Charge Godox AD600 Pro whilst in use?

Denyerec · 1 May 2018

Hey all!
Does anyone know if it's possible to connect the charger to the AD600 Pro battery while you're shooting with the unit to prolong the shooting time?

I have a looooooooooooong shoot coming up, and rather than spend £155 on a 2nd battery, or £90 on the as-yet-non-existant AC adapter, I wondered if this would work - it does on the AD600B so hopefully it's the same!

HoppyUK · 1 May 2018

Good question, to which I've not seen an answer.

You could test it. The way I tested the Mk1 version was to start with a part-charged battery, then plug it in and fire the flash at very low power on a timer to make sure it's fully active, say once every 20 seconds or so. Then see if the charge indicators go up.

How effective this is in practise remains to be seen. It will obviously help, but probably not much if you're hammering away at high power with modelling LED on. But equally, the lesson there is if you can knock the power down to say 1/4 (or less) and work with the modelling LED off, in theory that would quadruple the claimed max number of flashes per charge.

It has to be said though, that a spare battery is a very good idea for any flash unit. For convenience as much as anything, saving you having to rush for the charger at every turn.

finalapert · 1 May 2018

I've been looking at getting the AD600. And that was one of my concerns.

I stumbled upon this

https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-ac-adapter-for-citi600/

Will that help you?

Edit - Just noticed after I read your post again that you already mentioned this, sorry!

redsnappa · 1 May 2018

So you pay lots of extra dosh for a flashgun whose USP is that it allows for fully cordless shooting and you want to plug a big fat power cord into it. Wow!
For about the same price of the spare AD600 rechargeable battery you could buy a regular mains powered Godox studio flash unit if you are worried about batteries flaking out...

Denyerec · 2 May 2018

HoppyUK said:
Good question, to which I've not seen an answer.

You could test it.
It has to be said though, that a spare battery is a very good idea for any flash unit. For convenience as much as anything, saving you having to rush for the charger at every turn.

Testing it would involve buying one, and ideally I'd like to find out before I do

(I'd be buying in ahead of this marathon shoot you see. I don't want to buy stuff I don't need but at the same time don't want to run out of power!)

In a typical shoot I anticipate being right at the edge of the battery capacity, if I can plug em in and keep shooting (I currently shoot my 500W/S mono's @ 1/4 in this scenario, for cycle time as much as anything) then I can spare myself the cost of additional batteries up front. In normal shoots there's no way I'd hit the bottom of the battery, so it's just an emergency contingency thing for the odd shoot that drags on.

That was the thinking, anyway. Not ideal to have to plug in said battery powered flashes, but good in a pinch if they start flagging, yknow?

Also I'm not sure what the cycle lifespan is on the AD600Pro cells, doubtless if the lights are spending half their time in the studio and half their time in the field the AC adapters would help to avoid unnecessary battery cycles. Given the cost of the adapter and the cost of a spare battery however, right now it seems more flexible and practical to just pony up for the spare.

Denyerec · 2 May 2018

finalapert said:
I've been looking at getting the AD600. And that was one of my concerns.

Will that help you?

Edit - Just noticed after I read your post again that you already mentioned this, sorry!

Well, it won't help me as it's for an AD600 not an AD600 Pro, but aye I've got the equivalent under consideration should it ever reach the UK

For times when I'm shooting for 10-12 hours they seem to make sense to avoid flogging the batteries. The rest of the AD600Pro featureset is so good that I'm planning to use them as the in house and field lights, which is why I'm looking at mains power options so I don't prematurely wear out the batteries when I don't need to (1000's of static studio shots etc).

HoppyUK · 2 May 2018

Realistically, all battery powered equipment needs a back-up power source. One day you'll need it, and meanwhile it's piece of mind, being able to use a 600Ws flash to its full potential without worry, and convenience when the other battery is charging

If you're doing any work where you have to deliver, heading off with a brand new and untried piece of equipment is another uncomfortable risk. I'd want both back-up flash and trigger units.

