Minolta 4000 AF + ebay trigger

A combination that doesn´t normally work... but after putting a piece of wire between the battery holder and one of the syncing contacts it fires reliably...

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Comments

emarc says:

It works! Awesome! I'll buy you a cold one when you visit Turku :-)

...any idea what it does to the batterylife, btw?
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

shatt0r says:

Hey!

I´m glad if I could help you! :)
No clue if this reduces batterylife though... I´m still on the one it came with... ;)
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

Zuid says:

I'm really excited to see this hack - I just finished frying my beloved 4000AF trying to get it to work with an ebay trigger.

Can you explain _why_ your hack works?

I know the 4000AF has a very very low trigger voltage, and that the reason the trigger doesn't work properly is because it actually causes a drop of more than the flash's trigger voltage when it contacts, so the flash sees no connection.

How does joining what appears to be the negative on the hotshoe to the negative on the battery solve the problem?
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

shatt0r says:

I have no clue why it works, Zuid.
I guess it somehow gets some extra juice into the circuit that causes the flash to "see" a connection.

Sorry to hear about your flash, but you didn´t fry it by trying this mod, did you?
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

Zuid says:

No, I only found this mod after it was already dead. :) When I turn it on now, the LCD backlights come on, but that's it. No charging, no flash, and no response to any buttons.

Oh well, at least they're (relatively) cheap second hand! The strobist people haven't found them yet. :)

..so soon I'll have another one to experiment with - and I'll let you know if it works. :)
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

Zuid says:

Okay, so I finally got a replacement Minolta 4000 and did a similar hack on my 16 channel ebay triggers (joining the PC ground to the battery negative terminal). Now it triggers every single time with no problems whatsoever.

Thankyou again for this hack! :)
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

shatt0r says:

no problem, glad it works for you! :D
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

PetrikPV says:

Hello,

I m sending request for solution for my following:

During browse flickr I check site and I was interested in radio wireless triggering device

In these days I would like to solve problem of using remote wireless fire of system flashes.

I am owner of film SLR Minolta Dynax 7 and digital SLR Konica Minolta Dynax 7D and Sony Alpha system..

I use system flash Minolta 5600 HSD and Minolta 5400 HS.

Is there any solution how to fire by radio signal these two system flashes out from body of SLR?

Can you offer me or recommend some solution for this case?

Can I consider this "radio wireless triggering device" a solution for me?

That means It should work with Minolta or Sony DSLR together Minolta or Sony wireless trigger flash?

Will be worked your combination Minolta 4000 AF + ebay trigger with my Minolta 5600 HS D and Dynax 7D or Sony Alpha? What kind of ebay trigger do you have?

Do you need some adapter fo flashes? ( FS-1100 and FS-1200? )¨

Thank you for your answer.I look forward to any action.

Petrik
Posted 25 months ago. ( permalink )

txg99 says:

this works with a 420ez and cactus v1 too. these are normally incompatible.
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

shatt0r says:

so it seems some flashes simply demand more power to actually fire...

there was talk about some special editon of cactus v2 that delivers more power... did these ever come true?

anyways... I think I´m gonna get some of sony´s new 42 flashes sometime soon... these are strong enough for me and I can trigger them without any extra gadgets... but still... for eventual cases with no line of sight the cactusses will remain in my bag... ;D
Posted 22 months ago. ( permalink )

Tony Maro says:

I'm just an amateur at electronics, but sounds like what the wire solves is a weak ground connection. The negative on the battery would connect to the ground of the circuit board. If that connection was weak somewhere along the way it might pick up interference easier maybe?

Point being, you're basically reinforcing the ground of the entire circuit.
Posted 21 months ago. ( permalink )

mark.boyle1960 says:

Thanks for this. My triggers (PT-04) worked fine to begin with, but were going down hill. One was 50% two not at all (Vivitar285HV). Now all three 100% Why don't they just bridge the neg terminal to the jack in the first place?!! I just cut a thin sheet of brass to run from under the spring and slide in under the jack screw mount (right next to it). Works a treat!
Posted 19 months ago. ( permalink )

Snowbron says:

hmm... doesn't work with my 5600HS
Posted 17 months ago. ( permalink )

vokoda [deleted] says:

what kind of e-bay trigger did you use? I plan to buy a 4000 AF and have Cactus V2s triggers. Is the 4000s trigger voltage compatible with the Cactus V2s or it shall be triggered with a V1 or V2?
Thanks
Posted 16 months ago. ( permalink )

shatt0r says:

