Letus flip enhanced vibrator repair? Help please!

[CherryTime]

Hey guys!

I have a canon xh-a1 and a Letus Flip Enhanced 35mm adapter.
I think during travelling the vibrator broke somehow. It is most likely just
the cables that doesn't connect properly inside the adapter..

I tried to swap batteries in the external part of the vibrator (the battery slot I guess). But I havent opened the adapter up yet because I do not know how it looks inside! Does it contain loose parts? Is it stupid to do it on my own?

I do not think it's gonna be hard to fix, but perhaps it's smarter to give it to the local repair-company? Im just not sure they know how to operate 35mm adapters, they are rather uncommon here in Sweden.


Conclusion: The Vibrator does NOT Vibrate even when its "ON" and with 2x new batteries. The cables are intact as far as outside the vibrator.

Any tips would be helpful!

Thanks

[stevenbruce]

It would probably be relatively easy to fix. I'm guessing somewhere in your adapter a wire has come loose and just has to be re-soldered. Anyone with basic tech/electronic experience should be able to fix it for you. Just make sure you do it in a very clean room and be very careful not to touch any of the optics, especially the focusing screen.

[CherryTime]

Thanks Steven!

Well. I kind of got to curious to NOT open it. It was a good experience, because now I know what it looks like. Unfortuneally I could not locate the damaged area, as everything seems intact to my eyes. Nothing was loose, the cables to the vibrator inside the adapter were glued togheter kind of. So the damage might just be the wires in the external part of the vibrator (the battery-shell), I guess they are loose or something..

Anyhow, I still do not really feel like I can fix this on my own, due to the problem not being to obvious. I have a handy father that might be able to fix it thou, I will try that soon enoght.

I tried the adapter after I put it back togheter and I noticed I wasnt careful enoght handling all the glass-layers. There is now visible dirt that was not there before I took it apart. Im guessing I should clean this up ASAP, so what kind of method do you recommend while taking it apart again and cleaning it? Should I use some special kind of material and rub the glasslayers, or some kind of cleaning fluid? Is there a special way to make sure there will be no NEW dirt on the glass after I cleaned them?

Thanks once again! =)

[stevenbruce]

I'm not totally sure how the Letus flip enhanced is constructed, and do not know what material the focusing screen is made of. If it is glass then it will be more resistant to cleaning (compared to plastic, which i would recommend you avoid touching at all). To remove dust, you can use a rocket blower, or if is really stuck an indirect blow from a can of compressed air. The glass screen in my adapter can be cleaned by hand, using soap and water, but i cannot say that this will be possible with other adapters or not...

Glass surfaces, such as condenser and achromat can be cleaned with lens tissues.


I recommend doing this in a clean well lit room, such as a bathroom, to avoid any more dust.

[CherryTime]

Well thanks!

I've now located the problem-area with help from my father. It seems the vibrating battery-lookalike thing inside the adapter simply has stopped working. Now it would technically not be to hard to replace this vibrating battery-like thing because all the cables are there and working properly, so just cut em off, get a new vibrator and connect to the old wires.

HOWEVER: I have no IDEA where you can buy small flat-battery-looking vibrators!?

But since people do DIY vibrating 35mm adapters im gonna check out if they have any tips.. unless I find something please give me some tips :)

[stevenbruce]

http://stevenbrace.co.uk/35mm

Check out this tutorial, there is a little bit in there about vibration motors and a link to Solarbotics, which provides a very effective pancake motor.

[CherryTime]

that looks perfect. I read about it before actually. I guess ill have to purchase it and ship it here to Sweden then :) It's a small cost so Ill do it.

thx and nice site.