Reading multimeter to tell if my Vivitar 283 is of the high voltage variety.

Anarchitekt · Jul 20, 2012

I am really confused as my multimeter seems not to get consistent results from my Japanese Vivitar 283. I took pictures of my multimeter at 500 dcv 250 dcv 50 dcv and 10 dcv, in none of the modes the needles went beyond half way. My nikon d3000 which apparently max's out at 250. Can someone that can effectively read these give me some incite whether I have a high voltage or low voltage variety?

Thankyou for any input.

Anarchitekt · Jul 20, 2012

No responses yet...

480sparky · Jul 20, 2012

What exactly are you trying to measure? Trigger voltage?

Dao · Jul 20, 2012

I think all Vivitar 283 has high trigger voltage.

Anarchitekt · Jul 21, 2012

Yes, trigger voltage. I am either getting inconsistent readings with my multmeter or I'm reading it wrong.

Anarchitekt · Jul 21, 2012

I looked up information and there are low voltage Vivitar 283's but some early ones are triggered by high voltage up to 450. Can you read the above multmeter at the different dcv ratings?

480sparky · Jul 21, 2012

My first guess is you've got a meter that no longer functions as designed.

Anarchitekt · Jul 22, 2012

Still no one that can read a mult meter? I think commenter might be right my mult meter might be shot but I tested it on a wall socket and got 120 acv... So, I'm not sure.

Superfitz · Jul 22, 2012

You should be ok if you are reading under 100 at 500dcv. I would still recommend you pick up a wein safe sync with any of those old Vivitars when using them on a dslr just to be safe. Then again some people dont and never have a problem. I wouldn't want to chance it. Also you might want to search YouTube for videos of Vivitar 283 voltage. That way you can make sure you are testing it properly.

Edit...to answer your question it appears to be a low voltage model, but without actually seeing you perform the test or knowing if your meter is accurate I couldn't say either way without any accuracy.

unpopular · Jul 22, 2012

480sparky said:
My first guess is you've got a meter that no longer functions as designed.

That's my bet. I am guessing it's reading everything at 500v max. What happens if you try to meter a 5v battery?

480sparky · Jul 22, 2012

Anarchitekt said:
Still no one that can read a mult meter? I think commenter might be right my mult meter might be shot but I tested it on a wall socket and got 120 acv... So, I'm not sure.

Well, it does look like it crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower.

Garbz · Jul 23, 2012

Your meter is not reading anything at all which makes sense. Where on the flash are you measuring? You should turn on the flash and measure between the centre pin (red) and the holding bracket (black), some flashes actually have a plastic holding bracket in which case the metal is recessed inside. Not sure if your flash looks like this but if so put your meter in like this:

Set your meter to 500 DCV.
You should read the second row from the bottom (0-50 scale). Understand that setting it to 500DCV means that scale is multiplied by a factor of 10. In this case the needle should be close to 0, if it goes anywhere above 10 start to think you have a high voltage trigger.
To check set your meter to 250DCV your needle should double in scale. If you had 10 it should read 20 if you had 25 it should peg at 50. etc. If you're still near zero you're good.
Finally set it to 50DCV. If the needle pegs at the right then your flash is a HV flash. It should be around 5-10 on the scale at this point.

Honestly it looks like either your meter is toast, or you've hooked it up to measure the wrong thing. I wouldn't trust your meter if it doesn't show a linear relationship. I.e. going from 500DCV to 250DCV should cause the needle to double.

Dao · Jul 23, 2012

I think OP was trying to measure the trigger voltage of the 283 flash.

Anarchitekt · Jul 23, 2012

Thankyou all for your help, yes that was the method I used to check the voltage. I think I need to buy a new mult meter. Thankyou again, I appreciate your effort responding on what is a relatively boring topic.