Speedlight eating batteries too fast?

[IronMaskDuval]

This is my first experience with a speedlight, but I threw some new batteries in yesterday, and I took maybe 25 snaps max at different power settings, and now, I'm out of batteries. Is this normal?

 

[SCraig]

I guess it depends on the speedlight. I normally get a couple of hundred (never really counted them though) from my SB-700 or SB-600 before I recharge the batteries.

 

[table1349]

What speedlight? What batteries?

 

[IronMaskDuval]

It's a Yongnuo tn560-ii and just some regular energizers

 

[Overread19 7]

For speedlites my battery advice is this:

1) Get yourself good quality rechargeable batteries which retain charge. Sanyo Enloop were the first on the market with this ability; but most manufacturers now have smart or other kinds that do the same thing. The key here is that they retain their charge whilst not used. So you can leave them in the flash for months and still have them pretty much as charged as they were the day you put them in when you come to use them.
Conventional rechargeable batteries on the other hand will drain down when left un-used; which leaves you with batteries that even after only a week might be very flat.

2) Get yourself a quality recharging unit. A Maha/Powerrex unit is an ideal option. Those 30min fast chargers are useless, especially for batteries going into flash units that will be cycled very fast. The faster you re-charge the worse the batteries performance becomes over time; so the charging units that let you set a good slow speed (like the Maha/Powerrex brand options) mean that you can easily set them to charge overnight or even over a whole day - this extends their life and increase the amount of charge they take - giving you more reliability and more shots.

3) Keep batteries in groups, most speedlites take 4 AA so keep them in fixed blocks of 4. That way they charge and drain at the same rate and work better in a group than randomly selected batteries will.

 

[table1349]

Okay.....Well I'm out. I will let the Yongnuo loves have this one. I get similar results as SCraig with my 580's. No experience with the Yongnuo's.

 

[Mach0]

At full power ? I get a couple of hundred on my sb800.

 

[Derrel]

It's a Yongnuo tn560-ii and just some regular energizers

Battery life depends on a few factors. Was the flash's capacitor bank "formed" before your outing? Were you shooting at a small f/stop, like say f/11, and at lowish ISO values?

Using low ISO values requires a lot of flash power, compared to say, using ISO 400,500,or 640, and wider apertures like f/4. It's easy to shoot flash that requires 8, or 16, or 32 times MORE "light" if the camera settings (ISO level, lens aperture size), and distances are in one end of the extreme.

It also depends on how the flash is metered out: Full-power MANUAL flash ALWAYS dumps the entire capacitor, and sucks batteries dry FAST. USing an AUTO type mode will use only as much flash as the system requires. Bounced flash takes more power than direct, straight-ahead flash. Long-range shots at f/8 require significantly more power than close-range grip & grins shot at say ISO 640 at f/4.5.

Alkalines can often power a flash for SIGNIFICANTLY more than 25 to 45 frames **if** you can wait say, 25 to as much as 45 seconds between firings...

 

[Overread19 7]

Also a point - remember each time you fire a flash it generates heat (press the light emitting part of the flash to your thigh and fire it once at full power and you'll feel the heat - don't worry it won't burn or mark but you will feel it). If you fire it to many times in a row at full power you can fry the flash unit; smarter units will have heat detectors to auto stop or slow the fire rate so that it gets some cool down time.

Note that lower powers can also have the same effect when used in rapid succession as the heat builds up.

Whilst this might not be directly linked to your battery issue it is a warning to not "test" AA batteries by just firing the flash rapidly until its drained to test its endurance. Give it a few moments to cool every so often (I've no "hard" numbers but I'm sure a googling might show some rough "limits" people use).

 

[Braineack]

I can take plenty of shots at even full power on my yn560...way more than 25.

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk

 

[astroNikon]

I'm with Scott on this one .. couple hundred shots on my Nikon SB-700/800s

I use Energizer rechargeables with the longer smart charging unit that takes AA & AAAs

Energizer makes two types of recharables. The kind that come with the recharging units which are about 1400mA and have a green top
and the higher power units sold individually that are about 2200 mA. I use the higher powered ones for the flashes.
(don't quote me on the 1400 - 2200mA .. could be more or less)

 

[Tinderbox (UK)]

I second Sanyo Eneloop battery`s they are the best, and get yourself a good quality smart charger as dumb ones will fry your battery`s , i suggest Accupower Accumanger 10 or 20 model, or a Maha charger as mentioned above.

John.

 

[IronMaskDuval]

I had a terrible dream last night. I put some new batteries in my flash last night irl and in my dream, the flash was dead when I turned it on in the morning. What an effect a flash has when it crosses over into your dreams.

 

[astroNikon]

I had a terrible dream last night. I put some new batteries in my flash last night irl and in my dream, the flash was dead when I turned it on in the morning. What an effect a flash has when it crosses over into your dreams.

Hopefully you've seen the light now with rechargeable batteries ... pun intended

 

[Dao]

Maybe your flash tried to tell you in your dream that it does not like "regular energizers".
If you are using flash a lot, I think it is better to get a good battery charger and some re-chargeable batteries. In general, some prefer using higher mAh value NiMH rechargeable which give you more shots per charge but self-discharge faster while some other prefer the slow self-discharge rate NiMH rechargeable battery but they usually has a relatively lower mAh rating.

As for the flash, all my Vivitar 285HV and my old Canon can do a lot more than 25 shots