Just in terms of battery capacity, if it's looking marginal then bumping the ISO one stop should double the number of flashes available.

simonbarker · 2 May 2018

HoppyUK said:
Realistically, all battery powered equipment needs a back-up power source. And if you're doing any work where you have to deliver, heading off with a brand new and untried piece of equipment is another uncomfortable risk. I'd want both back-up flash and trigger units.

Yes back up makes a lot of sense where it matters but mains adapters presenting an uncomfortable risk seems a little hyperbolic.

HoppyUK · 2 May 2018

simonbarker said:
Yes back up makes a lot of sense where it matters but mains adapters presenting an uncomfortable risk seems a little hyperbolic.

It's not just the mains adapter that would be new (and isn't yet available for the AD600-Pro anyway) but Denyerec's whole Godox outfit that has hasn't been purchased yet.

mike weeks · 2 May 2018

Denyerec said:
Hey all!
Does anyone know if it's possible to connect the charger to the AD600 Pro battery while you're shooting with the unit to prolong the shooting time?

I have a looooooooooooong shoot coming up, and rather than spend £155 on a 2nd battery, or £90 on the as-yet-non-existant AC adapter, I wondered if this would work - it does on the AD600B so hopefully it's the same!

Simple answer is that it is not designed to do that

Mike

simonbarker · 2 May 2018

HoppyUK said:
It's not just the mains adapter that would be new (and isn't yet available for the AD600-Pro anyway) but Denyerec's whole Godox outfit that has hasn't been purchased yet.

I've been reading this thread as Denyerec already having an AD600Pro?

HoppyUK · 2 May 2018

simonbarker said:
I've been reading this thread as Denyerec already having an AD600Pro?

It reads that way, until post #5

Denyerec · 2 May 2018

Yeah sorry about that, the diction was a little unclear. It's because my brain was on the AD600 that a friend has (and has tested with inline charging).
Hoppy - obviously I'd be travelling with my 500w/s monos as backups until the Godox units have been shaken out, I'm not totally mad

You are right, of course, I need a backup of one kind or another, as a battery failure on a location shoot would present the same problem as a drained battery in the studio. An additional battery per head seems to make the most sense (As it covers both scenarios), but I do feel a bit odd blasting my way through a Lion battery pack in a setting where mains power will do.

Why do I get the feeling I'm going to end up with spare batteries and mains adapters? :/

Denyerec · 2 May 2018

mike weeks said:
Simple answer is that it is not designed to do that

Mike

If you've got a source that indicates this is in contravention to the design (Plenty of Lion devices can operate whilst charging, such as your phone for example) it'd be good to check up on - I wouldn't want to risk damaging it in the event that there is some deeper issue with doing this but the electronic engineer in me can't see a limiting reason, as the capacitor frontend will (at least should !) be isolated from the charge circuit. It works on the AD600, was looking for some confirmation one way or the other from an AD600pro user.

mike weeks · 2 May 2018

Denyerec said:
If you've got a source that indicates this is in contravention to the design (Plenty of Lion devices can operate whilst charging, such as your phone for example) it'd be good to check up on - I wouldn't want to risk damaging it in the event that there is some deeper issue with doing this but the electronic engineer in me can't see a limiting reason, as the capacitor frontend will (at least should !) be isolated from the charge circuit. It works on the AD600, was looking for some confirmation one way or the other from an AD600pro user.

Just because you can do something does not mean it was designed to do that, nothing in the manual for either light says whether you should do this or not, the electronics engineer in me says I am aware of it. Just that I do not do it on either the AD600 or AD 600 PRO

Mike

HoppyUK · 2 May 2018

Denyerec said:
If you've got a source that indicates this is in contravention to the design (Plenty of Lion devices can operate whilst charging, such as your phone for example) it'd be good to check up on - I wouldn't want to risk damaging it in the event that there is some deeper issue with doing this but the electronic engineer in me can't see a limiting reason, as the capacitor frontend will (at least should !) be isolated from the charge circuit. It works on the AD600, was looking for some confirmation one way or the other from an AD600pro user.

It works on the AD600 and is a handy bonus feature. If it was a problem, Godox would surely have put a stop to it with the Pro version with some kind of switching arrangement to automatically disable charging when the unit is on. By that logic, if it works, it's safe. Maybe

One or two other big battery flashes can used used while charging, and the new Elinchrom ELB 500-TTL is certainly designed to work that way.

