510v Flash Batteries still made?

Renato Tonelli · Mar 16, 2017

I think the answer is no as my searches have turned up nothing. If anyone knows of a source please let us know.
I have both Pentax and Sunpak flash systems equipped to use the battery (the non rechargeable type).

Willyekerslike · Mar 16, 2017

I undersatnd that in the UK the Small Battery Company can have these 510 volt batteries made to order

Renato Tonelli · Mar 16, 2017

Willyekerslike said:
I undersatnd that in the UK the Small Battery Company can have these 510 volt batteries made to order

Thank you for pointing it out - it hadn't turned up on my search. I dealt with them before - they are very helpful for for hard to get camera batteries.

Willyekerslike · Mar 16, 2017

Yes a very good company to deal with, I use them all the time and not just for the odd ones for my old gear.

darkroommike · Mar 16, 2017

Sunpak and Vivitar both made rechargeable batteries that could replace the 510v. One of them worked in everything the other was equipment brand specific and after 20 years I don't remember which was which.

Sunpak NC-510 and charger QBC-5 I think this one only worked with the Sunpak 522-555 series
Vivitar RB-510, the charger was the A/CH-75

And this just in, Exell still makes a carbon zinc non-rechargeable 497 battery for $99-199 bucks and available from Maple Leaf Battery. Maybe...

DWThomas · Mar 16, 2017

Don't know how big the battery compartment is, but this sounds like a possible candidate for a serious tinkerer to do a DC-to-DC converter that runs off some standard low voltage, high current cell(s). Maybe with a 3-D printed pseudo-battery shaped case to hold it all together. (No, I don't plan to volunteer -- no 3-D printer for the first obstacle! )

paul ron · Mar 17, 2017

heres the work around.....
http://www.diyphotography.net/the-external-flash-power-that-will-last-till-hell-freezes/

a sla 6v battery costs $10.... recharge as many times as you like.

AgX · Mar 17, 2017

But that is a complete different approach than the topic of this tread, which is "high"-voltage feed.
Or did you advise that 6V lead-acid battery as source for a step-up circuit?

But a step-up circuit already is installed within a flash. The idea behind a high-voltage feed was to circumvent such circuit.

paul ron · Mar 17, 2017

my post is an alternative to the high voltage system and much cheaper as well as being readily available.I did this to my 611 sunpak n can attest it works great.

Why bother with 510V battery that are almost impossible to find and unreasonably expensive when this fix will do the same thing?

Quantum made the 510V systems that can still be found fairly cheap but getting a battery for them is a PITA.

Renato Tonelli · Mar 17, 2017

I knew I could count on some good suggestions - thank you all!

DWThomas · Mar 17, 2017

AgX said:
But that is a complete different approach than the topic of this tread, which is "high"-voltage feed.
Or did you advise that 6V lead-acid battery as source for a step-up circuit?

But a step-up circuit already is installed within a flash. The idea behind a high-voltage feed was to circumvent such circuit.

I admit to being a bit weak on the early history of electronic flashes, but my impression is the high voltage battery approach came very early because DC-to-DC converters involved mechanical choppers and large, messy, inefficient circuitry prior to solid state switching electronics that could handle the voltage and power. (I have a vague recollection of a "kit" for an electronic flash that a friend put together in the late 1950s that used a pair of relatively high voltage batteries.)

The large number of cells one needs to tie in series for 500 volts tends to mean a lot of very small units that are not likely to have much current capacity, so I would expect a storage capacitor and some finite recharge time was still necessary even for that "direct" voltage.

ac12 · Mar 17, 2017

If you have never used a true HV flash you missed out.
Almost instant recycle time, well as fast as I could crank the film advance lever, we can call it 1 to 2 second recycle.
No worries about the DC to DC step up circuits overheating, cuz you are bypassing that circuit.

Although with the Quantum, Lumdyne and similar systems you are kinda doing both.
They move the DC to DC step-up circuit into the pack and feeding HV into the head/flash.

Now I'm curious, as I have not measured the voltage on the output of the Quantum or Lumedyne pack. Though I think is it less than 510v.

510v Flash Batteries still made?

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