YN460ii deceased ?

My YN460ii gives a low battery warning after being in use for less than 5 minutes. It doesn't seem to matter what batteries I use-alkaline, Eneloop etc. I'm assuming the flash is a goner but before I throw it out I wanted to check on easy fixes or possibly a goofy setting. Aside from seemingly being broken, it's a great flash. Any suggestions or should I make funeral arrangements for the flash?

Are the cells actually draining? Get a decent battery meter and check the numbers before and after. (Also, are the cells working normally in other devices? Worth double checking your power sources on issues like this before digging too deep into things. Once had issues with a brand new pack of batteries all being duds. Rare, but it happens.)

If you don't have a fair bit of experience in soldering and working with high voltage electronics then I generally suggest playing it safe and selling the old one for scrap if you can't find the problem easily. Those things carry a good punch if you stick your finger in the wrong bit at the wrong time.

Luckless wrote in post #17182503
Are the cells actually draining? Get a decent battery meter and check the numbers before and after. (Also, are the cells working normally in other devices? Worth double checking your power sources on issues like this before digging too deep into things. Once had issues with a brand new pack of batteries all being duds. Rare, but it happens.)

If you don't have a fair bit of experience in soldering and working with high voltage electronics then I generally suggest playing it safe and selling the old one for scrap if you can't find the problem easily. Those things carry a good punch if you stick your finger in the wrong bit at the wrong time.

Yes, I forgot to mention that the batteries work fine in other devices. There is absolutely zero chance of me successfully diagnosing and repairing a flash. Until they put IS in soldering irons I have no business fooling with it. This is a used flash I received in a bundle with other items that function just fine. Thanks for your help.

Sounding like you have a short of some kind somewhere, so something is bleeding the energy of your cells out as heat. I would strongly suggest keeping the batteries out of the thing till you can get it into the hands of someone with some experience in toying with these kind of electronics and has a proper work bench suitable for it.

Based on what you're describing I am worried that you could have a capacitor or something that is damaged, and could actually pop/catch fire, which rarely makes for a very good day. Are the batteries overly warm/hot when you take them out? That is an exceptionally short time to be discharging those kind of cells, and I really can't think of anything on this style of flash that could be sucking down that much juice in so short of time under 'normal' conditions, but I could be wrong. (I forget the feature set of the 460ii, maybe an infrared lamp of some kind is locking on and draining faster than I would have expected?)

Before tossing it ask around and see if any locals like playing with those kind of things. Might be something stupidly simple and easy to fix, and no sense in junking it right off the bat.

Good luck.

The batteries don't get hot and they work fine in other items. I've been looking for someone to fix a battery charger but haven't had much luck so far. If I find someone to fix one, I'm sure they can fix the other. I'm definitely keeping the batteries out of the flash.