I've been tapping camera flash circuits for their capacitor charging abilities for a while, and I finally wanted to build my own.
My question is, why are commercial camera flash circuits complicated compared to home-made chargers?
For example, I found the original flash circuit for a Kodak disposable that I use frequently.
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/kflashm.gif
Of interest to me are the numerous transistors on the left hand side. Why the need for 3?
On the same page can be found this schematic
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/minips.gif
which almost seems too simple. Will this really be enough to charge a 1 Farad bank of 330V capacitors? Also: can a TIP120 transistor be substituted, as I can't seem to find a supplier of the transistor called for in the schematic. What would the minimum rating on the diode be?
Thanks for any and all help.
My question is, why are commercial camera flash circuits complicated compared to home-made chargers?
For example, I found the original flash circuit for a Kodak disposable that I use frequently.
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/kflashm.gif
Of interest to me are the numerous transistors on the left hand side. Why the need for 3?
On the same page can be found this schematic
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/minips.gif
which almost seems too simple. Will this really be enough to charge a 1 Farad bank of 330V capacitors? Also: can a TIP120 transistor be substituted, as I can't seem to find a supplier of the transistor called for in the schematic. What would the minimum rating on the diode be?
Thanks for any and all help.