DIY Battery Pack for Flash

[meepokman]

heehee... u dunno the joke in my sec school last time.... i never need to put my name on the stuff we make in the workshop. becos i can never learn to saw or cut straight, my teacher never have a problem picking out my crap... :bsmilie:

yeah. going SEED tonite. need to show-and-tell session to a fren on my tamron 90mm. will u be dropping by too?

thinking about it.

But if you wanna see my battery pack..ill bring it down loh. np

 

[nightwolf75]

thinking about it.

But if you wanna see my battery pack..ill bring it down loh. np

arghh... dun tempt me to get the pack... :bsmilie:

 

[catchlights]

Hi all,
I made my own 6V SLA battery pack a few year back, is cheap and reliable, can last for 2 wedding when I shoot film at that time. Of course I use the original Quantum module for my flash, for this part I don’t think is worth the effort to DIY, just pay $90.00 to get one from Quantum. For the battery pack I made, it cost me about $40.00, including parts, SLA 6V battery, charger, and a carrying case.

 

[AJ23]

thinking about it.

But if you wanna see my battery pack..ill bring it down loh. np

Bring bring bring.

 

[kahheng]

Hi all,
I made my own 6V SLA battery pack a few year back, is cheap and reliable, can last for 2 wedding when I shoot film at that time. Of course I use the original Quantum module for my flash, for this part I don’t think is worth the effort to DIY, just pay $90.00 to get one from Quantum. For the battery pack I made, it cost me about $40.00, including parts, SLA 6V battery, charger, and a carrying case.

Actually, the Quantum cable module is the part you should really cheapen up on as long as you are good with a soldering iron. If you're going cheap $90 is still a lot to pay. Of course this is just my unasked for opinion ;-)

Good quality cable and cutting up a few wood or plastic dowels (don't have to be as cheapskate as me and go dumpster diving for waste wood), and getting a good locking connector still won't cost a lot.

I think if I had actually wanted to make the cable better, I'd be spending about $10-15, with the bulk of the cost on the coiled cable. A connector with a locking head is about $4.

My original Quantum cable fell apart after 5-6x in and out of the flash and I was really pissed off that something simple costing this much could be this badly made - maybe I got a bad sample, but still it was annoying. The $2 cable has never failed me! ;-) It's too damn simple to break down! :bsmilie:

 

[catchlights]

Actually, the Quantum cable module is the part you should really cheapen up on as long as you are good with a soldering iron. If you're going cheap $90 is still a lot to pay. Of course this is just my unasked for opinion ;-)

Good quality cable and cutting up a few wood or plastic dowels (don't have to be as cheapskate as me and go dumpster diving for waste wood), and getting a good locking connector still won't cost a lot.

I think if I had actually wanted to make the cable better, I'd be spending about $10-15, with the bulk of the cost on the coiled cable. A connector with a locking head is about $4.

My original Quantum cable fell apart after 5-6x in and out of the flash and I was really pissed off that something simple costing this much could be this badly made - maybe I got a bad sample, but still it was annoying. The $2 cable has never failed me! ;-) It's too damn simple to break down! :bsmilie:

You prefer to DIY the cable, but how you fasten your cable to the flash? Do you need to make a hole on your battery compartment cover of your flash?

I used the battery pack 1+ with original cable before, but the battery need to replace almost every 18 months, so I do research about homemade battery pack, after many trail and error, improvise from other people creation, finally settle with 6V SLA battery.

Since I already have the original cable and it never fail me, of cause I bought another 1 for backup later, in term of saving on battery expanse for so many weddings I shot, I very willing to spend the $90.00 on buying the original cable, instead of DIY it.

I find this 6V SLA homemade battery pack is the best, economy and yet powerful, most suitable heavy user, many of my friends said this is the great idea, but not willing to spend $90.00 on the cable, end up none of them using this homemade battery pack.

