Modifying the TC-80N3 for the EOS 300d

Hi John,

I had my first attempt this evening and it failed. :oops: Hopefully Dave can help with a photo or two of his wiring/soldering so that I can emulate him.

Anthony.

Don't worry you'll get there...

It's quite likely that the connections are shorting inside the plugs. This is easily dealt with by insulating where the wire joins the tabs by using a small piece of tape.

Before you do that though open the plugs and then test the remote. Check that each wire-tab is not shorting against another. If it works, great, use some tape and close the plugs. If not take some photos of what you've done and we'll work out whats gone wrong.

Hi Anthony,
Unfortunately I have no pics of the procedure, but it is simple and if you follow the below, you'll get it working.
The wiring is as follows,
red = shutter close/open
white = autofocus
shield = ground

So, first of all forget the autofocus, the white wire goes nowhere, does nothing.
Going from the picture you have in a previous post, I'd imagine you'll be using the third plug to the controller so as to plug directly into the camera.

So, attach the shield wire to the big piece of metal sticking from the back of the plug, and attach the red wire to the central attachment. No metal/wire should touch anything else, also be carefull not to rotate the central connector as doing so will permanently damage the plug, and is easy to do especially when heated by the soldering iron.

I'd image you'll be soldering these, its quite tricky, but when you have it done, place some insulating tape over these parts so nothing can short out.
Plug it into your camera and leave it on full auto leaving the controller TURNED OFF, if the lens starts zooming in-out or the shutter engages immediately, then there is a short circuit in the plug, not to worry, this doesn't damage the camera, just take the plug apart and find the short.
I hope this helps.

John/Dave,

Thank you for the follow-up messages. I will have another crack at this mod early Saturday morning, for I want it to work in anticipation of some work over Saturday evening/Sunday morning.

I am especially pleased to learn that the white wire is a non-issue and to only concentrate on the ground and red wire.

Anthony.

Without the white wire your going to lose the half press autofocus function though I suppose it's a bit redundant given that the camera should already be prefocused and all that's needed is to trigger the shutter.

Personal I'd connect it up just for the sake of completeness but, agreed, it's not necessary.

I want to see some nice star-trails come monday!

If you have experiance soldering then there is no harm in soldering the white wire, but if you're not, then it is one more thing that could go wrong.

We look forward to the images Anthony.