# Braun 320 TVC flash whining



## joel.hunter (Mar 19, 2017)

I know flashes generally whine, but I recently dug my dad's old Braun 320 TVC out of the closet. He used it on his Pentax. I put some AA batteries in it as the manual described, but when closing the battery compartment, it made a whining noise going from low to high. This is normal, I thought, until it had been going at a relatively high pitch for maybe 10 seconds and the unit was starting to crackle and make funny "things are about to overload and go pop" noises. Should I be concerned or should I let it do its thing? I don't want to ruin it or have something dangerous happen.


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## tirediron (Mar 19, 2017)

If I had to guess, I'd say this flash is done.  How long has the flash been sitting unused?  Those sound like classic 'electrolytic capacitor about to lose the magic smoke' noises.  Flashes store their power in an electrolytic capacitor, which is prone to degradation after extended periods of non-use.  In some cases it is possible to 'recondition' them, but again it depends on how long they've been sitting.


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## joel.hunter (Mar 19, 2017)

tirediron said:


> If I had to guess, I'd say this flash is done.  How long has the flash been sitting unused?  Those sound like classic 'electrolytic capacitor about to lose the magic smoke' noises.  Flashes store their power in an electrolytic capacitor, which is prone to degradation after extended periods of non-use.  In some cases it is possible to 'recondition' them, but again it depends on how long they've been sitting.


According to my dad, about 20 or so years... I did actually end up braving it last night, and it fires a nice bright flash with the test button, but I couldn't get it to fire on either his Pentax or my OM-1n on the hot shoes. He says he never used a PC Sync cable on his Pentax.


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## tirediron (Mar 19, 2017)

I'm surprised; happy for you, but surprised that the magic smoke didn't escape.  Check the hot shoe contact for corrosion as a possible cause for not firing.


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## joel.hunter (Mar 19, 2017)

tirediron said:


> I'm surprised; happy for you, but surprised that the magic smoke didn't escape.  Check the hot shoe contact for corrosion as a possible cause for not firing.


Doesn't seem corroded. Still shiny on both the shoes and the flash unit. Maybe I'll take it apart and see what's up inside.


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## joel.hunter (Mar 19, 2017)

The flash works on a Canon T5 DSLR, but neither of the film cameras although they all have the center contact point that should allow them to work without a sync cable. I've tried every different configuration I can think of or find in the manuals of each. I think it is unlikely that only the hot shoe connection is broken on each camera, as they're both in perfect condition.


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## Derrel (Mar 19, 2017)

How weird that the flash will fire on a digital SLR but not on two film cameras. Huh.


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## joel.hunter (Mar 19, 2017)

Derrel said:


> How weird that the flash will fire on a digital SLR but not on two film cameras. Huh.


I know, totally weird. Even my dad who had successfully used the flash no problem in the past (albeit 20 years ago, probably) could not make it work.


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## Derrel (Mar 19, 2017)

Well, the best possible procedure on shoe-mount flashes is to connect them with a 7-inch PC cord, directly to the camera's PC connection port: that will almost always fire the flash.


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## joel.hunter (Mar 19, 2017)

Derrel said:


> Well, the best possible procedure on shoe-mount flashes is to connect them with a 7-inch PC cord, directly to the camera's PC connection port: that will almost always fire the flash.


Yeah I'll have to buy a cord somewhere, it's just weird and a bit inconvenient that it doesn't work without it. Very very odd.


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## Derrel (Mar 19, 2017)

FlashZebra.com has PC connection cords at fair prices. Plus lots of other wonderful flash ancillary products. As far as it goes, some of these old-tech flash units are actually quite useful with a d-slr. There's a common misconception that one needs TTL flash control and metering, and so on, but that is really NOT the case.

FlashZebra.com


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## joel.hunter (Mar 19, 2017)

Yes once I figured it out I took a few cool photos with the DSLR. Unfortunately it is not mine and I didn't get to experiment much further haha. I'll check there because it comes out to around $35-45 Canadian for one from B&H.


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