Canon 199A broken?

[Andy Perrin]

I inherited a Canon 199A from my sister when she moved to Colorado, and I've been trying to get it working for UV. I successfully modified it by removing the fresnel lens, but can't get it going. I've never owned a flash, so I'm not sure what's supposed to happen, but here's what I'm doing. I put the batteries in, checked the polarity to make sure they were going the right way, switched the "ON" button, and...nothing. There are no glowing LEDs, no noise, and pushing the button marked TEST had no effect. Putting it on the camera and trying to shoot some pictures also didn't do anything. Any idea what could be going on?

[ulf]

I think that the most likely reason is that the big energy storage capacitor has failed and become short-circuited.

This often happen due to old age and a long time without usage.

Then the load on the voltage multiplying circuit will block the function completely.

Electronic flashes must be exercised from time to time to be kept alive.

 

You can also check if the contact-springs in the battery compartment and battery holder are clean and without any oxide from leaking batteries.

 

A working 199A will whine while charging the capacitor and a indication lamp will be lit.

(No LED, they were not invented when the 199A was designed)

When the cap-charge is high enough the whine and lamp light will be intermittent .

[Andy Perrin]

Aw, bummer. I got another one from her that I haven’t tried yet. Hope it is still alive.

[Cadmium]

I have a few of the 199A flashes, and one of them is like that also. Mine was probably like that when I got it, but I didn't check it until later.

[dabateman]

I bought one like that for $4, just to get the sliding top filter cover to add a ZWB2 filter. See if the contacts are actually clean. Take the battery holder out and test its leads with a volt meter. Also check if there is deposits or oil inside the flash main compartment.

If still fails after cleaning, then most likely the capacitor has failed and your out of luck.

I took mine apart, the capacitor is huge and super dangerous.

 

This is an image of the Canon 199A Capacitor:

 

It takes up the whole space of the flash hinge area and is much larger than a USA quarter.

[Andrea B.]

Electronic flashes must be exercised from time to time to be kept alive.

 

This is something I did not know. Thanks, Ulf!!! :D

 

 

Please do be careful when tinkering with flashes. You can kill yourself on the flash capacitor.

[Shane]

I take mine for a walk about once a month.