[Big Dave]

Hello everyone,
I picked up a nice Vivitar 285 in a deal. It has only 7.5 trigger voltage which is fine for my K100D Super. The issue is that when I first tested it, I used NIMH batteries, which didn't allow it to power up. I thought that it was defective and set it aside. Later when I went to repair it, I used alkaline batteries and it works great. I also used ni-cads, which worked fine. Other then that, I had to use a couple of jewlers screw drivers to adjust the tension on the side contact. It wouldn't fire from the camera, until I increased the tension. I had read that some 285HV models sold in the UK wouldn't fire through the camera. This may be the reason. So why won't NIMH batteries work?

Dave

[imadethis]

Hi Dave, the Vivitar 285 will work with NIMH batteries. There seem to be several issues with your flash, but as for NIMH batteries, I can confirm through personal experience that NIMH batteries do work with the 285. If the flash worked with Nicad batteries, they should work with NIMH as they are the same voltage. Could it be that one of the NIMH batteries was low on power or could be a dead battery?

Cheers!

[Entropy]

I don't know about older 285s, but the new 285HVs work fine with NiMHs. MPEX sells all of their Strobist kits with a 285HV + NiMHs + charger, and I use NiMHs in mine all the time.

[Big Dave]

Hi Dave, the Vivitar 285 will work with NIMH batteries. There seem to be several issues with your flash, but as for NIMH batteries, I can confirm through personal experience that NIMH batteries do work with the 285. If the flash worked with Nicad batteries, they should work with NIMH as they are the same voltage. Could it be that one of the NIMH batteries was low on power or could be a dead battery?

Cheers!

One of the reasons that I tried ni-cads was to see if the 1.2 volts per cell was a factor with this flash. The 2500 mah NIMH cells are all good and used in my camera often. The only thing that I can see is that the nimh cells are fatter and fit very tight. This may be causing distortion of the assembly and loosing contact. They are energizer brand. It just seems strange.

Dave