 0.1V can double the LED intensity - even more so if the battery is able to uphold the voltage despite the larger current.

pwm2 wrote in post #16098237
There should be a criminal charge for anyone selling AA batteries with a chemistry giving 3.6V output.

There are enough possible form factors available without a need to mirror the AA batteries. And if shipped with solder tabs, a user would at least have to invest a tiny bit more time before deciding how to use them.

I think that we should at least be prepared to take some responsibility for our own actions. I'd certainly agree that the form factor is potentially very misleading and it'd be oh so easy to get caught out.

The major point, though, is that firstly folks have to even be aware that there are cells out there which superficially appear to be plain, vanilla AAs but are a totally different thing altogether. If we aren't even aware then there's be no reasonable expectation of care in selection. If the cells were just carded up as 14500s with no mention of "AA" matters would be better. Devices needing 14500 cells specifically are less common than those needing AAs so it'd be reasonable to presume that the owners knew what they were looking for and didn't need the reassurance of the AA marking on the showcard. So why have it and potentially confuse buyers?

BigIronCruiser wrote in post #16098467
These are Lithium Energizer AA's, and both measure 1.81V. I put them in my backup transmitter just for grins, and the results were the same. The display is readable, but looks as though it's super-backlit.

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The plus points:

1. You are now assured that every segment of your LCD screen is fully functional.
   
2. We all now know that there is at least a decent over-voltage safety margin with the Cheetah / Godox Tx.
   
3. Apparently no harm done.
   
4. We've all learned to be wary of even mainstream batteries.
   

1. You have at least one pair of Energiser Lithiums with nothing to use them in. Things could be a LOT worse.

Not sure where you see any indication to partially used batteries or any voltage < 2.2V.

It is only the black segments that counts. The blue segments are just an artefact of LCD, i.e. that depending on light source direction you will be able to see the unlit segments too. And it's affected by amount of backlight.

So the battery signal is not - repeat not - lit in that photo.

And the photo does not represent a test that every segment in the LCD is working.

pwm2 wrote in post #16098810
Not sure where you see any indication to partially used batteries or any voltage < 2.2V.

It is only the black segments that counts. The blue segments are just an artefact of LCD, i.e. that depending on light source direction you will be able to see the unlit segments too. And it's affected by amount of backlight.

So the battery signal is not - repeat not - lit in that photo.

And the photo does not represent a test that every segment in the LCD is working.

You're right - got distracted.

ship has docked in Holland

http://shop.disnet.nl …itstro-Diffusor-Ball.html

Just shot some new toy for Cheetah Light on Sunday afternoon.

Photo taken with canon 5D/24-105mm lens
Cheetah Light CL-180 mount on Cheetah Speed Pro bracket MKII.
Cheetah QBox30
Cheetah Boom with Caster.
White seamless paper, Black plexiglass, White foam board to fill shadow.

https://www.facebook.c​om/CheetahStand?ref=tn​_tnmn

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Excuse me while I DROOL!
Extra despatch staff laid on for July 25th by any chance ? ? ? I've visions of many folks sitting saying, "I'll have one of those, and one of those, and definitely some of those, oh that'd be useful ........... so some of those as well.........etc" and ending up with a list of, well, everything!

Interesting to see the resolution of the long or short 1-to-2 cable debate, best of both worlds now.

^^^

BRB...doing some on-line shopping.

^^^ I think ET's pre-order bin is going to be full.
Lot's of stuff on my list too.

The bulb protector and 2 to 1 cable is what I want.