Question about Godox TT600 / Flashpoint Zoom R2 Manual flash

[adamhiram]

I recently picked up a few Godox TT600 manual speed lights, and so far I am pretty impressed. However there is one feature that eludes me, and I am hoping someone else here has experience with these and can show me what I am missing.

The official product photos from Godox all show it having a battery level indicator on the screen. Here is one photo, but there are several others on their website that show the same icon.

When I read the manual, there it was again. This is identical in the Flashpoint manual, but I assume it's a direct copy and paste from Godox with their own branding added.

But on both of my flashes, there is no battery icon, and no menu option to display it. It's just not there.

I thought this might just be a fluke, but I came across an Amazon review where someone else noticed the same thing.

Is this feature a carry-over from their more expensive Li-ion models that is just not available in the TT600 and got left in the manual and product photos, or am I missing something?

 

[Destin]

I have two of the flashpoint branded lithium ion models and both display the battery level.

My guess is that it’s a feature exclusive to lithium ion because it’s often hard to measure the level of AA batteries, but the same is not true of a lithium ion rechargeable battery.

 

[ac12]

I have two of the flashpoint branded lithium ion models and both display the battery level.

My guess is that it’s a feature exclusive to lithium ion because it’s often hard to measure the level of AA batteries, but the same is not true of a lithium ion rechargeable battery.

Y0u mean AA NiCd or NiMH, which have a flat discharge curve.

A flat discharge curve means that the battery voltage is fairly constant, until the battery is exhausted, when it drops rapidly. This makes it difficult to put a guage/meter on these batteries.
The practical meter is the time it takes for the flash to recharge. If it gets longer than X seconds, it is time to replace the batteries.

If you shoot something like a wedding, you might use TWO sets; one set to shoot the wedding in the church, and the 2nd set to shoot the reception. Then you don't worry about the batteries going out during the reception, at a critical time.

 

[Braineack]

I have the flashpoint, aa-battery versions. I can look at mine, but I don't remember seeing a batt level, I'm used to just getting a low-battery indicator when they get below a certain level.

 

[adamhiram]

I have the flashpoint, aa-battery versions. I can look at mine, but I don't remember seeing a batt level, I'm used to just getting a low-battery indicator when they get below a certain level.

Thanks, please let me know! I have a support email in with Godox as well, but it's been a few days and still no response...

My guess is that it’s a feature exclusive to lithium ion because it’s often hard to measure the level of AA batteries, but the same is not true of a lithium ion rechargeable battery.

That's more or less what I assumed, although it doesn't seem to be an issue in the wireless trigger, which also uses standard AA batteries.

 

[adamhiram]

I'm used to just getting a low-battery indicator when they get below a certain level.

A quick follow-up - after a few shoots with these flashes, I can confirm that the battery level indicator does in fact come on when the batteries are low, so I guess that's still useful. However I used a multimeter to test each of the batteries and found something quite odd. 3 of the batteries still had nearly full charges, while one battery measured so dead that I might as well have been measuring a lump of coal. These were new out of the package alkaline batteries, so it's highly unusual to find just one battery fully drained while the rest are still fine, especially after relatively light use. I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if this was just a fluke or if it happens again.