I used the old version... V1...
V2 shold also work...
I´m afraid, I have no clue about the difference between V2s and the normal ones...

and also: 4000AF flashes go to sleep (standbye) after around 10 minutes... dunno if there is a way to stop them from doing so...

the whole thing was more "proof-of-concept"-type than actually using 4000AFs...
if you don´t mind the bulk I´d recommend metz 45 type flashes... but be careful to get ones with manual-mode... older ct1 only have 1/1 power in manual-mode...
Posted 16 months ago. ( permalink )

vokoda [deleted] says:

thanks
Posted 15 months ago. ( permalink )

Radu.B says:

Thanks a lot for this trick!
Before this mod I was only able to sync at 1/40, now I can 1/200!

I have the V2 PT-04 transmitter / Receiver.
Posted 15 months ago. ( permalink )

vex3d says:

Ok, this thread is old, but how about using an ebay trigger to change the power settings? I am guessing that directly wiring the button that controls power to an ebay trigger would allow remote control of power. Any thoughts?
Posted 14 months ago. ( permalink )

Chris Bail says:

Thank for this...I was trying to figure out why my 4000AF wouldn't fire on the PT-04 trigger, and I got it to do so with a scrap bit of wire. Now to wire something up semi-permanent....
Posted 12 months ago. ( permalink )

Јason says:

Just bought one of these flashes due to manual control, tested it and didnt work on my cactus.

So I will be trying your Mod, thank you for sharing this information
Posted 11 months ago. ( permalink )

tjkphoto says:

FWIW...triggers do not provide "power" to trip the flash...

The flash head has a capacitive voltage between the contacts on its shoe. When there is a connection across the contacts, the charge dumps and the flash knows to fire. this is why some flash systems can damage some cameras. My speedotron pack puts waaaaay over 6v out - I don't remember if it was 70 or 270 but it was up there.
Posted 8 months ago. ( permalink )

Gem]n[ says:

I had an erratic/unreliable problem with a couple of Lumiere L60217 Slave Strobe Flash Triggers recently ...

www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/ item-Details... L60217

These units (and possible other types), as I just found out myself, is due to a Ground connection that seems to have a loop in it ... therefore picking up noise from all over ... also the soldering itself has a lot to be desired and the far east is known for that ... and that's from experience ...

There are two boards inside these units ... the little RX (receiver) board and the battery/trigger board ... the RX board is 'held' in place by 3 solder points ... the 4th point (the RX ground connection) was NOT even soldered ... that solder point is supposed to connect to the main ground plane of the battery/trigger board ... therefore the unsoldered ground was making a trip all round the RX board to who knows where ... a simple solder joint to the original unsoldered pads would rectify this ... or you could just connect a wire from the battery ground to the ground of the RX board ... the ground for the PC sync cable is also connected to this same ground point ... that could cause a voltage drop to the PC sync connector and cause the flash to trigger erratically ...

Looking at other photos of different triggers they all seem to have very similar circuitry (especially the little RX board) ... the hacks are not really hacks they are just doing the unfinished work that should have been done at the factories ... albeit good work mind ...

cheers,
Gem
:)
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

chopsharris says:

This trick worked with my ebay PT-04 triggers on my mum's old Minolt 1800AF too. Much appreciated!
Posted 7 months ago. ( permalink )

olli.modosch says:

works perfect with the Pt-04 and 420 EZ!
Thanks
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

PSCHT! says:

Hi! thanks alot for this hack! tested with minolta auto 360 px and it works now! yeah!
Posted 5 months ago. ( permalink )

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Taken with a Konica Minolta DYNAX 7D.
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Taken on May 19, 2007
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Minolta 4000 AF + ebay trigger

Comments

emarc says:

shatt0r says:

Zuid says:

shatt0r says:

Zuid says:

Zuid says:

shatt0r says:

PetrikPV says:

txg99 says:

shatt0r says:

Tony Maro says:

mark.boyle1960 says:

Snowbron says:

vokoda [deleted] says:

shatt0r says:

vokoda [deleted] says:

Radu.B says:

vex3d says:

Chris Bail says:

Јason says:

tjkphoto says:

Gem]n[ says:

chopsharris says:

olli.modosch says:

PSCHT! says:

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