Garry Edwards · 3 May 2018

HoppyUK said:
It works on the AD600 and is a handy bonus feature. If it was a problem, Godox would surely have put a stop to it with the Pro version with some kind of switching arrangement to automatically disable charging when the unit is on. By that logic, if it works, it's safe. Maybe

One or two other big battery flashes can used used while charging, and the new Elinchrom ELB 500-TTL is certainly designed to work that way.

When I was with Lencarta I asked Godox whether or not their portable flashes of that time could be used whilst recharging, and when we eventually got the answer, it was yes - despite their instructions saying the opposite. We need to bear in mind that these manufacturers are not photographers and they don't even value or listen to real world photographers, so they don't really appreciate the need to plug battery powered flash into the mains when mains power is available.

Having said that, it makes sense for all pro photographers to have spare batteries, there must always be a sufficient level of equipment backup.

HoppyUK · 3 May 2018

Garry Edwards said:
When I was with Lencarta I asked Godox whether or not their portable flashes of that time could be used whilst recharging, and when we eventually got the answer, it was yes - despite their instructions saying the opposite. We need to bear in mind that these manufacturers are not photographers and they don't even value or listen to real world photographers, so they don't really appreciate the need to plug battery powered flash into the mains when mains power is available.

Having said that, it makes sense for all pro photographers to have spare batteries, there must always be a sufficient level of equipment backup.

I understand the frustration of dealing with Chinese manufacturers, but it seems to me that Godox must have at least some photographers on board! They're by far the leading company whose product range fits with the way photographers actually work. Profoto and Phottix have also got it, and latterly Elinchrom has been prodded into life too, but they're all behind Godox and mostly unaffordable.

Garry Edwards · 3 May 2018

HoppyUK said:
I understand the frustration of dealing with Chinese manufacturers, but it seems to me that Godox must have at least some photographers on board! They're by far the leading company whose product range fits with the way photographers actually work. Profoto and Phottix have also got it, and latterly Elinchrom has been prodded into life too, but they're all behind Godox and mostly unaffordable.

I understand where you're coming from, but it doesn't work that way, and knowledge of, and interest in photography is rare among the Chinese manufacturers.
I did once have a very good conversation with the owner of another leading Chinese manufacturer, who was/is a very keen amateur photographer. There were a lot of very good fashion style portraits on the boardroom wall and I went through each of them, pointing out how each was lit and which of his modifiers had been used on each, and he really appreciated that. He also told me that his personal pride was a very old Rolliecord, and we talked about the wideangle and tele Rollieflex cameras that I used to use, a lifetime ago (which were never available in China) - but this man has spent his whole working life in the photography business, firstly for a camera manufacturer and then as the CEO of a very successful lighting firm.

Godox though are different. Their CEO was a banker before buying the firm. All credit to him, he has built it up in a spectacular way, but photography isn't his thing. I think that we can perhaps blame ourselves for the typical manufacturer's lack of respect for photographers, there are so many who know so little about the subject on which they think they're experts, and whenever you get 2 photographers together in the same room, they always have at least 3 different, conflicting opinions anyway

And, similar to most of the photographers who offer training courses, most of the people who offer the help and advice are the ones that have the least amount of useful info to give... No wonder most manufacturers ignore their views.

Rack Kit · 4 May 2018

HoppyUK said:
It works on the AD600 and is a handy bonus feature. If it was a problem, Godox would surely have put a stop to it with the Pro version with some kind of switching arrangement to automatically disable charging when the unit is on. By that logic, if it works, it's safe. Maybe

One or two other big battery flashes can used used while charging, and the new Elinchrom ELB 500-TTL is certainly designed to work that way.[/QUOTE]

The first time I used my old (now gone) Quadra Rangers I used them with mains power. I had 3 packs but only 2 chargers so was juggling between them during an all day shoot. It didn’t cause any problems at all and I never had a single problem in 6 years of use. I think they’ve always been able to be used that way but Elinchrom never endorsed it.