At 09:55 PM 7/18/2001 -0500, Curt Hedman wrote:
>Hello, all ---
>
>Once again, a technical question. Does the capacitor in T32 and/or T20 flashes
>need to be 'formed' after a period of no use? How best can said forming be
>done?
"Forming" appears to be somewhat controversial. The first time I ran into the
concept was with my Vivitar 283 flashes -- the instruction manuals direct the
user to "form" the capacitor once a month or so by turning the flash on,
allowing the capacitor to fully charge, wait 10 seconds or so, then fire the
flash on full-dump manual, and repeat the entire process five times. Then
allow the capacitor to charge up once more, and turn the flash off. This is
usually sufficient.
In a discussion about this topic a year or so ago, various List members seemed
to think that forming the capacitor was, strictly speaking, unnecessary. I
remain unconvinced -- electrolytics need to be juiced up every so often, or
they lose their ability to hold a charge (which is why of all the electronic
components you can buy, the one type you're not recommended to stockpile is
electrolytic capacitors). I form all my flashes once a month -- it's no big
deal, and assuming there's no real problem, it's also harmless.
Garth
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