430EZ Battery Pack - DIY possible?

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Hi there,

I was thinking of building an externel battery pack (which was quite expensive these days) on my own for the Speedlite 430EZ.

Does anybody know how to connect how many batteries to the plug at the flashlight? Any ideas?

Thanks, Dan.

-- Dan Dobert (EOS@Dobert.de), August 22, 2000

Answers

I built a dummy battery module out of dowling and a few screws & wire, then connected them to a 6V lantern battery. This provided consistent, 6 second, full power recycles, and a long life. Easy to do, but not much better than using rechargable AA's.

I'm with you Dan, I'd like to know how much voltage the high voltage plug is supposed to take. Anybody out there willing to measure the output of a Quantum Turbo or Dynalite Jackrabit? And which of the three wires carry the power, and what does the third wire do? Anybody know?

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), August 22, 2000.


I measured the output of the Compact Battery Pack-E at 270 volts. (The third contact carries a 5 volt signal to "turn on" the high voltage).

-- Dave (dherzstein@juno.com), August 24, 2000.

Dave, are you sure that is correct. It has always been my understanding that the jack on the side of the flash was for 9-volt sources. Also, it seems hard to believe that you could get 270 volts from 6 1.5 volt batteries. (1.5 x 6 = 9) And I'm pretty sure that the Turbo is a 9 volt battery also. Or maybe I'm missing something. Jim

-- james simon (jsimon724@aol.com), August 26, 2000.

From the Canon Speedlite Reference Guide:

High Voltage Power Packs:

High voltage packs typically supply 320 to 330 volts, and must be wired directly to the main capacitor of the Speedlite. Transistor Pack E, as mentioned above, is a high voltage external pack. The 430EZ is the only Canon Speedlite that includes a specific high voltage plug with appropriate circuitry built into the flash to handle this power supply level.

The Quantum Turbo (tm) is an independently made high voltage pack that can be used with the 430EZ, in combination with the necessary Quantum connecting cord. Full power recycle is achieved in 1 second, and the manufacturer claims over 300 full power flashes per charge.

Note that the SRG was published prior to the introduction o the 540EZ and 550EX.

-- Dave (dherzstein@juno.com), August 30, 2000.


Also, it seems hard to believe that you could get 270 volts from 6 1.5 volt batteries.

Realize that the 430EZ is doing just that with only 4 1.5 volt cells.

-- Dave (dherzstein@juno.com), August 30, 2000.



Hey guys.. There is a small circuit called DC-DC converter, which is used in all the video cameras, to convert DC voltage to a higher DC voltage, is it possible to do it.. Just browse at the internet about DC-DC converters, almost all the Sony products use it, expecially those with a gum-stick battery, how come a 1.2 V battery can make a CD Walkman to work? The answer is DC DC converter ;)

Thanks, Matt

-- Mattt (espartilho@hotmail.com), October 20, 2001.


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