modding to disable standby/sleep mode

incapete · 2 Jan 2011

I've got a couple of Jessops 360 AFD flashes which are great for on-camera/ttl but less good for off-camera/strobist style work because of their 3minute countdown to standby mode.

There have been threads in the past where people have jammed something against the light button to stop their flash from going to sleep but this doesn't seem to have the desired affect on these models.

I've been using Cactus v4 triggers and had heard that the YongNeo rf602 triggers can wake-up a sleeping flash but unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case with these either. They still trigger the flash but once it's in standby it doesn't recharge and so each flash gets weaker and weaker until it stops.

The one thing that I've noticed is that in slave mode they don't seem to go into standby mode, unfortunately it also disables the hotshoe triggering so I guess it's a backup but means I need to incorporate a wired or on-camera flash which I'd rather avoid.

The test trigger button still works in slave mode so my thought process at the moment is to try to mod the flashes with a 3.5mm jack that triggers via the test button circuits rather than the usual hotshoe wire.
So, does anyone have any tips or suggestions?! :help:

david1701 · 2 Jan 2011

buy rf 602s, they wake up flashes (canon-canon or nikon-nikon so a canon rx will keep a canon flash awake but only dumb fire a nikon flash)

other than that I'd check if the test button only fires a low power flash?

b****r just read the bit about 602s erm buy a sack of 580's

I have this issue with my yn-460 which has led to me using it a lot less tbh

incapete · 2 Jan 2011

Good point about the test button, I'll experiment to find out if it only fires low power or not.

I'm trying to avoid shelling out for canon speedlites but I might have to! Any suggestions for manual flashes that don't have a sleep mode?!

Alastair · 2 Jan 2011

The Canon 430EZ has a sleep mode, but I have no problems waking them with RF602. Reasonably cheap secondhand, and I recently discovered that the stroboscopic mode works with the RF602 as well.

Flash In The Pan · 2 Jan 2011

incapete said:
There have been threads in the past where people have jammed something against the light button to stop their flash from going to sleep but this doesn't seem to have the desired affect on these models.

I'm pretty sure that jamming the display illumination button in the "on" position prevented my the 360AFD going to sleep...

incapete · 3 Jan 2011

Flash In The Pan said:
I'm pretty sure that jamming the display illumination button in the "on" position prevented my the 360AFD going to sleep...

I tried that - a couple of strong elastic bands holding a dried pea against the button. If you think it worked for you I'll give it another go though, got to be easier than hacking the elecronics!

iguana29 · 20 Jan 2011

Hi Pete have you had any success yet?

Have found myself in the very same situation and now run out of ideas. Googled the problem and found your post here.

For me, after 3 mins both off camera flashes go to sleep. Despite using the Yongnuos RF 602 trigger AND Cactus, NEITHER of these seem to wake up the 360's contrary to what some people have posted. They don't wake up and like you I end up playing silly buggers asking people to bare with me whilst I wander over to the flashes to turn them off and then back on again - re-enter settings etc :bang: :bang:

Oh, just to add I've also tried holding down / pressing the light button on the back for 3 minutes. It doesn't work either as soon as the 3 minute timer is up..Zzzzzz's off they go lol :bang:

Help! This is annoying, anybody?

On a side note if I do indeed ditch these or take them back are there ANY flash heads that DO NOT have an annoying sleepmode built into them? (Im new).

Kind regards

iguana29 · 24 Jan 2011

Anyone?

incapete · 24 Jan 2011

I've not managed to fix it either, similarly despite some people apparently having success.
My current solution is to use them in optical slave mode which doesn't go to sleep - this means that I need to trigger a flash using the YongNuo 602 which provides the trigger flash for the others, luckily I have a (very) old flash with no power-saving which I tend to use for either blowing out a white background or using as a hair light so this one gets the trigger while the others are on optical mode.

Not ideal but for the moment it helps me a bit.

Long term I guess I'll buy a decent flash which doesn't go to sleep then use this as the trigger for the optical mode 360's... then gradually replace them too over time as funds allow.