Stereo Sweetener for a 1/8" Sync Mod

A Strobist reader who cryptically goes by "bleeblubleeblah" last year posted may what well be the nicest walk-thru to date of hacking a Nikon SB-600 speedlight to get a remote 1/8" sync jack.

And as sweet as that looks, someone has hacked the idea to make it significantly better.

How to improve your 1/8" DIY jacks, inside.
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Nikon omitted the crucial external sync jack on the SB-600 and then did it again on the new, more expensive SB-700.

But then reader Edward Morris steps up to the plate a couple weeks ago and improves the above mod with one simple step: Connecting the unused third wire from the stereo 1/8" jack to the TTL "quench pin" of the SB-600. This makes the flash both externally synchable and able to have its power controlled remotely by the RadioPopper JrX Studio triggers.

Before you click over to the how-to discussion page of the two mods, understand this: If you do not know what you are doing, crawling around under the hood of a speedlight can be dangerous. This is because of the potentially high voltages stored in the capacitor even when the flash is turned off.

Which is to say that getting zapped with 350v from a capacitor can quite literally shock the crap out of you. Or worse.

But if you are a solder junkie and want to try it, it is here. This "third rail" mod, for lack of a better term (and to extend the danger metaphor) is possible on many flashes. Most TTL models except for the newest ones work on the quench pin principle. (Sadly, my guess is that the SB-700 is like the '900 and will not.)

But if your flash uses the TTL quench pin and you want to get full usability from Studio JrX's without the RadioPopper add-on hot shoe jacks, it is a pretty sweet setup.

Not a solder junkie? If you have an SB-600 (or any other, jackless flash) and want to mod it externally with little to no danger, check out this AS-19 foot PC mod post from the archives.