Any advantage of one over the other?

I say again, is there any difference which is used for finish impulse connections in ALGE photocells: DIN or Banana Jacks?

The DIN plug will allow you to power the photocell with external power. The DIN plug is more expensive and harder to fix if broken. For all other purposes it is the same.

In the races where we have had problems with finish impulses, we have been connected to the banana jacks int eh photocells by way of several hundred feet of wire. Maybe the batteries drained during the race since there is no external power. However, the transmitter on the far side of the finish always runs on battery power. Would it be worth doing to make an adaptor so that we always use DIN?

The limit of an "ALGE" din connector cable is 30m. We always recommend using the internal battery and the banana plug connector beyond that. The cells will work exactly the same with either power source. Therefore it is a matter of installation requirements as to what you use. If your timing building is within 20-30m of the posts, use the DIN cable, If it is further, use the battery and banana plug.

Properly installed and aligned cells will work reliably regardless.

The din and banana plug sockets are wired together inside the cell.

The battery drain on a set of cells is reasonable. The only way to tell is by using a volt meter and checking them. Fresh batteries installed in the morning should read 1.6 volts. By the end of the day they will be about 1.45 volts.

I asked the same question directly to ALGE, and this is part of the response I got from them:
"With the DIN plug (supply the RLS from the Timer) you can have a cable length from a maximum of 100m.
With the banana plugs (supply the RLS with a battery) and a two wire cable (
0,75 mm² copper wire) you can have a distance up to 5km.

best regards

Dietmar

The important points here are that:
1. either way works and using banana jacks for a remote finish should not increase false finishes or missed finishes
2. With a remote finish fresh batteries are a good idea

My only concern at this point is that we did notice at one race that the needle on the back of the near side cell went further into the green when the cell was plugged into the DIN.