Here's one more post about lead acid gel cells.
Instead of buying one of the fairly expensive Quantum battery packs for my
flash unit, I made my own from a 6-volt sealed lead-acid gel cell. It
worked VERY well for that application. I bought a small camera bag with a
belt loop on it, just to hold the battery, and connected it via a cord to
my flash's battery connector terminals. It seemed I could shoot for days
without worrying about recharging the battery. The flash recycle time was
also much quicker than it would have been with alkaline or NiCad batteries,
and the recycle time seemed pretty much constant during shooting. (I should
mention that I was using a fairly large gel cell, much bigger than the
actual Quantum battery packs.) I think that battery only cost about $15
dollars. Add a few more dollars for the case, and the "wal wart" that I
used to recharge it, and you still have a very affordable flash power
source. I didn't have one of those fancy "fuel gauges" with this
arrangement, but I never needed one. In fact, I was never able to run the
battery dead on any of my shoots! :)
take care,
Glen
At 02:00 PM 10/23/2005, Don Williams wrote:
Thanks. That's everything I need to know. If I can't find a decent 6.5V
supply I'll get a lead acid accumulator. I bought one some time ago for
another application and its been working very well for more than a year. I
can charge it in the other device. I'd forgotten about this.
Don
