Battery for Braun handle-mount flash

[TheFlyingCamera]

Another item that came along in the same kit as the Norman flash was a Braun handle-mount flash. The head on this thing is HUGE. It has a black leather case on a shoulder strap that contains the power supply. It is missing the battery, which is marked on the power supply as being a 510v battery. Anyone have any idea if these batteries are still available?

 

[snapguy]

back then

As a newspaper photographer in the 1960s and into the 1970s, I sometimes carried a Rolleiflex and a Heiland strobe with a 510 volt batter pack. You can still get the batteries. The last time I looked they cost over $50 each. They were great in the old days because you could get a lot of flashes out of them. And they cost closer to $15 then.

 

[Steve Smith]

My father used to use those but I think his battery case used multiple 90 volt batteries.

If you know someone who is handy with a soldering iron, it should be possible to make an inverter which runs from rechargeable cells or perhaps the battery pack from a cordless drill.

Or solder 57 9v batteries in series!!


Steve.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Ok- I saw that the actual battery is still available, but they're at least $100 each now. I don't think I'm going to buy one to put the Braun to the test. That's a big, heavy, expensive battery for something I wouldn't use that often and would probably leak and corrode before I could drain it.

 

[Peter Simpson]

If I had this flash, I would look into replacing the battery with a few 18650 cells and a voltage converter and capacitor. If the 510V batteries are $100 each, you'd soon be ahead of the game. Of course, it would be a custom design and the real benefit would be doing a design that could be used with other flashes (which might require different voltages).

At work right now, we are working with a 3500V spark generator (powered from 24V) which has the capability of generating sparks at 25 to 50 pps. It's a custom build for us and quite scary when in operation. But 500V should be a piece of cake ;-)

Aside: I built a power pack for quad-AA flashes that uses a 6V gelled lead acid battery. Recycle speed is noticeably improved, showing that the issue is the inefficiency of the voltage converter in these cheap flashes. The want to pull 5-10A from the poor AAs at the start of a charge cycle (measured it). The gell-cell laughs and provides it happily. A good converter design is something I should work on.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

This is the flash:

In the box there's a compartment for the battery, and the voltage converter with an off-on switch. I don't know that, to me, it's worth going to all that extreme to re-engineer the thing to take 45 9V batteries or whatever else.

 

[bdial]

I used to have an older Braun flash that used that battery and I've worked with a few others that do as well.
The batteries were never "cheap", but will last through a lot of use, 100 usd is a little dear though.

I liked the quick cycle times are nice (1 or 2 seconds), you might be able to achieve that and the light output with a Quantum battery and something like a Metz 45 or 60.

Interestingly, a few weeks ago I bought a 3x4 Speed Graphic kit which came with a Heiland flash that uses a 510v battery. It has an ac converter that is supposed to allow the flash to be operated with AC instead of batteries. So far, however, I've had no joy in getting it to work.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'd much rather invest my time, energy and money into getting the Norman 400B this came with up and running. At least the Norman's batteries are rechargeable, replaceable, and the Norman packs a 400 w/s wallop.

 

[AgX]

In the box there's a compartment for the battery, and the voltage converter with an off-on switch.

If there is a voltage converter then there is no high-voltage battery. Such a battery is directly connected to the capacitator.

The manual does not mention a high-voltage battery either.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

If there is a voltage converter then there is no high-voltage battery. Such a battery is directly connected to the capacitator.

The manual does not mention a high-voltage battery either.

Inside the compartment it says "510V battery".

 

[AgX]

I guess they added that feature in a further version (as it would need at least one additional contact). Don't know about the electronics in that holder.

I'm not sure such batteries were used in Germany at all in that period. I only learned about those from US products and by such a battery being listed (in the international catalogue) with a Sunpak flash.

 

[bdial]

I'd much rather invest my time, energy and money into getting the Norman 400B this came with up and running. At least the Norman's batteries are rechargeable, replaceable, and the Norman packs a 400 w/s wallop.

That does make more sense than messing with the Braun, as nice as it might be.

 

[Steve Smith]

That does make more sense than messing with the Braun, as nice as it might be.

Whilst that is logical, I know what I would be doing right now!

I'm not sure such batteries were used in Germany at all in that period. I only learned about those from US products and by such a battery being listed (in the international catalogue) with a Sunpak flash.

I think they were originally used in geiger counter radiation detectors. There were also 90v and 67.5v batteries for portable valve radios. These also had integral 1.4v cells for the filament supply.


Steve.

 

[AgX]

By sheer accident I come across this flash today. For the first time.

If ever you feel down and small, you must get you one!

If there is a voltage converter then there is no high-voltage battery. Such a battery is directly connected to the capacitator.

It seems most if not all flash electronics are in that carry-on box. A later high-voltage batterý was just inserted there in place of the lead- or nicad-battery.

 

[AgX]

Inside the generator box (version with no marking for 510V), thus inside the battery compartment are 4 plugs, 1-4 (designated from outside).

1&2 take 8.4V with + at 1

I'm not sure about 3&4. But most probably 1, 3 and 4 take all the + polarities (Lead, NiCad, High-Voltage) and 2 takes the ground.