 

[kahheng]

Hi

After all this talk about building your own 6V flash battery packs, allow me to recommend an extremely good place to buy the battery and charger to build your own packs:

---------------------
Unicell International
#02-70
Sim Lim Sq
Tel: 63376548
(look for Jimmy Tan the sales manager, a most knowledgeable and helpful man)

- they open Monday to Saturday up to 7pm. (closed Sun.)
--------------------

This is a retail store that stocks a large and diverse range of batteries, a great alternative to Kim Chew at Sim Lim Tower, with lower prices.

The prices of two items that the 6V DIYer would be most interested in is the 6V SLA battery and the charger.

Unicell 6V 4.5Ah - $6.50
6V Lead Acid Battery Charger - $17.90

A combined cost of just under $25! (I estimate that you can now DIY a good looking pack with a decent case, cable and other necess. parts for about $50. $40 if you're a total cheapskate)

The charger is very well made and is completely automatic in nature. You can just leave it plugged in for charging and it will switch to trickle charging when the battery is full. Unlike the Vanson charger I have, it uses a switch mode circuitry, which means that it doesn't use an old fashioned internal transformer so that it can be made very lightweight and small. $17.90 is extremely reasonable for an automatic SLA charger!

The other nice things about the shop:

It sells a wide range of substitute digicam batteries - they even have EN4 Nikon type replacements. It's not obvious initially when you walk in to the shop and look around that they do, but just ask.

For those thinking of building a Nicad/Ni-Mh pack, they have two automatic deltaV-type Nicad chargers, one of which is sub-$20 and can charge up to 10 cells, with no need for an external 12V power supply, and it even has a discharge function (extremely rare for a low cost Ni-Cd charger).

They also sell all sorts of Unicell brand, Sanyo and Panasonic batteries, button sized, large ones, odd ones.

This is my new favorite battery shop! Reasonable prices with knowledgeable and friendly service. What more can one ask for? :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[BlackDiamond]

One question: can this DIY battery also power the camera body? cosh so far it's about the flash Are we able to DIY to power the body as well?

 

[nikon_ray]

I read with interest regarding your interest to have a battery pack for the Sigma 500 DG Super. I can help you build that. However, the 500 DG must have connector for external power source. Otherwise, some form of connector must be attached to the DG mechanically. Let me know if I can help.

rgds,
nikon_ray

 

[mattlock]

Would you be able to build a portable battery pack for strobe lights? right now I have one from Alien Bees that's actually a car battery connected to two inverters I believe (not sure if they're pure sine wave inverters)
might be great if that could be duplicated because portable strobes by manufacturers cost a bomb
1200Ws of power, possible?

 

[nikon_ray]

What do you need. If it is a spent battery for the strobe light, just need to replace it. Are you talking about rebuilding a whole new strobe? If that is the case, I need to know how the strobe works. I don't think it's that simple as a inverter as you claimed. There must be a at least 2 parts; 1. high voltage source and 2. a fire control circuit.

BTW, when do you use a portable strobe? Is it used in disco? Sorry, I am not familiar.

 

[kahheng]

Would you be able to build a portable battery pack for strobe lights? right now I have one from Alien Bees that's actually a car battery connected to two inverters I believe (not sure if they're pure sine wave inverters)
might be great if that could be duplicated because portable strobes by manufacturers cost a bomb
1200Ws of power, possible?

The Vagabond uses sine wave inverters. I can't remember where I read this but it is some off the shelf American brand inverter. It's a very good price. Great idea actually to make a power source for AC strobes this way. Pity the bag it comes in though. They should have gone for a more subtle black!

You can get pure sine wave inverters from SL Tower. Unsure about the quality though. Can't be hard to rig one up. That said, the price of the Vagabond is really very good.

ALien Bees does sell 230V flash heads you know. I enquired before and they even list it as an option at their website. I like the idea that they are fairly light in weight. The specs of the heads are good for low cost units.

 

[mattlock]

nikon_ray please go find out what a strobe for photography is first
kahheng yeah I figured it'll cost less to make your own actually but the hassle of it...
not sure how much it'll cost to make your own though
the Vagabond bag is actually very discreet, I have one

 

[nikon_ray]

Mattlock, thank you for you smart advice. There are many out there who does better.