Vivitar 283 Flash Died

[Bruce Pollock]

I've had my Vivitar 283 for 30+ years and it's always worked like a charm. I haven't used it for a (long) while and took it out recently, put fresh batteries in it and... nothing. Dead. I have a vague thought that it might have been put away in the camera case without powering it down first. Apart from draining the batteries, I wonder if it might have fried the capacitor.

Does anyone know anything about hand held flash units? Fixable? Worth fixing?

[ic-racer]

Finding new capacitors is difficult. I wish I knew a good source. The capacitors will go bad on their own. Leaving a unit ON should not kill the capacitor, and actually might make the capacitor last longer.

For example this site, showing a nice array of capacitors, is actually like some tease internet free sex site. You can click on the pictures but nothing happens; no matter what you try you can't actually buy anything through the site. http://www.capacitorindustries.com/c...s/default.html

[Leigh]

Electrolytic capacitors deteriorate with age.
If the flash sat unused for more than six months, given its age, it likely failed when you powered it up.

Capacitors are available by the zillions.
Mouser has 25,390 different ones in the style that was likely used in this flash.

It's a simple repair. The part is probably less than $10.

The repair should be done by a competent technician who's familiar with the flash.

Some good sources for quality electrolytic caps:
Mouser www.mouser.com
Newark www.newark.com
Digi-Key www.digikey.com
Allied: www.alliedelec.com

There are many other online vendors, but those four companies supply all of the parts for the products I manufacture, and I put quality above price.

Some good capacitor manufacturers include:
Cornell-Dubilier (CDE), Kemet (excellent quality), Nichicon, Panasonic, United Chemi-Con (UCC), Vishay (Vishay/Sprague et al), and Xicon.

- Leigh

[Gem Singer]

You can probably purchase a brand new Vivitar 285HV for less than the cost of repairing your old 283.

Thirty years is an exceptionally long time for a battery powered flash to continue to operate.

About two years ago, I purchased a new 285HV to use on a Mamiya 645 camera. It's the third one I've owned and replaced over the years.

[John Koehrer]

You can also find 283's online for not a lot of $$. Garage sales, rummage sales, thrift stores etc.

[Leigh]

You can probably purchase a brand new Vivitar 285HV for less than the cost of repairing your old 283.

I thought Vivitar was long-since out of business, but it turns out I'm wrong.

A new one would certainly be desirable if it's in your budget (about $80 at B&H).

You can also find 283's online for not a lot of $$. Garage sales, rummage sales, thrift stores etc.

Any used flash will potentially have the same problem as the OP's current unit.

- Leigh

[photobymike]

i have 4 of these in my not worth putting on ebay box. You might consider buying a metal hot shoe for your next 283 or 285. i paid 10 and 20 dollars for the ones i have. I think you can still buy a new 285hv from Freestyle for 89 or 99 dollars. Personally i use the Canon 199A Speedlite. I use it on my 645 Mamiya and occasionally on the 4x5. i pay 5 or 10 bucks for those and for the money a better flash.

[akfreak]

Send it to me I will fix it if you like, AKF

[johnielvis]

hey...I got a dead one too...you fix these? how much for a fix..mine will charge and hold a full pop of charge-so it's not the cap...it pops one time and then....forget it...it'll re-charge and then you can't make it pop unless you fire like 20 times....it' slike the tube needs time to cool down or something...anyway...It's just sitting here nuding closer and closer to the trash can....what's the repair cost?

[domaz]

Don't try to fix these unless your are confident in discharging capacitors safely. Otherwise you could be dead along with the flash.