Pictorial: A Sync Port Mod For The YN-460II Manual Strobe

I am not surprised that the YN460II strobe is gaining popularity with a price tag around $60 (or even less if you’re an eBay kinda person) those flashes are pretty attractive.

They cheap price also make them a good candidate for modifications as it helps removing the fear of nuking them in the process. See for example the TV contorl remote for the YN460 we featured a while back.

Today’s hack, courtesy Oliver Hanka, adds a mini jack (i.e. 3.5mm ear plug) to the flash syncing options. Hey if you can do it to a Canon strobe, you can do it to a Yongnuo. You’ll need a solder, and a Yongnuo.

Step 1 – Commence Operation

• Unscrew the hot shoe socket.
• Unscrew the printed circuit board

Step 2

Drill a 4mm hole into the socket (at the side facing towards the back)

NOTE: The hole should be as next to the rim as possible, so the jack fits in nicely. Keep in mind, however, that we want to attach the screw nut to the jack. The hole must be far enough down so we can screw it on later (see final picture).

Step 3

The jack is sitting on the printed circuit board and doesn’t ft into the drilled hole (red circle).

Step 4

Cut out a piece from the PCB. There are no conduction paths there. This will allow the jack to have more space.

Step 5

Wire the jack to the PCB (polarization doesn’t matter)

Time for a function check :-)

Step 6

Screw the PCB back into the hot shoe

Step 7

Insert the jack into the hot shoe

Step 8

Attach the screw nut to the jack

Step 9 – TADA!

Screw the hot shoe to the flash unit

done. :-)

Submitting projects for the Readers Projects section can be done here.