help extending battery life for Canon 580 EXII

[nancy hazen]

Right now I am using regular batteries for this flash, but they do not last long. Any suggestions for great rechargables or other solutions. Thanks in advance.
Nancy

[Doug Brown]

You can pick up good rechargeable batteries from Delkin or PowerEx. I think Artie sells the Delkin ones. Look for NiMH batteries with at least 2700mAh of capacity. These types of batteries really last a long time!

[John Chardine]

Nancy- I use bog-standard Energizer Nickel Metal Hydride 2300 mAh rechargables and the recharger that goes with it. They are available pretty well everywhere. Doug's 2700 mAh batteries would last somewhat longer. Battery life in a flash depends a lot on how you have your flash set. If set to ETTL with some minus exposure compensation and relatively close subjects the flash will last a lot longer than on manual mode at full power. This type of battery will only take so many recharges before they decline in performance. You will notice when this happens and then simply send them to recycling. It's in the 100s of recycles in my experience.

[nancy hazen]

Thank you so much Doug and John. I'm going to check those out.
Nancy

[Michael_Loizou]

I am using something even better. An external battery pack that can hold 8 batteries.
This way I have 12 batteries in total that the flash can use and a much faster recycling rate:

Pixel TD-381 flash pack:
http://www.pixelhk.com/Proshow.aspx?id=70

[nancy hazen]

Thanks Michael. That looks very interesting. Many of the times I need a flash I am sitting watching birds, so that would be great to have.

Nancy

[James Shadle]

If you want your rechargeable AAs to last, try and charge at 200mA or less.
It takes longer but keeps the batteries from getting too hot. Heat is a battery killer.

[John Chardine]

Good point James. I've noticed mine get hot after a charge in the Energizer charger. What can be done about this? Can you buy slow chargers?

Just found this:

http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/charger_appman.pdf

It doesn't actually show which chargers are the slow ones. I'm going to start looking around for one.

and this:

http://www.powerstream.com/NiMH.htm

[James Shadle]

John,
I just ordered this charger http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/bc1000/index.php

• Works with all NiCd & NiMH AA/AAA Rechargeable Batteries
• Automatically switches to trickle charge when charging is complete to ensure maximum battery capacity
• Automatically defaults to 200mA charge (the optimal setting for prolonging battery life)
• Overcharge detection to protect battery life
• Selectable charging current : 200, 500, 700 or 1000mA. When only channel 1 and/or channel 4 are used, can select up 1500 or 1800 mA.
• Charges AA & AAA rechargeable batteries simultaneously
• Will not charge defective batteries
• Overheat protection to protect battery life. If any one battery or circuit over heat, the charger will stop all channels charging and discharging.
• When charging is complete, LCD shows capacity in %charged for each battery

[John Chardine]

Looks great James and in the long run will pay for itself by saving battery life.

[Sachin Saraf]

It really looks worth the investment Jame...TFS