Bolt CBP-C1 Compact Battery Pack

Has anyone used this battery pack for Canon flashes?

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …act_Battery_Pac​k_for.html

If so, could you please provide some feedback? I'm thinking of purchasing it, but would like to avoid buying a lemon if it's just a piece of garbage.

If you don't recommend it, can anyone suggest alternative (non-DIY) battery pack options?

Thanks in advance!

alanosaur...looks and speq like a Pixel TD-381. Look for the external battery pak thread. I have the Pixel unit...works fine with 580exii. Used the mail order from HK. I could not justify the CP-4 cost for my usage.

2 considerations...you need to mind the continuous shooting...Canon flashes have built in thermal protection. And check out the rechargeable battery thread.

Altho B&H great to deal with, you might also check out Flash Zebra...Lon over there is a terrific resource and contributor to the forums.

Good luck, Paul

If I even knew how to place a bet, I'd put money on this being a rebadged Pixel TD-381. I have 4 of these (the Pixel original, not the Bolt) and have had students buy 2 more. Every one is thoroughly reliable. I did have one with faulty soldering on one channel (so it still worked on the other channel, unlike other makes running on a single channel) but this was rapidly replaced by Pixel themselves through their UK Distributor - even though the unit actually came as a gift from Ireland and I don't know the original vendor. So, Pixel DO stand behind their products; always good to know.

Your link is as good a price (including carriage) as you could get from China, plus it'd be quicker and have a US warranty. Here's an alternative which is slightly cheaper than B+H plus Lon contributes to this Forum, always a bonus

The caveat from 17s4 about overheating is perfectly true but be clear that it applies to the flash unit and not the power pack. Other popular makes of flash have similar protection which works by slowing down recycling but doesn't stop the flash working altogether unless you do something really stupid (like carrying on regardless).

Pretty pix showing things not visible in the commercial links:
http://www.flickr.com …in/set-72157630156560280/
http://www.flickr.com …in/set-72157630156560280/
http://www.flickr.com …/in/set-72157630156560280
http://www.flickr.com …in/set-72157630156560280/

I have 3 of the Bolt's that I use with 3-600EX-RT's. No issues. Recommended.

Danny Michael wrote in post #15870191
I have 3 of the Bolt's that I use with 3-600EX-RT's. No issues. Recommended.

I expect, considering that they are most likely Pixel OEM, that they would work well. I use my Pixel packs with 600EX-RTs on every job with speedlites. No problems.

Having been using both the Bolt and Canon CP-E4 battery packs with good results.
Last fall while at B&H, I was comparing both side by side. Decided to buy both and compare. Certainly would not hesitate on buying the Bolt again.

Nick5 wrote in post #15877666
Having been using both the Bolt and Canon CP-E4 battery packs with good results.
Last fall while at B&H, I was comparing both side by side. Decided to buy both and compare. Certainly would not hesitate on buying the Bolt again.

Presuming the Bolt is a rebranded Pixel, it has one advantage over the Canon pack.
That is the duel circuits in the battery pack itself. If one 4 cell set has a problem, the other 4 cell set will continue to deliver power.

Canon is all or nothing.

Lon from Flash Zebra is a great person to deal with. I would order from him.

scorpio_e wrote in post #15880111
Lon from Flash Zebra is a great person to deal with. I would order from him.

^ for sure.

The TD-381 doesn’t work for flash bursts at lower power levels whereas the Bolt CBP-C1 does (at leaset the version I bought back in 2012). This is my story:

In 2012 I bought two Bolt CBP-C1 battery packs for my Canon 600EX-RT flashes. These are re-branded TD-381 packs. At least that is what I thought, and the text on the PCB identifies it as a TD-381 PCB. I bought these battery packs because I needed my two flashes to match the frame rate of my Canon 7D camera. I have since then updated my camera to a 1D mark IV so the frame rate has increased to 10 FPS. Last year I bought one more flash and this time a Pixel TD-381 battery pack to “support” it, but I never really got to test it out fully. I have recently added two more flashes and two more TD-381 packs this time the new Mago compatible version. My initial testing with the 1D mark IV showed no issues with the flashes and Bolt battery packs following the 10 FPS when the flash output was set to 1/8 power.

In the field however, I have been having problems with flashes not firing. It has taken me some time to figure out what the issue was because I just assumed that the Pixel packs performed similar to the Bolt packs and I thought that the issue was the batteries and didn’t pay much attention to what pack I was using for what flashes. I have now found that the Pixel packs perform significantly worse than the Bolt packs. The recycle time for a full power pop are very similar for the two packs (to the point where I can’t distinguish them if I don’t make a video). But as soon as I fire a burst the Bolt packs perform significantly better, and the TD-381 packs essentially stop working !

Firing a bust of 29 frames at 1/8 power of the Canon 600EX-RT with a Bolt battery pack and GP ReCyko+ in both flash and battery pack yield no missed fires – no black frames. Switching to the newest of my TD-391 packs and firing a burst of 26 frames using the same batteries gave me 10 black frames (denoting fires with + and non-fires with -, the sequence was: ++++++++-+-+-+–+-+-++-+). Switching to the oldest TD-381 (non Mago compatible) gave similar results (burst size: 27, 10 black frames, sequence: ++++++++-+–+-+-+-+-++-+-+-). Running the flash without external battery pack yielded a burst of 28 frames with 12 black frames (++++++++-+–+-+–+–+-+–+-+) Switching back to the Blot battery pack again to confirm that the batteries hadn’t been discharged to an extend that affected the test yielded a burst of 38 frames without a single black frame. This experiment has been repeated several times with the same outcome each time.

So my conclusion is that unfortunately the Pixel TD-381 does very little for the ability to shoot bursts compared to the flash without external power. On the other hand the Bolt version of the pack allow me to shoot the bursts I need.

Pixel support has informed me that:

"The circuit of BOLT power pack is an oldest version which doesn't adopt overheating warning design.
So it may keep supplying power to the flash... But we have changed the circuit at the end of 2013 to the beginning of 2014.
Cos many users told us that the capacitance was burned due to overheat. Now our new power pack will stop supplying power to the flash after continous shooting about 8-10 shots."

It would have been nice if Pixel had been more informative about this significant change in the product spec !