Qs about SB900s with SD9s attached shooting weddings......

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nikonrick

New member
Hello, and thanks for reading....

We shot our 9th wedding yesterday, and are still having problems with the flashes loosing power. We use SB900s and I recently purchased 2 SD9 battery packs for them. We use Duracells in both, and are having problems with slow recycle times, and changing batteries way too soon.

I put brand new batteries in the flashes and battery packs B4 the getting ready shots. I took about 150 GR shots and had to change batteries in the SB900 before the ceremony started because my recycle time slowed way down. I don't understand why. It SEEMS that if the flash batteries run low, you have to change them. I thought the SD9s would take over if the flash batteries ran low. Why would I have to change batteries so soon. I expected the flashes to last all day with the SD9s attached and new, fresh batteries in all.

Does anyone have any insight as to how the SD9s work, and why we ran out of battery power so soon with new, fresh batteries......

Thanks,

Richard Hollingsworth
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
nikonrick said:
Hello, and thanks for reading....

We shot our 9th wedding yesterday, and are still having problems with the flashes loosing power. We use SB900s and I recently purchased 2 SD9 battery packs for them. We use Duracells in both, and are having problems with slow recycle times, and changing batteries way too soon.

I put brand new batteries in the flashes and battery packs B4 the getting ready shots. I took about 150 GR shots and had to change batteries in the SB900 before the ceremony started because my recycle time slowed way down. I don't understand why. It SEEMS that if the flash batteries run low, you have to change them. I thought the SD9s would take over if the flash batteries ran low. Why would I have to change batteries so soon. I expected the flashes to last all day with the SD9s attached and new, fresh batteries in all.

Does anyone have any insight as to how the SD9s work, and why we ran out of battery power so soon with new, fresh batteries......

Thanks,

Richard Hollingsworth
Click to expand...



You said rechargebables, but Nikon SB-900 manual says battery life (full power flashes) is:

NiMH 2000 mah 165 flashes,
NiMH 2600 mah 190 flashes.

The external battery pack should extend that substantially.

Possibly you just need to replace the batteries? Have you tried others? Are you sure your charger is working properly?

Alkaline batteries are far from best in a flash. They recycle too slow, and cannot provide very many flashes. Alkalines may "work", but are NOT good for the high currents that flash use (in that couple of second recycle period).

Use NiMH rechargeables, and it's a whole new world. Preferably Eneloop brand, but there are other brands of low self discharge NiMH.

Provide a decent smart charger too (not the cheapest crap). Chargers that monitor each cell slot (has a status LED for each slot) are the good ones. Maha has some really good chargers that can charge 8 AA cells at once (and monitoring each one individually is the big deal). Some models have an Initialize mode (takes a couple of days) that slowly discharges and recharges to refurbish them, so to speak.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
OK, I got confused, because you said Duracell, and I immediately thought Alkalines (and sounds like Alkalines is the major part of your problem).

But then I confused your changing with charging.. :) Sorry.

The SB-900 manual also says only 110 flashes from fresh alkalines, and says recycle is nearly twice longer. Page F-21.
 
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nikonrick

New member
Wayne: Understood.......However......Shouldn't the SD9s increase that number to several hundred more????? I thought that's what they were for.........Richard
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
I do not have a SD-9, but yes, I agree, that is supposed to be its purpose.

Page 20 of SD-9 manual has a battery life chart, and says of Alkalines: 180 full power flashes, 1.9 seconds recycle.
(and note, they are measuring life to 30 seconds recycle time... you probably are not).

Compared to page F-21 of SB-900 manual that says 110 flashes at 4 seconds.

Note the SD-9 says of Eneloop NiMH: 520 flashes at 0.8 seconds. Also 30 seconds, but seems nuff said?
 
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nikonrick

New member
Well guys.....

I just read several reviews on the SD9 at Amazon, and a couple of Pros mentioned they love it because they only have to change batteries once or twice during the day. So, I guess that answers my question. Evidently, even with the SD9 attached, you still need to change batteries at least once. I was hoping I could go the whole day and not have to change them. My bad.......Thanks for all the info.......Richard
 
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