Ceyoo flash will not flash

[AnthonyM]

My IIIF came today after it was cleaned and repaired by DAG. He also cleaned my Summitar. I must say, the glass looks new now and the camera works like a Swiss watch.

I decided to try the IIIF with flashbulbs. A few weeks ago, I bought 3 Leica metal Ceyoo flashguns on ebay for $10. I also purchased two 22.5 volt batteries at Radio Shack for the units.

I put batteries in two of the Ceyoos along with a #5 bulb. I plugged the cord into the back of the IIIF and set the camera to a 30th of a second. I pressed on the shutter release button and nothng happened. I tried the second unit and nothing happened. I tried another sync cord and still no flash.

I took the bulbs out of the Ceyoo and put it in the third unit. I switched batteries and fired the third unit. Still no flash.

I removed the bulbs from the Ceyoos and put them one at a time into my Honeywell Tilt-a-mite. I pluged that unit into the IIIF and fired it. Nothing happened. I pushed the tip harder into the socket of the IIIF and tried again. This time it fired. The second bulb also fired after 3 tries. Does the capacitor take time to charge or should that not matter?

I noted that the tip on the sync cord of the Honeywell is a bit longer than the tips on the Leica Sync cords. Also, the hole in the tip of the Leica cords was black. I wonder if the cords are corroded and if so, where can i get new cords.

 

[Luddite Frank]

Anthony,

Leica liked to silver-plate the contact surfaces on flash gear back then... after sitting around for 50 years, the silver plating frequently has gone black (oxidized) and no longer makes good contact.

My CHICO flashes were balky at first, then I went after the contact strips, etc with a pencil eraser and cleaned them up. For the plug on the sync cord, I just pushed the plug into the eraser, while rotating the pencil back & forth between my thumb & fingers... it cleaned them up considerably.

If you have the "lock-on" Leitz PC cord with the satin-silver cover, you may need to use a smaller eraser, such as you find on the .07 or .05mm mechanical pencils.

Actually, I would start by connecting a modern electronic flash to your III-f, and using that to check the camera at all sync settings, just to make sure the camera-end of things is working. ( I know you don't much care for electronic flashes - I'm suggesting it only as a diagnostic tool...)

I had to do some fiddling to get my CEYOO to work; eventually everything checked-out okay with both the camera and the flash, but the bulbs still would not go-off... I started looking at the bulbs themselves, and noticed that the lead center button was oxidized with a hard gray coating... so I rubbed it across my work pants and shined it up a bit, and the bulb then flashed...

The CEYOO used to be furnished with an incandescent test bulb - which looks a lot like a #63 bulb used as a parking / license plate lamp in cars with the old 6-volt electrical systems... with the CEYOO connected to the camera, the test bulb is inserted into the flash, which causes the B-C pack to charge, then after about 30 seconds, you fire the shutter: the test bulb should filament should flash briefly. It's not a bright flash by any means - just enough to indicate that the flash gun and camera sync are working.

Good luck !

LF

 

[John Shriver]

Did you replace the capacitor? It could be leaky, and unwilling to hold charge. Moreover, if it's leaky, it will drain the battery, since it's in parallel with it.

I had to replace the capacitor both in my 1960's Honeywell Tilt-a-Mite, and in my Canon Y flashgun.

 

[AnthonyM]

Frank,

Thank you for the eraser idea. I will try it. However, I see what you mean about the metal turning black. Mine is very black. I think I need new cords. Are they still made?


John,

Thanks for your input. The Ceyoo has no capacitor. The Honeywells have new ones I got at Radio Shack.

 

[Luddite Frank]

re: CEYOO and capacitor: there were two different battery cartridges available for the CEYOO:

1) A cartridge using four "penlite" ( AAA ) batteries in series, producing 6 volts, no capacitor.

2) A "B-C" cartridge using the rectangular 22,5 volt battery (forgot the number again - 412 ? ). The rest of the cartridge, between the two phenolic end plates, is "wrapped" with a tin cover, painted flat-black: this hides the capacitor and related wiring.

AFAIK, with both the CEYOO and the CHICO, the charging does not begin until a bulb is inserted.

I think I have four or five complete CEYOO's; only one of them has the ( 4x) penlite cartridge; the rest have the 22.5v B-C cartridge.

Regarding contacts turning black: Leitz also silver-plated all the contacts inside the CEYOO and on the B-C cartridge, so take the pencil eraser to those too...


As for "new" PC cords - you might find someone with New-Old-Stock Leitz cords, but I don't think anyone today makes a cord that has the Leitz flat, two-prong, polarized plug that goes into the base of the CEYOO. Likewise, I do not know if any other manufacturer made a cord with that flat "lock-on" PC terminal at the camera-end.

The flat two-prong plug, and the silver lock-on plug do have screws holding them together, so that suggests that they could be taken apart and grafted onto a new cord, if necessary.

Generally, these don't go bad, except on professional equipment that's seen a LOT of wear: in that case, it's usually at a flex-point, and the jacket looks torn or "different", and the cable might seem flabbier than the rest of it. ( I'm thinking of the spiral-coiled sync cords for the Honeywell Potato-masher: I've got a couple of those that have fatigue-failure near the plug ).

If you suspect the sync cord, I would check it out with a continuity tester or multi-meter .


Good luck !

LF