Vivitar 200 fails to fire...

A Fluke meter costing a couple to several hundred dollars and a flash unit that is currently on eBay with a buy it now price of $9.95.

Can you give me a link? If not here in private message. I would buy it although I already have 4 Fluke meters.

Can you give me a link? If not here in private message. I would buy it although I already have 4 Fluke meters.

You want to buy a Vivitar 200 flash to add to your collection of overpriced Fluke DMMs? o_O

$150 for a basic DMM isn't cheap in my book.

FWIW. The chances of the fault with that flash being a faulty storage capacitor are slim. So pretty pointless checking its value IMO. More likely that the tube is dead, or the trigger transformer is open-circuit, or any one of a dozen or so other faults that could prevent triggering or flashing. For example: some flashes deactivate the hotshoe when the P-C cord is plugged in. It could be something as simple as that.

Can you give me a link? If not here in private message.

You want to buy a Vivitar 200 flash to add to your collection of overpriced Fluke DMMs? o_O

 

$150 for a basic DMM isn't cheap in my book.

 

FWIW. The chances of the fault with that flash being a faulty storage capacitor are slim. So pretty pointless checking its value IMO. More likely that the tube is dead, or the trigger transformer is open-circuit, or any one of a dozen or so other faults that could prevent triggering or flashing. For example: some flashes deactivate the hotshoe when the P-C cord is plugged in. It could be something as simple as that.

I misunderstood him. I thought he said Fluke meter costing several hundred dollars are on ebay for $9.95.

A, no! I thought it more than a bit incongruous to consider a multi-100 $ meter to help save a $ 10 flash.

The link, by the way, was in the post above.

I think the best thing to do, unless you fancy doing just that, is not to mess with capacitors in flash units that are worth less than a decent screwdriver you might use to open it.

A, no! I thought it more than a bit incongruous to consider a multi-100 $ meter to help save a $ 10 flash.

The link, by the way, was in the post above.

 

I think the best thing to do, unless you fancy doing just that, is not to mess with capacitors in flash units that are worth less than a decent screwdriver you might use to open it.

Now I understand you. Sorry for the confusion. No it doesn't make sense to buy a meter to fix such a flash. For such a flash the repair attempt should be made for the fun of it only. The flash isn't worth anything. Back in the 70's I had a Vivitar 202 which looked the same as the 200 with 1 auto aperture. I powered it up with NiCad and it smoked but still working after that though. It recycled very fast and was smoking.

Fluke sell a 'cheap' meter?!

 

In theory it never gets fully discharged. An exponential decay never reaches zero.

 

In practice the voltage will go down to maybe a fraction of a volt after several seconds with a few Kohms load.... but it will 'bounce' back to a few volts as soon as the load is removed. Anything reading under 20 volts or so is going to be safe to touch, but you might still get a meaty spark if the capacitor terminals are shorted.

Yes.

High voltage electrolytic capacitors are known to recharge (to some lower voltage) after a while.

To be sure, they are sometimes stored with a wire across the terminals.

(Easiest for big ones with screw terminals.)

If the light comes on, most likely the capacitor is fine.

As noted, the trigger circuit, which I believe has its own capacitor,

does seem more likely.

I managed to discharge the main capacitor(C1) although it might have been discharged already. There is another smaller capacitor(C11) that seems to be the capacitor for the trigger voltage circuit. There was some corrosion on the cables leading to that capacitor. I cleaned some of it off (not all of it) with vinegar. It took me several tries to put the flash back together without breaking anything. Huge PITA !

When I finally got it back together, I put a fresh battery in there and tried to trigger the flash. The little Ready light in the back lit up, but the flash still did NOT fire ? I'm going to give it another shot whenever I get some time.

I managed to discharge the main capacitor(C1) although it might have been discharged already. There is another smaller capacitor(C11) that seems to be the capacitor for the trigger voltage circuit. There was some corrosion on the cables leading to that capacitor. I cleaned some of it off (not all of it) with vinegar. It took me several tries to put the flash back together without breaking anything. Huge PITA !

 

When I finally got it back together, I put a fresh battery in there and tried to trigger the flash. The little Ready light in the back lit up, but the flash still did NOT fire ? I'm going to give it another shot whenever I get some time.

measure and see if you even has the trigger voltage across the the hot shoe.

I managed to discharge the main capacitor(C1) although it might have been discharged already. There is another smaller capacitor(C11) that seems to be the capacitor for the trigger voltage circuit. There was some corrosion on the cables leading to that capacitor. I cleaned some of it off (not all of it) with vinegar. It took me several tries to put the flash back together without breaking anything. Huge PITA !

 

When I finally got it back together, I put a fresh battery in there and tried to trigger the flash. The little Ready light in the back lit up, but the flash still did NOT fire ? I'm going to give it another shot whenever I get some time.

The flash tube may be defective. Happens.

(snip)

Back in the 70's I had a Vivitar 202 which looked the same as the 200 with 1 auto aperture. I powered it up with NiCad and it smoked but still working after that though. It recycled very fast and was smoking.

Not all flash units are designed for the low internal resistance of NiCd cells.

The 283 is designed to work with a Vivitar NiCd pack, and also with AA cells.

It also charges much faster with NiCd cells.

Not all flash units are designed for the low internal resistance of NiCd cells.

 

The 283 is designed to work with a Vivitar NiCd pack, and also with AA cells.

It also charges much faster with NiCd cells.

I knew that. Some of the old flash units rely on the internal resistance of Alkalines to limit the maximum current.