Van Neck presscamera flash

[jani_heikkinen]

Hi!

 

I am currently working on restoring/repairing an old Van Neck press

camera with it's original flashgun. The battery in the flash was an

everready B122 Batrymax 'B' battery with 22.5 volts. Is there a

suitable replacement available anywhere? Has any one of you converted

a flashgun like this to some other bulb type or battery type that is

still available?

 

Jani

[john_shriver]

<p>There are two 22 volt batteries available from Eveready, one of which is probably suitable. The

<a href="http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/412.pdf">412</a>

is about the size of a 9 volt battery, but with one dimpled button on each end. The

<a href="http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/505.pdf">505</a>

is longer and skinny, sort of a squared off AA size.</p>

 

<p>If they are both smaller than the original, you may be out of luck. On the other hand, either of these has enough oomph to pop a flashbulb, but might not have the power for a solenoid shutter release.</p>

[jani_heikkinen]

Thanks John, it is exactly the 412 model.

Does anyone know a place in EU where I could order those online.

In Finland finding those is very unlikely.

[silent1]

I found one UK company with a couple minutes in Google:<p>

 

<a href="http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/index.htm?http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_a412.htm">The Small Battery Company</a><p>

 

There's also a reference for the Energizer office that services the Nordic nations:<p>

 

<a href="http://www.energizer-eu.com/en/our_offices/nordics.html">Energizer</a><p>

 

It appears that the A412 may be current manufacture, and is an alkaline direct replacement for the original carbon-zinc 412 battery. You might also search on the alternate designation, NEMA 215, to see if there are other retailers available to you.

[jani_heikkinen]

Thanks Donald, but both of the links are companies that either do not send orders to Finland or to private customers, only to companies.

Has anyone done a modification to a flashgun so that it could be used with more easier to get batteries and flashbulbs. Also I would like to know if there is a modern lamptype which could be used instead of the flashbulbs and could be used more then one time.

[john_shriver]

There are no substitutes for flashbulbs, except for electronic flash. Even so, those don't pack the power of a flashbulb, nor can they sync with a focal plane shutter at 1/1000 second.

 

You could try and convert it from a battery-capacitor flashgun to straight battery operation, but it would require at least 2 to 3 D cell batteries to pop the flash, and it probably would not flash them as brightly. Might also mess up the timing.

[john_shriver]

Try www.battercountry.com or www.batterymart.com. Yes, postage will be an issue (not to mention the local VAT tax man), but that may be the best solution.