Camtraptions Z1 Flash

[dangriga]

Hi all,

I recently bought some Z1 flashes as I was ordering some stuff from camtraptions anyways.
I have so far worked with Nikon SB-28's without any issues. I definitely should have done more research before buying. The battery life of these flashes is abysmal and for my purposes makes them unusable.
I refuse to buy the overpriced battery packs by camtraptions. Now I ask myself if I can use aa dummy batteries and connect them to a d-cell to enhance battery life? anybody here has experience with this?

I was thinking of buying these dummy batteries:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Kcibyvx-Universal-Battery-Eliminator-Adapter-4AA/dp/B08RDTDNNQ/ref=sr_1_14?crid=2WCDGJIJH3ZI5&keywords=aa%2Bdummy&qid=1681160254&sprefix=aa%2Bdummy%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-14&th=1

and soldering them onto this:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/dp/B000QJBIGK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Thanks in advance for the help!

[-jeff]

Welcome to the forum......

I have done that with the SB28 to extend the field time. I used a couple wood dowels and screws. Maybe you could do the same thing with the camtraptions flash.


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Also, another flash that has the same characteristics as the Nikon SB is the Neewer Speedlight 750 II. Great battery life due to the sleep mode and quick wake.

See this forum thread for details. https://www.cameratrapper.com/showthread.php?387-Performance-Comparison-Between-Nikon-SB-28-and-Other-Speedlights/page2

Good luck with your camera trapping project. Hope to see some resulting images here.

[dangriga]

Very cool! I will give this a try. otherwise i am gonna have to sell them.

[dangriga]

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I soldered the dummybatteries on and connected them to the mono-d holder. the flash has power, but cannot fire.
also sometimes there's the battery sign flashing as if it is running out of batteries.

Any ideas what the issue is?

[-jeff]

It's a little hard to tell without being able to see what the wires are connected to. There should not be any batteries in the flash. On the SB28 flash the AA batteries are connected in series. So, dummy batteries are in the ends of the battery compartment. One for positive and one for negative. The Camtraptions flash could be different. Plus your EBL batteries are 1.2 volts each. Two in series would be 2.4 volts. The four AA batteries total up to about 6 volts. Or, are there four cells in the battery holder?

[dangriga]

All the batteries inside are dummies. Just one of them has wires though.
Good news though. I connected it all to a 4x d-cell holder and now the flash works.
Let's find out how long it lasts in the field though.

Thanks for helping out a technical noob like me!