Anyone has DIY Battery pack for 580EX??

I found this on youtube, http://au.youtube.com …_TbR3Vufs&featu​re=related

Vivitar 285hv are pretty cheap, so I might just get one to play around with... But I'd love to make one for my 550 and 580. Don't see myselft getting CP-e4 just yet!

CP-E4 are pretty cheap and very effective. Playing with high voltages yourself is probably a bad plan, but low voltage high current sources can be pretty effective too.

tim wrote in post #6533156
CP-E4 are pretty cheap and very effective. Playing with high voltages yourself is probably a bad plan, but low voltage high current sources can be pretty effective too.

Have you seen those fake cp-e4's on ebay from china?? they're like $50 and take 6 AA batteries.. waste of money?

You might find this of interest....

https://photography-on-the.net …ighlight=diy+ba​ttery+pack

TJ

... and this, which relates to a 580EX...

https://photography-on-the.net …ighlight=diy+ba​ttery+pack

TJ

Take a look at Al Jacobs Photography and his battery packs. I use them all the time - great price and better service. I have one for each 580ex
http://www.aljacobs.co​m/

good luck

Why would you risk an expensive flash with a cheap high voltage power source? Over what, $50?

yuriyo923 wrote in post #6533215
Have you seen those fake cp-e4's on ebay from china?? they're like $50 and take 6 AA batteries.. waste of money?

also wondering if they are any good, anyone have information?

I wouldn't want to risk it, just wondering if anyone has any experience with them. If someone's been using them for ages with no issues, it might be worth it. CP-E4 is $150 compared to $50 for that fake one. They look pretty much the same! Wondering if they function the same.

tim wrote in post #6536096
Why would you risk an expensive flash with a cheap high voltage power source? Over what, $50?

The risk is not what you're making it out to be. I'm pretty sure that's a misconception.

A battery pack is not the high voltage part of the flash unit. The flash internals should be the thing that handles the conversion of the low voltage (from the battery pack) to the high voltage (post capacitor charge). They will have charged a capacitor or something similar to create a high voltage spike to produce a flash. I'm speculating that the hookup is no more difficult than tapping into the connection from the internal battery feed as it goes to the circuit board (to provide an alternate feed source). From that point you drill a hole in the side of the case and mount the quick disconnect style of your choice to get to the outside cleanly. At the most basic level this could even be accomplished by alligator clipping the external pack to the internal leads to test it for function. I believe this should be a fairly easy DIY project if one has the basic skills necessary. I've done the same exact thing to radios and other electronics when I was a kid.

If you were converting DC input to AC input or something along those lines it would need a transformer etc. and would not be a simple DIY project anymore, but as it is one would just provide an alternate path for an alternate power supply to reach the connection point that the internal battery pack is currently using. If more batteries are used I would think that one would want to make sure that they are configured to produce the same amount of voltage to the circuit board as the current system does, that's the only thing I can't speak to directly. It would probably be easier to use 8 batteries than 6 because you have the right number to feed 2 pairs of batteries in parallel to keep the voltage the same as what's currently inside the flash unit. That should be easy enough to figure out though by talking with someone who messes with the stuff. At least one of the guys in at the average Radio Shack is usually able to hook you up with all the parts and tell you what to do as well. Even an electrician should have an answer for this.

The CP-E4 has a voltage multiplier in it, the port on the side of the 580EX only takes a high voltage input.

What is advantage of CP-E4? Does it allow faster recharge? I think my 580EXII on four rechargeables currently take 4-5 seconds to charge - not 100% sure . A little longer as battery is depleted, but I change them out often.

Would love to get that down to .5-1sec

I think Quantum is a possible solution, but too expensive for non-pro like myself.

Also read about "AlJacobs.com" which sounds interesting and much more affordable, but not sure if ~$250 (battery+cable) is worth it when recharge is like 2-3secs - I think that's the spec.

Mystwalker wrote in post #6536979
What is advantage of CP-E4? Does it allow faster recharge? I think my 580EXII on four rechargeables currently take 4-5 seconds to charge - not 100% sure . A little longer as battery is depleted, but I change them out often.

Would love to get that down to .5-1sec

I think Quantum is a possible solution, but too expensive for non-pro like myself.

Also read about "AlJacobs.com" which sounds interesting and much more affordable, but not sure if ~$250 (battery+cable) is worth it when recharge is like 2-3secs - I think that's the spec.

AlJacobs has a pack that is much similar to the one in the link that i posted in the OP.

tim wrote in post #6536977
The CP-E4 has a voltage multiplier in it, the port on the side of the 580EX only takes a high voltage input.

Didn't know that...

tim wrote in post #6536977
The CP-E4 has a voltage multiplier in it, the port on the side of the 580EX only takes a high voltage input.

What is high voltage to you? It wouldn't surprise me if they just ran all of the batteries in series instead of some in parallel. If we're talking about 6 batteries that'd be 9 volts +/-, 8 batteries in that application would be 12 volts +/-. Neither of those are high voltage (thousands of volts). There may be some performance advantage to keeping the power source in series instead of parallel, but no doubt there's more than one way to hook up an external power source. If Canon are truly using high voltage input then they're doing it for the sake of performance. Intercepting the input leads from the internal battery compartment should still work, but may not include the performance gain that Canon may have included in their design. Anyone know what the output voltage readings are that come out of the Canon battery packs? In the case of intercepting the internal battery leads and not using the Canon jack - that's potentially not a "replacement" for the Canon units, but an alternative instead. I'm not sure which would be the case without knowing what the actual voltage is that runs through the Canon jacks.