74 replies to this topic

[PRC]

Are you sure that your old DS125's have NIMH ?

Only as far as I am aware Ike have not been shipping NIMH cell packs long enough for any to have reached the replacement stage.

Don't know the exact dates but they have only been shipping NIMH packs for a couple of years.

And if the old packs are NiCad then YES you do need a new charger.

Paul C

[SoCalSwami]

Hello Wetpixel World.

Thanks OP for getting the ball rolling on this project. My recent acquisition of a older Ni-Cad packed DS125 will undoubtedly need this upgrade. I am thinking I will go with the 4.5Ahr cells simply because I am a distant cousin of Tim Taylor.

I hope to contribute to the forum in the future ( Read: this is my new guy required first post).

Mike
Carlsbad, CA

[divinman]

Hello Wetpixel World.

Thanks OP for getting the ball rolling on this project. My recent acquisition of a older Ni-Cad packed DS125 will undoubtedly need this upgrade. I am thinking I will go with the 4.5Ahr cells simply because I am a distant cousin of Tim Taylor.

I hope to contribute to the forum in the future ( Read: this is my new guy required first post).

Mike
Carlsbad, CA

Welcome to the DIY forum. Having seen your 1trillion candle power DIY dive light I am sure you will have no problem with this upgrade.....and then you can do my old NiCad pack as well.

[SoCalSwami]

Thanks divinman for representing the welcoming wagon;)
I will order the cells we need to make the upgrade. Should be ~$30+shipping.

Edited by SoCalSwami, 02 December 2008 - 12:55 PM.

[Cussy]

One of my two DS-125s runs flat much quicker than the other; and the annoying thing is I often then have no flash at all. If I charge them both and fire them full power, how many flashes should a healthy one with NiCd's give, and when should I decide an upgrade to NiMH is needed?
Cheers,
Rob

[divinman]

One of my two DS-125s runs flat much quicker than the other; and the annoying thing is I often then have no flash at all. If I charge them both and fire them full power, how many flashes should a healthy one with NiCd's give, and when should I decide an upgrade to NiMH is needed?
Cheers,
Rob

I believe the Ike site gives how many full power flashes a new strobe should provide but I doubt it is for the old style nicads. When I had a battery pack that was dying I would put it on the strobe head connected to the non-primary connection of my dual sync cable. In doing that the primary will continue to fire after the secondary (strobe connected to the cable with the red lable) dies.

I can squeeze about 200 photos out of my strobes but I am using TTL so am not getting a full dump every time.

Terry

[PRC]

Just rebuilding a couple of my packs now so.

Bit more info for the thread.

O-Rings.

Rear one on the spindle is BS006
On the on/off control we have a 'Quad' or X-Ring BS012 size
Battery / Flash interface ring is BS236

O-Rings are available from a number of online suppliers but start with Polymax in the UK. Note I have not used them myself as I keep O-Rings.

In the UK I got batteries from Cell Pack Solutions, they show zero stock but order them anyway and they will tag them as required.

Paul C

[Cussy]

O-Rings.

Rear one on the spindle is BS006
On the on/off control we have a 'Quad' or X-Ring BS012 size
Battery / Flash interface ring is BS236

Paul,
Cheers for this. Quick question: Nitrile or Viton (or doesn't it matter)?

I've just ordered the batteries and charger from the states, so my mod will be happening sooner rather than later,
Rob

Edited by Cussy, 28 January 2009 - 04:23 AM.

[secretsea18]

Paul,
Cheers for this. Quick question: Nitrile or Viton (or doesn't it matter)?

I've just ordered the batteries and charger from the states, so my mod will be happening sooner rather than later,
Rob

Where did you order batteries from, and what were the catalog #s?

[Cussy]

Where did you order batteries from, and what were the catalog #s?

Here: http://www.batteryju...epiofsc38m.html

[PRC]

Where did you order batteries from, and what were the catalog #s?

Click the words "cell pack solutions" it is a link directly to the catalog page at £3.25 each it is a no brainer.

They keep chargers and stuff also - no connection to me but they are very responsive and seem keen to help.

Nitrile or Viton

Nitrile (NBR) Viton tends to be hard and stiff - don't go there for this application.

Paul C

Edited by PRC, 28 January 2009 - 01:06 PM.

[PRC]

Just finishing my second pack - couple of notes - you may choose to learn from my mistakes and out takes or not.

When taking apart the lever that holds the pack on the back of the strobe to get to the O-Ring in there you have two choices.

