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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
CP-E3 and CP-E4
Chris Wood, Photographer
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San Diego | CA | US | Posted: 4:21 PM on 05.02.11 |
->> I was shooting an event last weekend and at some point my CP-E3 battery pack died. The light still comes on but there is no juice flowing to the flash. I contacted CPS and they said it was non-repairable.
I'm wondering what the experience of others has been with these battery packs. My understanding is that the only significant difference between the CP-E3 and CP-E4 was the weather sealing that was added so I'm assuming they are equally reliable (or as the case may be unreliable).
I'm a fan the size of this pack - and the fact that it uses AA batteries so I don't want to go to one of the bigger quantum packs.
Did I just get a dud (it has only been used about 6 times) or are these things really unreliable?
I don't use battery packs very often and they are usually on lower paying jobs so I don't want to spend a lot of money... so any advice is appreciated.
Chris |
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Stephen Brashear, Photographer, Assistant
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Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 4:30 PM on 05.02.11 |
| ->> Chris - I've got both the CP-E3 and CP-E4 and haven't had any issues with them, except they CP-E3 cartridges are brittle and the tabs break off really easy (another difference with the CP-E4). How do you know there is no juice flowing the flash when you use it? Are you using rechargeable in it as well? Something I have noticed with mine is that if the batteries in the flash are dead it won't fire even if there there are charged batteries in the battery back. If you hare using rechargeable batteries and dead cell could prevent the other others form sending juice to the flash. The same could be true if there is a dead cell in the strobe. |
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Chris Wood, Photographer
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San Diego | CA | US | Posted: 4:37 PM on 05.02.11 |
->> Thanks for the thoughts Stephen
I have tried every possible combination to test the unit. I have 2 sleaves for the pack so I have tried both incase there was a contact problem in one of the sleaves. I have tried rechargeable eneloops in the flash and CP-E3 and I have tried fresh Duracell batteries in both.
I know there is no juice flowing for 2 reasons.
1. The battery pack used to make a high pitch squeal when connected to a powered-up flash which it no longer does
2. At full power on my 580exII without the battery pack I should have 2-3 seconds to cycle whereas before when I plugged in the battery pack the interval would drop to about 1 second.
3. I have tested it with a 580exII and a 540EZ which have both worked well with the battery pack in the past. |
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Chris Wood, Photographer
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San Diego | CA | US | Posted: 4:40 PM on 05.02.11 |
| ->> oh yah... and the reason I know its not working is because the last set of batteries that were in the CP-E3 from the race I just shot came out with 100% charge after I had fired the flash about 1000 times at 1/4 power. |
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