I already posted this in Accessories and I don't like to post in two sections but I think a lot of you may have looked for good solutions for a DIY battery pack for your Nikon Speedlights.

Sean Martin has been kind enough to really help us with recommendations and sharing tips and tricks for us beginners. Sean sent me some shots of how he has his gear setup such as his monopod etc for football and basketball. I have also been lucky enough to shoot with Sean and I have been able to see how he sets up his equipment.

In one of his shots I saw how Sean had made an external battery pack for his Speedlights. I really liked this idea. I thought of several different ways to do this and this is my version of Sean's pack and I thought I would share what I have done and maybe you can try something similar to what Sean has done. This solution is more expensive but I think it is nice to have the ability to clip the 5th battery holder on the flash and disconnect the cable when needed. It may be a little overkill on the solution but it shouldn't have any problems.

I have a friend that has good equipment such as a lathe and I told him what I wanted to do and he had some aluminum handy and this is what we came up with.

We also bought a charger from Walmart to be a connector. We made a cable with 16 gauge speaker wire.

Supplies used:
16 gauge speaker wire - $10
Walmart charger for male connector - $2
Female connector for the 5th battery holder - $1
Werker SAL Battery - ?? I can't remember. I think it was around $18
Terminal connectors - $2
Aluminum to make dummy battery cells - spare aluminum (I don't know what it costs)
Nikon 5th Battery Holder - Came with the flash




My friend made some dummy AA cell batteries out of aluminum.







We installed the connector from the Walmart charger in the 5th battery holder.

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Nikon D4, 70-200mm f2.8 VR II, 24-70 f2.8
CBS Sports MaxPreps Shooter
http://DalbyPhoto.com