Batteries for Ascorlight (auto 1600)?

I'm trying to find out what battery or batteries belong in an

ascorlight model Auto 1600 flash unit and where to buy them. I bought

it used for $10.00 but it has no books and no batteries. It dose have

the ac adapter/quick charger(catalog # 011-502) and appears to be

working fine.

If anyone can offer me some help with this problem I would greatly

appreciate your help. Thank You!

Hi Tom ... I have an Ascorlight 1600 too. I bought mine in Manhattan about 20 years ago for about $200. It'a an excellent professional flash, very powerful, with a fast recycle time and quiet operation (without the usual whine). I still have the original battery, though it doesn't work any more. It's a 3.6 volt battery, which looks like it's pretty much 3 1.2 V rechargeable units end-to-end. Since I recently decided to try to get this working again, I probably am going to see if I can somehow adapt it to use 3 rechargeable C batteries (which are 1.2 V each). That should work fine electronically if it can be rigged physically. I hate to dispose of such a good unit due to lack of a power source. Please let me know if you've found another solution. murraya1@cox.net

I also need batteries. I also could use screw on battery cap. C cells have too small diameter. It must be D. There is a Sub D or half size.

I used to work for Berkey Technical, in Woodside New York. As an electrical engineer, my project was the development of the ASCOR AUTO 1600. Any yes, it was the best darn flash from a host of details. The lens dispersion, the recycle and duty cycle, the reflectors were tested over and over until it was right. The batteries, as I recall, were three half D cells. They were welded together and covered in white plastic. At the time, the Honeywell was the only other automatic flash. It had 7 cells welded together which often destroyed itself when on reversed. The older, original issue Auto 1600 had a slight defect. There are three small capacitors that fill up as you flash, based on which range your select. In the older unit, there was some leakage current which caused a slight build up of voltage on the capacitor, between shots. The longer you wait, the bigger the build up. This caused false auto readings to become darker than expected. (The capacitor already thought it had some light, head start.) The remedy was to pre-flash right before the money shot, or get your hands on a new unit.

Good Luck. I still have my prototype. It still works in AC mode but have no idea where to get batteries or spring cap with welded twisted braid to handle the current.

 

Lou

I just had the battery assembled here in Michigan at a place called Complete Battery Source, located in Brighton, MI. They solder together three ni-cad batteries that are marked 1/2 D. They charged me $25 for the battery. Unfortunately, that didn't solve my problem. I already had two batteries that seemed not to work, and the new battery also doesn't take a charge, just as the others behaved. My charger will give me a ready light, and I'm able to fire the flash when plugged in, but the battery will not take a charge. I'm tempted to offer the newly constructed battery to you for what I paid, plus actual shipping cost. At this point, it's doing me no good.

Hi,

I have used lots of Ascor during my career and love it. I am however, retiring and, thus, have lots of it for sale at: http://Photographers1.com/sale.html I can even supply good batteries for the Ascor 1600 I & II. Ascor equipment was highly under-rated and seems to last forever. Give me a call if you're interested: (801) 484-8488 or get my email address through my web site above.