Hacked Vivitar 285hv for sound? Anyone?

Dmitri · Sep 18, 2010

Does anyone know if there's a way to hack the vivitar 285hv to make a sound when it's ready?

Garbz · Sep 18, 2010

I'm sure there is, and if there isn't I'm sure I could figure it out within a few minutes. The question is how technically minded are you?

There would be an output from the onboard microcontroller usually at TTL voltage levels to via a small transistor sometimes direct to light up a ready LED. You'd need to detect a the alternating red/green flashes of the LED and that could be done by a small cheap microcontroller like the ATTINY16 or something similar, then get it to drive the speaker output. Or if you're mad you can build a fully analogue circuit to do the same thing.

One thing though if you didn't understand any of the above I suggest you do NOT play with it. The 330V in the capacitor that sets off the flash is enough to make sure you never have the chance to play with electronics or take a photo again, and must be treated with the utmost respect.

Dmitri · Sep 18, 2010

Garbz said:
I'm sure there is, and if there isn't I'm sure I could figure it out within a few minutes. The question is how technically minded are you?

There would be an output from the onboard microcontroller usually at TTL voltage levels to via a small transistor sometimes direct to light up a ready LED. You'd need to detect a the alternating red/green flashes of the LED and that could be done by a small cheap microcontroller like the ATTINY16 or something similar, then get it to drive the speaker output. Or if you're mad you can build a fully analogue circuit to do the same thing.

One thing though if you didn't understand any of the above I suggest you do NOT play with it. The 330V in the capacitor that sets off the flash is enough to make sure you never have the chance to play with electronics or take a photo again, and must be treated with the utmost respect.

Yikes! okay I take your advice and stay away from the electronics. Thanks Garbz lol

--ares-- · Sep 18, 2010

Just curious why would you want to have it make a sound. I assume its for off camera stuff because you can hear the capacitors finish charging.

Dmitri · Sep 18, 2010

--ares-- said:
Just curious why would you want to have it make a sound. I assume its for off camera stuff because you can hear the capacitors finish charging.

I can't hear it. If all is very quiet I can hear the whining sound of it cycling, but not when it's done, and if there's even a breeze I can't hear anything from it. I was hoping to add a beep or so.

Warren_G · Sep 19, 2010

If you are prepared to mod your flash, why not change to an external power supply. You could easily mod the flash to run off a 6v Gel Cell or motorcycle battery, then you know you will have flash recharge in under a second for many hundreds of flashes on a single charge. I have 2 of the 285hv's and they recharge quick but do use up AAs in a hurry if you flash lots.

Dmitri · Sep 19, 2010

Warren_G said:
If you are prepared to mod your flash, why not change to an external power supply. You could easily mod the flash to run off a 6v Gel Cell or motorcycle battery, then you know you will have flash recharge in under a second for many hundreds of flashes on a single charge. I have 2 of the 285hv's and they recharge quick but do use up AAs in a hurry if you flash lots.

I'd looked at that ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV_TbR3Vufs ), but the recycle time doesn't seem to be much better at full power.

Warren_G · Sep 20, 2010

I have never used the indicator LEDs on the back of the flash, it is ready to flash much faster than the LEDs would seem to show. Here is another youtube vid that shows how fast this flash will fire, mine will fire this fast on AAs for at least a dozen flashes.

Dmitri · Sep 20, 2010

Warren_G said:
I have never used the indicator LEDs on the back of the flash, it is ready to flash much faster than the LEDs would seem to show. Here is another youtube vid that shows how fast this flash will fire, mine will fire this fast on AAs for at least a dozen flashes.

This is at 1/16 power? Mine isn't anywhere near that at full.

KmH · Sep 21, 2010

Warren_G said:
I have never used the indicator LEDs on the back of the flash, it is ready to flash much faster than the LEDs would seem to show. Here is another youtube vid that shows how fast this flash will fire, mine will fire this fast on AAs for at least a dozen flashes.

Yep it will fire, but does it fire at full output?

Like Dmitri said, it can cycle much faster if it isn't at full power. Even if it's not set to full power, the capacitor may still not have enough charge to deliver consistant light output.