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Standard alkaline's do have a risk of leaking if a large amount of power is drained from them. Considering the SB-800 does indeed draw quite a bit of power, it seems prudent to avoid the use of standard alkaline batteries in it.

Pure lithium batteries can get very hot if you play motor drive too much.

Especially when you use the SB-800 with LSII.

The safest way is using NiMH and have few spare sets with you if you're planning to shoot all day long with the SB-800

Good tip Birdy, thanks

Received my LSII via MCWB/Birddog114, bigger than I expected. I will bring along to 'Adelaide Meet #4' together with SB-800 this coming Sunday for evaluation.

SB-800 - fortunately I have 2 sets of 4 'AA' size 2500mAH Rechargeable batteries from Birddog114. With my limited use, do not expect to need a Nikon SD-8A external battery pack.

Cheers,

Good thought Birddog.

Decent NiMH batteries are so cheap these days. They are about twice the cost of a set of Duracells but with the ability to recharge, so for the cost of two sets of batteries we can have 300 - 500 sets. Besides economic sense, it makes enviornmental sense.

I have 4 sets of 5 2300 mAh NiMh Energiser batteries which I picked up at my local supermarket. The price was a little more than the east coast, but hey, still a damned sight cheaper than throwing alkalines at it.

Cheers

Matt

[quote="Birddog114"]Standard alkaline's do have a risk of leaking if a large amount of power is drained from them. Considering the SB-800 does indeed draw quite a bit of power, it seems prudent to avoid the use of standard alkaline batteries in it.

Pure lithium batteries can get very hot if you play motor drive too much.

Especially when you use the SB-800 with LSII.

The safest way is using NiMH and have few spare sets with you if you're planning to shoot all day long with the SB-800[/quote]

Also don't forget to charge your NiMH batteries just a day or so before you use them, they loose quite a bit of charge during storage.

Regards

Horst

horstflotow wrote:Also don't forget to charge your NiMH batteries just a day or so before you use them, they loose quite a bit of charge during storage.

I keep my NiMH batteries in the fridge after charging them... They don't seem to lose much charge that way, and I always know where to find them...

handy tip leek especially when you go to the fridge to get a drink before going out to a shoot

The batteries birddog has on offer are absolutely great! Was shooting continuously for a few solid hours and the flash is still happy as larry to keep on going. Energizer eat your heart out

I also read in the SB800 manual that the fastest recharge comes from nimh batteries!!

After reading this I have only used nimh in the flash

Glenn

I've got some of Birddog's 2500mAh NiMH batteries in my SB-800 & SD-8A. They work like a charm & are cheap to boot.
Recharge times are very fast with the SD-8A and the rate limiting factor soon becomes the SB-800's heat levels rather than the batteries.