herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong, Computing Services) (10/13/84)
I have been told that Vivitar no longer makes the LVP-2 power pack
for extended flash usage. It consists of 4 external D cells instead of the
internal 4 AA cells. Has anyone tried to make their own power pack
using the LVC-3 cord and a 4 D cells? Does anyone have a LVP-2 that
they can tell me about so that I can make one? I plan to be doing some
shooting of about 1000 pictures over a period of two days and for most of
them I will need a flash. Since this is a show I will be taking
pictures for, I'd rather not have to spend the time changing batteries or
go carry a lot of them around with me all the time.
Herb...
Once a hack, always a hack...
UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!watdcsu!herbie
CSNET: herbie%watdcsu@waterloo.csnet
ARPA: herbie%watdcsu%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
BITNET: herbie at watdcsrose@sjuvax.UUCP (rose) (10/20/84)
Herb- I've had a lot of success with a variety of power sources for my 285. The best seems to be the bogen power handle I got in N.Y. for $30. It has batteries in the handle and the 285 mounts on top. I believe I bought it at olden. Previous to that I used a battery pack from a 'Book-Light' someone bought me. You know - one of those tiny lamps that clip on the back cover of a book so you can read in bed. The light had a separate power pack that connected with a 4 foot cord. The battery pack held 4 C cells, not as good as the Bogen's handle but providing 4 or 5 times as many flashes as AA cells in the flash. There are two ways to connect a homemade power source to the 285. One is to find an old electric shaver cord and splice the plug onto the battery pack cord (the plug must be shaved down a mite and a groove cut into one side so it will fit in the 285's socket) the second is to buy an alkaline holder, splice the battery packs leads onto the back of the connectors where it meets the contacts inside the flash, and file a small groove into the edge of the door so the leads can stick out. I've seen this done a few times but thought it a bit drastic. If you use the socket for connecting the battery pack it will charge the flash when the power switch is OFF (same as an AC adapter), if you use the alkaline holder it will operate the same as if you had batteries in the flash. Battery holders can be purchased at Radio Shack. Also, consider renting a Quantum Battery pack for the weekend. That is the best power source I've seen for the 285 (though a bit rich for my blood). Let me know how you make out. Jon Rose. !sjuvax!rose
reid@Glacier.ARPA (10/24/84)
I have several Vivitar flashes including a 285. When I'm shooting heavy-duty stuff where the flash has to be used a lot (e.g. weddings) I like to use the HVP-1 high-voltage battery pack. This is a 510-volt battery in a plastic box, with a cord that plugs into the keystone-shaped socket on the side of the flash. It recycles in 1/2 second from a full-power flash, the battery costs about $25 (list price $32), and the HVP-1 pack itself without the battery is about $20 if I recall correctly. The Mallory 510-volt battery that I bought in August 1983 is still going strong, although its recycle time has grown to about 1.5 seconds and I expect that I will have to buy a new one soon. I have probably shot 100 rolls of film with it, which means it has probably given me 3000 full-power flashes for my $25. Brian Reid Stanford