Vivitar 285HV external power mod

Toshido

So I am annoyed and fed up with AAA batteries so I roughly followed an online DIY modification on one of my 285HVs. The mod works fine but is slow.

I am currently running it off a 6v 1000mA wall adapter. Problem is that is giving me recycle times in the 30 second range. I am aiming for roughly 5 -8 second refresh times, or pretty close to fresh batteries.

My question is what amperage of wall adapter would I need for this, or if even possible.

The mod I have should also make it simple to change out from wall plug to 6v SLA battery as well which is a definite future project.

rpcrowe

A/C adapter
Vivitar once sold an a/c adapter for their 285 and 285HV flash units. Occasionally you can find one on eBay. I bought one for ten bucks a couple of years ago...

pathfinder

I bought one from B&H or Adorama about a year ago, it works fine too. Vivitar SB-4

It has 200 V DC output at 4 mAmps - I think you do not want to connect a PC cord to this flash and your digital camera with 200 V DC running into it - trigger it with an optical slave or a PW.

At 1/2 power I get a 2 second recycle time, and at full power about 4 seconds or so.

You do need to have 4 AAs in the battery compartment, but I think they will last a very long time as they are not supplying the wattage, just powering up the circuitry.

But I can't find it at B&H tonight any longer....... Found it - $14.95 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Vivitar+SB-4&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

Toshido

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=890152

This is pretty much the mod I did to my flash. Instead of a 6V SLA battery I currently have the wall adapter plugged into it, still need to buy a battery.

I was hoping for more out of the 6v 1000ma adapter though.

pathfinder

That is interesting, but for $15 bucks you can get the one Vivitar sold - which is not 6 volts, but 200 Volts DC I thought it would be a low voltage device also, but when I just checked it, not so, it is labeled 200V DC, 4 mAmps The plug in brick consumes 110v AC, and pulls 6 watts.

That is why the flash cycles so fast with it, and yours recycles in 30 seconds.

If shot at 1/4 power with the SB-4, the recycle is almost instantaneous.

Be aware, prolonged high output flash usage can fry your flash head, too.

kdog

pathfinder wrote: »

Be aware, prolonged high output flash usage can fry your flash head, too.

Not to mention your model's head.

Toshido

I am trying to replicate 4 fresh AAA batteries.

Problem is i can not find the amperage that batteries actually put out. All I can find is talk about mah. I know now that as long as my wires can handle the amperage over the specific length of wire then I will have no problems switching over to a 6v SLA battery with my current setup.
I also want to keep this setup because the next step is to split the power supply and run the 6v DC power into my flash triggers and use a 3v voltage regulator to reduce the voltage to 3 volts.
So in the end I will be using one power supply to power both my triggers and my flash. I know in theory this will work well and from all the other DIY packs the SLA battery should give me 5-10 second refresh times I am looking for.

All in all I think it may be a moot point since I am having a hard time finding any 6v adapters with much more then 1 amp current anyways.

Art Scott

I built an adapter to use 6v S.L.A. batts and was getting a recycle time of just a few seconds...under 5 actually........I will caution that depending on what you use to make your connection to the flash, mine was small copper fuses, that if they should connect to each other or if by some strange happening they become reversed in the flash head it will grenade.....I used this type of adapter for many years until some nosey groomsmen was messing with my flash at a relatives house when I was gone and got the adapter into the flash backwards....the day before the wedding I was doing my normal run thru of my gear when I connected the flash to the battery and turned it on, well I had small particles of plastic all over the relatives front room and the relative thought some one had shot at his house with a very large caliber gun.......I spent the next 5 hours trying to locate another flash that would replace the 285HV's...........I decided to buy my connecting cable and to wire a RCA female socket to the batteries from then on....then my power packs looked almost identical to Quantum 1 batteries....except I had no lights on mine and only I female socket.....

I think I got my schematic from Shutterbug, if memory serves me correctly...................

Toshido

In my mod I am not using dummy batteries. I opened the flash and soldered the wires directly to the back side of the battery terminals in the flash. I am currently using standard phone lines and RJ11 connectors to connect the power supply to the flash. I know the wires are rated for 90v, but not sure what current they can carry. If they warm up too much I will replace with something beefier.
This way I will be able to use standard phone lines of varying lengths for connection between battery/adapter to the flash and trigger. This also eliminates the chance of reversing the polarity.

If I need to use larger wires I will also be using some form of connector that will not allow reversal of polarity.

Thanks for the warning though. Will remind me to be more careful about polarity when wring things

Toshido

An update...

