Turbo-flash !

[DesmondD]

Today my $2 flash arrived - a "Starblitz 120 mini "





I measured the trigger voltage at 220 volts , put it on my D50 and fired a test shot .



Not very strong is it ! But I suppose I can't expect much from one AA battery :smile:

When I opened it I noticed that the capacitor was very small and started to wonder ..... what if I took out the capacitor from my old faulty SB400 and fitted it in this little flash ?



A reasonable difference ....



I had to be careful of that dangly bit near my ear while taking another test shot - I measured the trigger pins at 220 volts again and the capacitor was at 280 volts



BAM ! Quite a difference I would say - all that extra stored energy .



I'm still wondering how long the tube will last but I've fired it 5 times now and it's still good - obviously it takes about 5X longer to fully charge up but I'm starting to see other possibilities ....



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[I @ M]

I @ M sits back with a huge grin on his dial chuckling away at the delightful irony of overclocked flashes, lpg cylinders, fire extinguishers AND DESMOND all in the room at the same time.

[DesmondD]

I @ M sits back with a huge grin on his dial chuckling away at the delightful irony of overclocked flashes, lpg cylinders, fire extinguishers AND DESMOND all in the room at the same time.

I was wearing my steel-cap work boots for protection

[Chilli]

I love enthusiasm.......

[DesmondD]

I love enthusiasm.......

Well , I got 45 flashes out of it so far so I don't think it's going to blow the tube

[DesmondD]

The flash has flattened 6 batteries without any damage so tonight I added another capacitor ....







800uf cap plus 400uf cap showed a slight difference ....




and an SB800 at full power for comparison - though the flash did automatically zoom to 85mm so it's not a fair comparison ...



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[Bax]

hahaha, Loving the effort.

Definitely don't want that discharging on your ear by mistake.

[DesmondD]

hahaha, Loving the effort.

Definitely don't want that discharging on your ear by mistake.

I'm thinking of 'enhancing' one of my SB24's !

[DesmondD]

Just to satisfy my curiosity this morning I tried with the SB800 again but at a wide setting to make the competition fair ..... it would appear that Turbo-flash is now more powerful than the SB800



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[mithrandir]

Wait until the Strobe Police show up and arrest you for creating man-made lightening.

[bigdazzler]

hilarious.

[zollo]

funny and awesome work. diy ftw

[DesmondD]

Though I have been 'otherwise occupied' these last few days - I bought myself a Casio Fh100 and did some slow motion videos of things being destroyed



slow motion video








.

[DesmondD]

Today my $10 Sunpak GT pro 4011 arrived ..... switching voltage = 21 volts



I didn't have the right batteries but rigged up a battery pack of "AA's" that took about 10 minutes to get both charge lights on .
Changing the switch from half power to full power causes a change in the pitch of the charging circuit ..... after forcing the base of the 'handle ' off I see some encouraging evidence of a few capacitors lined up ........ I'm getting 320 volts at the flash tube so I see some 'possibilities' for future " experiments " - yeah !






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[ollie]

Haha love it. Now where did i put that 1f cap i had sitting around here...

[GJC]

Laugh!
Hook one of these up and see how it goes:
http://www.tavrima.com/pdf/90_300.pdf

You'll need a wheelbarrow to cart it around and welding mask for when the flash goes off

[DesmondD]

Laugh!
Hook one of these up and see how it goes:
http://www.tavrima.com/pdf/90_300.pdf

You'll need a wheelbarrow to cart it around and welding mask for when the flash goes off

It may not last - it's only 300 volts and my new flash goes to 320 volts

[DesmondD]

Tonight I pulled it apart further - after seeing those wires going to the capacitors I'm thinking that perhaps it is worth putting this beast to better use than simply as spares - I may get hold of a 6 volt security battery to wire in to this monster .





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