Viviar 285 problem...

[TheFilmBot]

... So I opened up the battery compartment in my Vivitar 285 (non HV) and noticed that the battery magazine was full of battery acid. I took it out looked in the slot and there was no battery acid inside the flash. I grabbed my second magazine replaced it with new batteries, and it wont charge or fire at all. What happened?!

Did the battery acid fry the flash in some way?

Is there any way to fix it?

[Canon400]

clean it out may work

[pswann]

There's a guy named Al Jacobs who makes battery packs for flashes. On his site he says this:

The number one repair on the Vivitar 285, (I have cleaned a hundred) is the corrosion of the battery compartment caused by people forgetting about leaking AA's, leaving them in after a shoot hot and then moisture corrodes and ruptures the cells and there goes the compartment.

Don't know if this means it needs to be sent in to someone to be cleaned, or if you can do it yourself. Might be worth contacting him and asking some questions, though.

http://www.aljacobs.com/ultimate_vivitar_285hv_page.htm

[SolidxSnake]

I don't know about the 285, but the 283 is very straightforward to pull apart and put back together. It's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing so leave it to someone that does. Cleaning the terminals shouldn't be hard, and if they are completely busted you can always replace them. Don't trash the flash, if you don't want to repair it or get it repaired sell it as-is to someone who can fix it :)

[TheFilmBot]

There's a guy named Al Jacobs who makes battery packs for flashes. On his site he says this:

The number one repair on the Vivitar 285, (I have cleaned a hundred) is the corrosion of the battery compartment caused by people forgetting about leaking AA's, leaving them in after a shoot hot and then moisture corrodes and ruptures the cells and there goes the compartment.

Don't know if this means it needs to be sent in to someone to be cleaned, or if you can do it yourself. Might be worth contacting him and asking some questions, though.

http://www.aljacobs.com/ultimate_vivitar_285hv_page.htm

Yeah, but the weird thing is that the battery compartment is battery acid free...

[SolidxSnake]

Yeah, but the weird thing is that the battery compartment is battery acid free...

The contacts may be very dirty.

Try loading it and shaking the flash a bit. I know my 283 sometimes doesn't charge after loading new batteries, but if I shake it really slightly something will move into place and it will start charging. I'm not sure what causes this, but I figure it has something to do with the way I'm using the flash. You see, when I got my 283 from my uncle, he lost the battery magazine, so there was no way to power the flash "the right way". I decided to pop out the battery door and coat it with copper foil in order to complete the circuit that is normally completed by the metal contacts in the magazine. I figure that there is a slight amount of extra room in my compartment because there is no magazine.

Regardless, I have a feeling that something isn't making good contact. Or maybe some of the circuitry died. Only one way to find out, anyhow. Physical examination.