Pixel Flash Battery Pack TD-381 - Notes

I had a different eBay battery pack (Not a TD-381) that died while changing batteries. Worked great but couldn't get the battery cover off because the batteries became really hot and expanded the batteries and plastic. Once I was able to pry off the cover I replaced with fresh batteries and pack was dead. The TD-381 has a better design battery insert design.

Anyway using the TD-381 last week I shot like I normally do... sometimes two shots in a 5 seconds and sometimes four shots in 10 seconds. But I'm not a machine gun shooter and never had the battery pack or flash complain. Most of the flash shots were at full flash power as I was shooting in dining room at night with high ceilings. Next time I'll check the battery pack after right after I shoot a number of images to see if the batteries get hot.

All in all I'm really happy with the TD-381.

Ok.. The flash works.. Its just that the battery pack doesnt work anymore. The light indicator on the battery pack doesn't turn red. I didn't fire on 1/1.. only ettl +2. it was sort of continues shots on those 10 minutes. Maybe 4-5 every 10 seconds..

I'm just saying that on 1/1 the recharge time was about 3 secs.. Instead of 1.5 secs that the other people experience.

Rhoy Louie wrote in post #10308030
Ok.. The flash works.. Its just that the battery pack doesnt work anymore. The light indicator on the battery pack doesn't turn red. I didn't fire on 1/1.. only ettl +2. it was sort of continues shots on those 10 minutes. Maybe 4-5 every 10 seconds..

I'm just saying that on 1/1 the recharge time was about 3 secs.. Instead of 1.5 secs that the other people experience.

Using FEC of plus 2 pushes the flash and its power supply quite hard, and that rate of shooting could well be in excess of Canon flash recommendations.

However, I would not expect the battery pack to fail - the thermal cutout should reset when it has cooled down.

There is one possibility that a tech. person could check: open the case taking care that the 4 captive nuts are not lost, and make sure that the battery tray contacts are touching the circuit board contacts. A slight extension of the springs may be needed. If that does not fix the problem, then you will need to contact your supplier.

There is also the possibility that the flash's external battery control circuit has blown.

By the way, Johny V was referring to fresh batteries - in the flash. They are needed for the control circuitry of the flash - the battery pack supplies no power to that.

And under heavy load the batteries will get hot. You may want to consider increasing the ISO to reduce the load on the flash.

I tried putting the battery pack on another 580 but it still doesn't work. I don't want to open cause I might not be able to return it if it was tampered.. If I do open it, how can I reset the thermal cutout switch to make it work again? Is it possible?

The thermal cut-out is solid-state, not a mechanical switch. It cannot be reset manually.

>I tried putting the battery pack on another 580 but it still doesn't work.

Bummer... probably a defective battery pack. As mentioned I had a different eBay battery pack (Not a TD-381) died for really no reason. I guess at these prices you gotta buy two and hope one works!

battery pack worked awesome for a 300+ shoot i did. it missed a few times on consecutive shots when the fec was +2/3 or at +1, but at 0 fec or below, it would fire as long as I kept my finger on the trigger. Sometimes shot 6-7 burst shots at high-res raw+jpg with no issues at all. Time to definitely order another one for my backup camera. I had to keep unplugging between dslrs as I had one slr on wide and the other on telephoto lens as I was a one-man photographer over the weekend.

I just returned the pixel flashgun and requested a replacement. Hopefully the replacement would work fine.

DRNPhoto wrote in post #10283005
Waiting on the fence for a long time and I just placed an order with DealExtreme. Can't wait to try this out on my up coming shoots. Thank you to all that have paved the way testing this unit in the field!

Just signed for my Pixel Flash Battery Pack. Now the fun begins.......

I used mine for the first time yesterday at a sikh wedding.
I had the 5D2 at ISO 1600 a lot, so as not to run the flash too hard.

Must of taken 500 clicks out of 1200 using the flash.

It just kept on going, not to mention the speed it recharges. I accidently pressed the shutter button twice in immediate succession, flash fired twice, same light levels on the final image.

Great product.

Another 600+ image party under my belt... so to speak! Worked flawlessly. I'm getting spoiled with this battery pack.

It's just one less thing to worry about.

I also bought myself a 32gb CF Card a few days ago.
When shooting Raw on the 5D2 I'm getting almost 1200 full sized Raws on there.

All that really concerns me now is , where are my lenses, where is my target

This pack has served me well for a birthday party @ around 400 shots - my third event so far. So far so great.

mine died after/during the 2nd usage. Dunno what happened. NO more LED light. NO more Buzzing Sound.. Disappointed.