1: Remove the nut buried in the black plastic sleeve on the inside of the pack or

2: Push the roll pin out of the lever and remove the shaft with the black sleeve from the inside.

On my first pack I got away with #1 on my second pack the nut had suffered a dose of locktite or similar and I sheered the brass thread right off the end

My first reaction was to re-make the whole pin in 316 but the quick and dirty fix is to bore and thread the end of the shaft and studlock a stub of M3 stainless threaded rod in there - which is what I will do tonight.

Watch out for the three screws holding the inside plate to the casing - one is shorter than the other two.

If you are making up your own cell pack use a piece of 1 1/4" dia materiel as a former - a couple of rubber bands will hold the batteries in place while you fix them. I used hot glue to first bond the batteries to each other before soldering the tags. However if you do use hot glue be careful of not using too much as the casing screws need the space between the batteries to pass by the batteries. On my second pack I did the hot glue stuff on the inside taking care not to glue the former to the batteries.

Those batteries are tight - if the diameter is larger than those in there (22.3mm in my case) you are in for a hell of a job.

Paul C

[Grayscale]

No one that have any images of this operation?

[PRC]

Will take some tomorrow as I re-assemble the second pack if you like.

Paul C

[PRC]

Some Images and a couple of new observations.




Battery Pack and former. Watch that you build the pack the 'right' way around or you will end up with the +ve and -ve terminals swapped - this will not be funny.
Yea, this is my 'old' pack that got a bit wet, the new one was built and fitted before I took the picture.




Built pack - showing location of long and short screws



Knob build - this is one of the finest pieces of design stupidity I have encountered for a while.
While thinking about it in the bath last night I decided that there had to be another O-Ring involved in the switch assembly.
Well here it is, BS004, under the head of the screw. Put it in dry, do not lube as it may extrude when the screw is tightened up.
I may fill behind the screw head with RTV as I can't say I trust this much at all.



This is the one that I sheered off and broke. Drilled and tapped M3, put in a M3 stub.



Build order for springs and shaft, I have left the battery case out of the shot for clarity. Essentially the battery case comes between the LHS spring and the black plastic piece that controls the 90 deg of rotation.



The PCB is not properly aligned yet in this shot - move it with a screwdriver then put the knob in place, I found the best way was to fit the quad ring to the knob before inserting it into the body.

The screws are not yet fitted which is why the back plate is at a wonky angle.

Be careful how the screw is tightened - not enough it will leak - too much you will strip the thread out or extrude the O-Ring bodge that is going on underneath.

If anyone needs the quad rings I have just ordered some spares for myself (I ordered 10).

Paul C

Edited by PRC, 30 January 2009 - 07:36 AM.

[Grayscale]

Haha... "Wonky"...

Thanks for the images Paul... Might by a drowned pack from a friend to practice on before my own needs a mod/upgrade.

/K

[PRC]

Haha... "Wonky"...

Yea, sorry about that - while English is my primary language it does not mean that I have mastered it yet.

Anyhow it's a technical term

If anyone has a drowned battery I am in the market for a 'spare'. After seeing how that switch is put together I may be needing one sooner than I think.

Paul C

[blibecap]

Just thought I would mention a couple of other things.

If you are just replaceing the batteries there is no need to take apart the lever that holds the pack on the back of the strobe to get to the O-Ring in there unless it is leaking.

I have done two of mine and have used this source for batteries. http://www.batterysp...mp;Category=226

I used the 3300 batteries and even tho the site says .91 dia they actually measured .865, my old Ikelite NIMH batteries were .875 .

I actually used a old roll of tape as the outside diameter but think that something on the inside would be easer.

Great thread, just wish I would have found it before I did my two.

Bill Libecap

[blibecap]

Hey Dave
I have a question for you. Does your battery pack have a diode between the recharger plug and the battery pack? You can tell with a vom. the plug will not show any voltage when you measure it. the charger I purchased CHUN-0409ARC would not start charging the pack with the diode in place. I had to add a 1meg resistor across the diode.

Bill Libecap

I updated the oldest of my battery packs last night without much difficulty. The only troublesome part was glue the cells together cleanly to hold their shape in the battery housing. I'll report back on how it all works after I've given it a try.

Here are the parts I bought for this project:

Name Code Qty Each Options
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Smart Universal Battery CHUN122 1 27.95
Pack Charger: 7.2V - 12V,

1 SubC 3800 mAh high Tenergy-Sub-C-3800x001-TABS 12 3.39
capacity NiMH Rechargeable battery with tabs

Subtotal 68.63

[PRC]

Neither of my packs had any kind of diode.

Paul C