Pimped out Vivitar 285hv

Ok, so I bought this flash from b&h thinking it'd be great for fill until i could get my 2nd/3rd ab800. Well I have to tell you the recycle time on this unit was really bad. (spoiled by the ab800 + vagabond II?) Now I wasn't tooooo concerned w/the size of my power supply. I was actually looking for something kinda heavy to hold the cheap stands down. So anyway... I read some tutorial about using a 6v battery and creating dummy batts/getting another battery holder/blah blah too much purchasing. I used a 6v we had in the garage and I opened it up and soldered 2 wires right to the power source and drilled and exit. I made an extension cable was ready to go! Now if i ever choose too I can still throw batteries in it and throw on the hot shoe for terrible photos! haha.

I also soldered the pc cord that came with it right to the flash and drilled an exit to that too... the cable it came with was way cheap and felt like crap.

Then i bridged the rcvr (ebay trigger did not fire my flash at all out the box) and velcro'd it to the 285. I also chopped the cable off of the trigger so less wires hang.

Anyway enough talk.. here are the pics.

Nice, just put the batt in ur pocket for outdoor missions I have the same flash, and will agree the recycle is a little long

Good work !
Watch out the heat. It is very easy to fry a flash this way if you take too many shots in a row.
A slow recycle time is a kind of an assurance against overheating.

ya I try not to fire them off like that.. there's usually a small delay when i have to re-compose/whatever. I keep an eye on it though.