Can static electricity trigger flash ?

I know this might sound like another of my Luddite posts, but can static electricity trigger flash ? The reason why I ask is that I recently called Holly Enterprises located in California Holly Enterprises to inquire about the cost of fixing my 40 year old Norman P800-D power pack that has been sitting on the shelf due to Arcing problems. From the description I gave them, they told me that it might cost me $500+ to fix. I only paid $150 for it about 10 years ago off eBay, so it wasn't really worth getting fixed.

 

I always have these long conversations with these guys and the subject got around to charging your flash gear regularly, the ones that contain capacitors, to keep them in good shape. I have a couple of old Norman 202 150W power packs that I refuse to sell due to their convenience, but I never thought about charging them, since they do not use any batteries ?

 

The folks at Holly Enterprises told me you have to regularly plug those bad boys in and shoot a couple of rounds to keep the capacitors in shape. I took their advice and took my 2 power packs of the shelf, blew off the dust and attached a head to both my packs, then tried to shoot off a couple of rounds. The first power pack had no problems, this is because I used it at a Shoot about 8 months ago. The other one though had all sorts of problems.

 

First it would not shoot off a flash. So I let it sit there plugged into the wall for about an hour or so, then tried to get off a shot, but no luck ! I was about to give up, when all of a sudden the flash started going off by itself every 40 seconds or so ? It continued doing this for about an hour or so. Also the flash would go off when I walked too close to it, or when I unplugged or plugged another flash unit to an electric outlet ? Sometimes the flash would go off if I turned on the lights in the nearby kitchen ?

 

Right now that power pack is not setting off the flash every 40 seconds and I can fire off a flash by hitting the Test button on the flash-head which is good, but I'm still not sure why it decides to go off by itself ? Could it be static electricity, or something else ?

I would be very careful with randomly firing flashes. Might be a short circuit in it.

 

That said, I've had Nikon Speedlights going wild (firing without triggering) while shooting a tesla-coil.

It does sound like static electricity. Recall that capacitors store electrical energy up to a threshold, when they release it. Given they haven't been regularly charged, and all of a sudden they are being asked to fulfill their role in life, they may be hiccupping alomg the way and overly sensitive to outside influences (you can tell I'm no electrical engineer).

** Problem solved !

I had a Slave trigger such as this https://www.amazon.com/Wein-940-050-Professional-Strobe-H-Prong/dp/B0002IHHO2 attached to the flash-head. These slave triggers are very sensitive to light and anything can trigger them off, such as the light changing in the vicinity of the flash unit. I even had ambulances and fire-trucks set off these triggers..

You don't switch of your gear, like the trigger, when you are not using it?

I had a Nikon F100, which every so often took photos on its own. Really. yes, really..

 

Sort of felt it was it was making an observation..... a something,. about my photography : I flogged it to a pawn shop.

 

I sort of shy away from weird stuff....quantum physics.

.....

Edited June 30, 2021 by Allen Herbert

.Quantum physics.

 

My old Gran, duplicated, or,, just the same for ever.....

 

Anyway, a flower photo for her.

Leica X 113