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Thread: Sekonic L-358 battery

  1. #1
    45-57-617
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    Sekonic L-358 battery

    Hello,

    As a witness to the possibility, I show my L-358 with mods. The meter seriously sucks power. As I recall, it consumes about 300mA when switched on. This amount of energy being drained from the relatively small orignial battery means you need expensive replacements when you travel miles from civilisation.

    This mod is 4xAA batteries in a holder with a home designed regulator. The batteries are Eneloop type which hold their charge very well and do not exhibit a memory.

    It does become more cumbersome and I have to admit I wonder why the designers can't take up-time more seriously.

    I can now use the meter for about 2 weeks before I worry about the state of charge. The batteries are also easily charged by an in-vehicle charger anyway.

    So, if you are wondering whether it can be done, here it is.

    Cheers,

  2. #2
    Daniel Stone's Avatar
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    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    I've been using the same battery in my 358 for the last 4 months or so. And this is almost daily. Its been my go-to meter. You might have a dud !

    -Dan

  3. #3
    45-57-617
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    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    G'Day to you sir!

    I may have a dud. But it would be a very unlikely way to have an electronic failure.

    Perhaps you are very cautious about usage - switching it off immediately after use.

    CR123 (or whatever they are) batteries are not exactly common in remote Australia either.

    The ultimate solution is for makers of such things to make them normally use standard rechargeable technology (of a Green type ...!)

    The whole reason behind my use of an Nikon F100 and F801 was because of AA battery technology. Same reason I would not buy unless AA technology was present. Does the new D700 have AA's ??

    Anyways, I'm glad your meter does the job for you.

    Rgds,

  4. #4

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    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    I'm on my second battery in 5 years.

    The cr123 is an incredible little battery in my experience.
    You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. ~ Mark Twain

  5. #5
    Daniel Stone's Avatar
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    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    steve,

    I'm not trying to bust your balls here mate, I'm just saying that things fall through the QC cracks from time to time. I do turn off the meter after I've made my reading, but I always keep a spare, just in case. I too have chosen my equipment along the same lines as you. If I can have the batteries for my camera match those for my lightmeter, all the better .

    d700 has a rechargeable li-ion battery btw ...

    not trying to alarm you, just saying that you might have one of those that fell through the QC cracks .

    NICE MOD THOUGH!

    -Dan

  6. #6

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    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    Why are you using AA's? They are about the heaviest battery type available. If you are going through the trouble of rigging a new battery type to it why not just use Li-Ion or Li-Po batteries instead. If you used those the meter would probably be lighter- not heavier.

  7. #7
    45-57-617
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    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    Hi Domaz,

    I'm not sure that Lithium is good for the environment ... plus it is a rather limited resource I think. I may be wrong.

    If my particular lightmeter is a bit of a dud it needs a fairly large energy source too.

    I'd be happy to help anyone who wants to know details of the regulator fitted inside the battery box.

    Rgds,

  8. #8

    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    Sorry to revive a really old thread!!

    I would really like to see how the mod was done. I am in a similar situation.

    Regards, Don

  9. #9

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    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    Quote Originally Posted by donpirhana View Post
    Sorry to revive a really old thread!!

    I would really like to see how the mod was done. I am in a similar situation.

    Regards, Don
    A CR123 is a 3v battery. AA's are 1.5v a piece. So you'd basically just have to buy a 2x AA battery holder (they're almost always wired in series) and connect the + of the AA battery back to the + terminal of the light meter, and the - wire off the battery pack to the - of the battery terminal in the light meter. Easy. The hard part will be figuring out where to hold the additional battery pack.

    You might want to buy lithium AA batteries for this. If this thing is draining batteries fast, those will not only last longer, but they're made with a similar technology as the CR123's, so they should have a similar discharge curve. This might be important if the Sekonic doesn't have some kind of voltage regulation system installed (like a Wheatstone bridge) to maintain accurate light readings throughout the batteries life cycle. I've never used nor seen the inside of a Sekonic L-358, so I can't say how they're wired. But using lithium AA's would be a lot simpler of a solution than overpowering and then regulating the power supply to mimic the more stable discharge curve of lithium batteries, if it were so required.

    Though I will say that none of my light meters eat batteries all that fast. So my initial inclination is that if yours is eating batteries pretty quickly, then you likely have a short somewhere (or a bad habit of leaving it on).

  10. #10

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    Re: Sekonic L-358 battery

    Quote Originally Posted by jim10219 View Post
    A CR123 is a 3v battery. AA's are 1.5v a piece. So you'd basically just have to buy a 2x AA battery holder (they're almost always wired in series) and connect the + of the AA battery back to the + terminal of the light meter, and the - wire off the battery pack to the - of the battery terminal in the light meter. Easy. The hard part will be figuring out where to hold the additional battery pack.

    You might want to buy lithium AA batteries for this. If this thing is draining batteries fast, those will not only last longer, but they're made with a similar technology as the CR123's, so they should have a similar discharge curve. This might be important if the Sekonic doesn't have some kind of voltage regulation system installed (like a Wheatstone bridge) to maintain accurate light readings throughout the batteries life cycle. I've never used nor seen the inside of a Sekonic L-358, so I can't say how they're wired. But using lithium AA's would be a lot simpler of a solution than overpowering and then regulating the power supply to mimic the more stable discharge curve of lithium batteries, if it were so required.

    Though I will say that none of my light meters eat batteries all that fast. So my initial inclination is that if yours is eating batteries pretty quickly, then you likely have a short somewhere (or a bad habit of leaving it on).
    Have you asked MAC Group’s service department?

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