Quantum Turbo 2x2 and Canon 580EX I

Anyone ever have any trouble connecting the Quantum power pack and a Canon 580 EX ?... Can't seem to get the flash to power on when its connected... just wondered if there were any tricks to this? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

Do have the correct cable and do you have batteries installed in the flash

The cable is correct... and I'm not sure if there are batteries in the flash itself, this is a friend of mine who is using my 580 EX... she's asleep now so I can't ask her directly..but would having batteries in the flash be a bad thing?

From what I've read you need batteries in the flash.

The first time I connected my turbo 2x2 I forgot to put the batteries back into the flash, the 580 needs to have the bats installed in order for the turbo to work. Here is the steps to make sure the turbo is powering the flash.
1- turn cam on
2- turn flash on
3- turn turbo on
you will know the flash is powered by the turbo cause the status light will stay red

Awesome.. thank you both so much.. I'll let my friend know in the morning that she should follow these steps... thanks a million!

ive also heard from some pros that if you keep all 4 batteries in the flash it could overheat and burn out. that being said they recommend you use a plastic battery because without 4 batteries in the unit it wont work.

jureis wrote in post #6488263
ive also heard from some pros that if you keep all 4 batteries in the flash it could overheat and burn out. that being said they recommend you use a plastic battery because without 4 batteries in the unit it wont work.

Now, that's a load of crap! The purpose of the dummy battery is to decrease the total voltage of the internal batteries so that they are not used to charge the main flash capacitor. But the voltage is still high enough to run the electronics of the flash. They serve that function on the 550EX because there is no way to set the 550EX to either use or not use the internal batteries for charging the main capacitor.

The dummy battery is unnecessary and is, in fact, redundant when used with the 580EX because you can set the custom function on the 580EX to use or not use the internal batteries for charging the main capacitor (when an external power pack is being used).

alright just passing along what ive heard

If you are using the Turbo battery it only supplies power to the strobe element you still need batteries in the flash ot a QB1 connected powering the electronics so it will work. What you are supplying power to is the light element only and you are using the Quantum to do two things 1 speed up time between charges and save the in flash batteries to power the electronics long so you can get more flashes out them since they are not charging the strobe capacitor

You also need to let the flash know to use the external power source. You can choose: Internal, external or both. I have set mine to use both, but I use canon's powerpack. Not to hijack the tread, but. How does the turbopack compares to canon's powerpack /

silvex wrote in post #6489185
You also need to let the flash know to use the external power source. You can choose: Internal, external or both. I have set mine to use both, but I use canon's powerpack. Not to hijack the tread, but. How does the turbopack compares to canon's powerpack /

Other than the fact that the Turbo 2x2 (don't know about the other Turbo models, though) will outlast the batteries in the Canon battery pack, their performance in terms of recycling speed are the same. Weight-wise, the Turbo 2x2 is much heavier than the Canon battery pack, and bigger, too.

StephenJames wrote in post #6484968
The cable is correct... and I'm not sure if there are batteries in the flash itself, this is a friend of mine who is using my 580 EX... she's asleep now so I can't ask her directly..but would having batteries in the flash be a bad thing?

Yep...it needs batteries in the flash itself.

I just wanted to warn you to be sure and check the instructions and see if the canon can be run at full power with the turbo. I blew up a couple of canon lights using turbo batteries in the past because I never read directions (fortunately I was making enough money that it didn't hurt too much)

PacAce wrote in post #6490550
Other than the fact that the Turbo 2x2 (don't know about the other Turbo models, though) will outlast the batteries in the Canon battery pack, their performance in terms of recycling speed are the same. Weight-wise, the Turbo 2x2 is much heavier than the Canon battery pack, and bigger, too.

I just read their "ratings" and it is about ~700 full powerflashes. I get around that with four duracells 2650 NiMH in the 580EXII. I have yet try to see how many I get when the Canon power pack (CP-E4) with eight 2650. I took at least 250+ with it just recently, but I would really like to take a test. The batteries were almost fully charged after taken the 250+ shots.

silvex wrote in post #6490694
I just read their "ratings" and it is about ~700 full powerflashes. I get around that with four duracells 2650 NiMH in the 580EXII. I have yet try to see how many I get when the Canon power pack (CP-E4) with eight 2650. I took at least 250+ with it just recently, but I would really like to take a test. The batteries were almost fully charged after taken the 250+ shots.

And all these were all full power flash shots using the 2650 NiMH batteries?

I've never done any formal testing of the battery performance, but I don't think I've ever gotten close to 700 full power flashes with my 2500 NiMH batteries in the CP-E4. And definitely not with just the four batteries in the flash.