Pixel Flash Battery Pack TD-381 - Notes

myjunk wrote in post #10459812
mine died after/during the 2nd usage. Dunno what happened. NO more LED light. NO more Buzzing Sound.. Disappointed.

One possibility that can be checked and fixed is that the battery tray is not making good contact with the circuit board. This means removing four philips #0 point screws and lifting the case off, leaving the power cable in the lower half. Put the battery tray back in, and check the spring contacts. They can be extended a little to make good contact.

There are two versions of tray assembly - and they cannot be mixed. Early units used bare-bottom battery contact in the middle two; later units have spring clips in the middle two contacts.

A techie may be able to check soldering, which can be marginal. Otherwise, get back to your supplier.

Edit: I assume you had enough sense to recharge the batteries and test again. (No matter what you think their condition is!)

anyone have pics of how they mount / carry their pixel pack?

I wear mine on the right side of my belt.

does the cord get in your way? does it have a belt loop?

The nylon case that comes with it has a belt loop. It's well built.

Only time it gets in the way is when I put my camera down by my side and lift up the camera to my eye, the spiral cord sometimes catches on the front lip of the lens. Other than that it's invisible.

btmlinedan wrote in post #10500844
does the cord get in your way?

Yes, it can do, but you quickly put up with it because the benefit is so great. Take the flash off-camera, and there's no problem.

do i need to change any custom functions on my 580 EXII? one of the custom functions speaks to a battery pack but it doesnt tell me if i need to turn this function on when connecting the pack.

Once the battery pack is plugged into the flash, the flash will automatically switch to the battery pack power. On the 580II there is an option to use both the internal flash batteries AND the battery pack together to fire the flash. Since the battery pack recycles so fast I don't see need to have both working at the same time.

Hey I see you are shot at the Stone Pony, I'm going there tonight as my buddy's band is playing there. Any hints for photographing at the Stone Pony?... it's been years since I've been there.

CosmoKid wrote in post #10511084
do i need to change any custom functions on my 580 EXII? one of the custom functions speaks to a battery pack but it doesnt tell me if i need to turn this function on when connecting the pack.

i have C.Fn-12 to "1"

this forces the flash to only recycle using the pixel battery pack and not the internal batteries in the 580exII. i'm okay with it recycling a fraction of a second slower, and prefer to save my internal batteries.

Johnny V wrote in post #10511262
Once the battery pack is plugged into the flash, the flash will automatically switch to the battery pack power. On the 580II there is an option to use both the internal flash batteries AND the battery pack together to fire the flash. Since the battery pack recycles so fast I don't see need to have both working at the same time.

Hey I see you are shot at the Stone Pony, I'm going there tonight as my buddy's band is playing there. Any hints for photographing at the Stone Pony?... it's been years since I've been there.

Thanks.

Every show is different there. The lighting generally stinks. Its dark with strong white spot lights on the performers. They decided not to give me a pit when I shot TMBG. So I ended up shooting from the board and then snuck up for a bunch of songs.

If it's not packed it should be fine. The stage is wide and fairly deep. I could have done great with a pit but I would have been limited to 3 songs. No pit so they didnt bother me for the 3 songs.

Are they playing indoors or out on the summer stage?

Thanks Joe for the Stone Pony info... that's good to know.
I'm not going as a photographer persay but taking my camera along to take a few shots. Not sure if indoor or out. Would they let me roam a little?
Thanks again for the info.
John

Clivey : Yes, That's actually what I did or normally do and no dice. I just RMA'ed the thing back to Dealextreme. I really do like it tho and chances are I'll bite the bullet and get another soon if it doesn't come back. But hey, they are allowing RMAs and will pay for the shipment back to HK.

TD-381 and clicking sound - a helpful post from CheetahStand, post 43:
https://photography-on-the.net …hread.php?t=896​434&page=3

I'm probably going to pickup a couple of these Pixel packs after having not so great experiences with the Yongnuo SF-18's...

Just got 2 replacement SF-18 packs from FlashZebra (not their fault) but looks like they will suffer from the same issues the ones I sent back had, which is, the battery contacts at the bottom of each pack 1. Getting stuck down and/or 2. Coming loose and falling out.

I'm not sure if I can really count on the SF-18's to be reliable as apparently this is a common occurrence with them, take a look at this photo:

I have two SF-18s and 5 TD-381s.
The SFs suffer from the "floating" contacts. But that can be fixed by taking the pack apart.
I have sent 3 TD-381s back because one or both channels failed. Two after some use and one right out of the box.

The Pixel problem is probably a QA issue. The reseller I get them from is in Hong Kong but they cheerfully replace the defective units.

The SF problem is a design/manufacturing issue. When I took the first one apart it is apparent that there is nothing to hold the clip in place except whatever friction is exerted by the clip on the plastic.

At least with the Pixel TD-381 its obvious when there is a problem with a circuit because the light(s) are out. And at $60 a unit having a spare is relatively painless.