Seriously Old Hammerhead Flash Gear

[Phil J.]

Hi all, I'm hoping that someone here will be able to cast some light <pun absolutely intended> on some old flash gear I have acquired? I have a pair of Popular 38tg units, and I've seen the other post on this forum about those...
One seems to be working fine off AA batteries, the other has worked once, still does fire but doesn't quite reach ready state (so I'm hoping that a little regular use resolves that).

What I don't have is any other way of powering these up and the previous post did refer to the use of a 6v battery. They seem like a decent old piece of kit and if I could give them some additional juice for mobile shoots I'd certainly consider it... but that is where my knowledge ends unfortunately.

They have 3-pin power input sockets but I don't have a lead can anyone help us out with this?
I was hoping to find Graham Smith but it doesn't look like he is still on here?

Any / all help appreciated - many thanks in anticipation...

Phil

 

[ac12]

I suggest using NiMH AA batteries, rather than dinkering with a 6v SLA battery.

Old flashes have to have their capacitors "formed." You can do this by cycling (charge, then fire) maybe a dozen or so times. If it does not reach full charge, the capacitor may have degraded too much.

 

[Phil J.]

Thanks ac12, I think I've come to a similar conclusion... both are now operational but one only fires at full power (which is no greater than my regular speedlight). The other however does step down nicely on auto and may yet find a use for relatively close flash work