I got my 6v SLA batteries, heat shrink, fuse holder, and other little miscellaneous items to finish my battery packs for the vivitars. One pack is finished and has been my experimental pack so no step by step pictures from that one. The next one will be done within the week and I hope to post step by steps for anyone interested.

Results are that I have a working 6v 4.5Ah battey on my viv 285HV. I am using standard phone lines to connect the battery and the flash. With a 20 foot phone line connecting the two I am getting recycle times of 12-15 seconds for a full power flash and just 1-2 seconds or faster for half power flashes. I am using a standard automotive fuse holder attached to the positive terminal of the battery with a 20A fuse for protection. I have read of people using 30A fuses and I have them in case the 20A is not sufficient, but starting with the slightly lower power.

I decided to use the phone wires because of the availability of them and I can then use off the shelf components. While speaker wire is certainly able to carry more current it also requires some customizing of the wire to make it work, not ideal if left behind or damaged in the field.

Certainly been a fun little project with a couple minor hiccups but very happy it is finished and happy with the results.

Toshido

First flash was experimental, this one went far better...

First the battery...

Parts, minus heat shrink, tools, solder, bungee cord, and extra little stuff.


Starting with battery, prepping fuse holder.


I love heat shrink. Added a little for extra strain relief and clean look.


Stripped lead from end of female phone plug tail. If I had to do it again I would alternate polarities instead of pairing them like this. As is I can only use 4 conductor phone lines, if alternating I could use 2 conductor phone lines as well.


Removed plastic cover on connector and soldered wires to connector. The phone lines are too small for me to rely on the crimp to hold it in place. Again heat shrink tubing for strain relief and clean finish.


Completed leads with fuse in place.


Battery in bag with a ball bungee wrapped around. Love those bungees and have to thank the strobist blog for recommending them.

ziggy53

Nice project and excellent images to help explain.

Thanks for doing this.

Toshido

Now the flash...

5 screws to holding the flash together. 3 on back.


2 holding the hot shoe.


One staple hiding under the aluminum disk. I had huge trouble getting the disk off at first. I had to use my heat gun to weaken the glue then I could pry it off with a small knife.


Flash opened up. Note the ack of the battery compartment and the back and red leads soldered to it.


This plug is where I decided to bring the wires out. I choose this method because if I chose to return the flash to stock it would create minimal visual impact.


Area of the plug I cut away. I just used a pair of diagonal cutters to cut away the plastic.


Flash lead soldered to back of the battery compartment. This mod still allows use of the standard battery cartridge if I want more portability.


Used a glob of hot glue to put disk back on. Since I was doing work in cold shop the glue sets instantly. So I put a glob on the flash then heated the disk with my heat gun until the glue melted and I could press the disk back in place.


Finished flash and battery pack. Tested great but since I was using my little P&S so no demonstration.

Toshido

One bonus little thing as well. Since the lead coming off the battery splits into two female phone jacks I can use one battery to run two flashes.

Makes thing easy and flexible for me and I like it. I did test it and it doesn't seem to slow the flashes down any by running them both off one battery, so me happy.

Toshido

Another quick test today with the flashes.

With the battery direct to the flash, approx. 6-8 inches cable, recharge times were 5-6 seconds for full power flash to standby mode again (red/green flash)

With a 25' extension added the recharge times grew to around 15-16 seconds.

While I have no intention of ever using a 25' extension on the flash it is nice to know it is an option, albeit a slow option. I assume a heavier gauge wire would perform better at those extreme lengths. I am still waiting on a crimping tool to make custom lengths of phone lines so I can hack together a couple short wires. Figure 1' and 10' lengths are my goals. Hoping the 10' works well since that will let me have the battery at the base of my lightstand. If not I might have to consider using heavier gauge wires and redoing some things..

latinimage

Toshido wrote: »

So I am annoyed and fed up with AAA batteries so I roughly followed an online DIY modification on one of my 285HVs. The mod works fine but is slow.

I am currently running it off a 6v 1000mA wall adapter. Problem is that is giving me recycle times in the 30 second range. I am aiming for roughly 5 -8 second refresh times, or pretty close to fresh batteries.

My question is what amperage of wall adapter would I need for this, or if even possible.

The mod I have should also make it simple to change out from wall plug to 6v SLA battery as well which is a definite future project.

The following link may offer a fine solution for your "fast recycle" needs:

http://shutterbugcl.blogspot.com/2011/10/about-jtl-ni-mh-battery-pack-de-la.html
http://shutterbugcl.blogspot.com/search/label/VIVITAR%20FLASH%20285HV
I hope this may help others too to resolve issues with powering.

cordially,

LATIN IMAGE Photography