Canon speedlite 430ex II flash gun battery usage

[Melchett]

Can any please help me with my Canon speedlite 430ex II flash gun? When first switch on after a while without use(a day or so), it takes ages for the pilot light to illuminate. Then after each flash, it can take seconds (rather than fractions of a second) to be ready for the next flash. With brand new batteries (tried all sorts) it seems to work as normal but only for a short while and everything slows down again as soon as they drop to about 1.2v. It never used to do this.

Is there a way of testing the flash of any other way of looking for a fault?

[LongQ]

Melchett said:

Can any please help me with my Canon speedlite 430ex II flash gun? When first switch on after a while without use(a day or so), it takes ages for the pilot light to illuminate. Then after each flash, it can take seconds (rather than fractions of a second) to be ready for the next flash. With brand new batteries (tried all sorts) it seems to work as normal but only for a short while and everything slows down again as soon as they drop to about 1.2v. It never used to do this.

Is there a way of testing the flash of any other way of looking for a fault?

I would guess the thyristor may have failed (or be failing) or the capacitor is at end of life.

I had the same sort of symptoms years ago on a Metz unit. It was probably about 15 to 20 years old at the time.

After repair it worked fine and still does afaik. Not fired it for a while.

Whether repair is economic these days I can't really say.

[Melchett]

Thanks, at least repair is an option.

[LongQ]

I assume the unit is not that old, being a II. Might be worth contacting Canon (assuming it's not a grey import sort of situation) to see what they say.

There are 5 authorised repair centres in the UK and one in Scotland. Of course there are a few non-authorised centres too. Some will offer an estimate of repair cost based on a description of the problem, apparently. I think Canon's own service (at Borehamwood) tends to work with fixed prices per product (or so it seems) but I have no feel for how much they would charge for a flash unit.

http://www.canon.co.uk/support/consumer_products/s...



The 430 EX II is currently available from WEX at £189 with Canon offering a £40 cashback - so presumably £149 total. So if a repair estimate gets anywhere close to that it may not be worth repairing.

In theory one can get the parts and self repair perhaps. However the success of that may depend on your electronics skills unless the whole thing is based on sub-component swaps these days. Even then there are a few somewhat "interesting" components in a flash unit that may need special care when handling.

[AJB]

Melchett said:

With brand new batteries (tried all sorts) it seems to work as normal but only for a short while and everything slows down again as soon as they drop to about 1.2v.

What sort of batteries are you trying? Rechargeable or not?

If it's not rechargeables, then they're nominally 1.5V batteries, and 1.2V is flat. So either there's a problem meaning it's draining its batteries too fast or the batteries are rubbish.

I know some of the 580 flashes can fail in a way that means they always fire at full power, which would obviously drain the batteries fast, but that'd massively over-expose the photos too. I assume your photos come out fine?

I use mine with NiMH rechargeables and it works well.

[Melchett]

I'll check the exposure, but I haven't noticed anything so far. Thanks.