Portable Flash and Studio Strobe Trigger Voltages

Friday, 05 February 2010
Share this!


Feb 8th 2010: We're currently updating this data to include more popular (and common) data on newer model flashes, strobes and triggering devices. We're also creating a new group on flickr for folks to post their findings on particular lighting gear.

We are currently adding to and updating (Feb 2011) Trigger Voltage Metrics in the tables below. We encourage your participation in this endeavor by submitting your results to our growing list. It's pretty easy to check your trigger voltage, for more information and instructions on how you can participate, visit our Flickr Group by following this link

common studio strobe and portable flash trigger voltages: compiled from reader submitted results.
Mfgr Model Digital Safe? Trigger Voltage
Armatar 90 MDT Your Call 10V, measured by Tony Bonanno
Ascor Light CD2400 Your Call 14.5V from WDFlannery
Balcar Super A2400 No 202V & reverse polarity reported by Bakó Imre
Britek AS-36 Yes 5.3V measured by Peter P
SP 250 Monolight Your Call 6.7V measured by "Everett"
Broncolor Pulso 4 Your call 6.5-10.8V depending on the charge, according to Leon Obers
one channel IR transmitter Your call 13.5V, per Leon Obers, Fred Phillips reported just 3.2V
Paul Buff
(White Lightning)
Radio Remote 1 Transmitter Yes 4.84V reported by Bryce Turner
Remote RC-1 Your call (same part?) 9.23V, measured by Jan C. Doddy
UltraZap Yes 6V spec reported by Peter Timaratz (though sync with G1 is dicey). Ed White reported varying results, from 4.8V to 13.3V on his Ultra Zap 800, according to the power settings
Ultra 600 Your call 9.3-13.6V, measured by Bryce Turner on multiple units
Ultra 1200 Your call 10.02V, measured by Jan C. Doddy
10000 Your call 24.1V, per Toney Hall
Calumet (Bowens) PS No 30V according to Bob Atkin'sEOS FAQ
Monolite 400 No 170V per Teemu Virtanen
Traveller No 15V (EOS FAQ)
Canon 220EX, 380EX, 420EX, 550EX Yes All less than 6V (Per Canon and verified by Benny Khaw). These are the strobes specified by Canon for the Powershot.
ML-3 Yes 4.99V measured by Kevin Omura,full power only — and wouldn't trigger on the D30
011A Your Call 16.9V measured by Derek Woodlands
AB56 Your Call 7.8V measured by Bharat Mistry
133A Your Call 6.1V per Gerardo Nieto
155a Your Call 8.2-8.7V measured by Bart Harrison (6.04V reported by Kevin Omura)
166A Yes 4.33V per Kevin Omura
177A Your call 6.77V per Ed Hahn
188A Yes 4.1V per Gerardo Nieto
199a Yes 4.99V measured - Canon rated it 6V
200E Yes ~3.9V measured by Maarten Klap
200M Your Call 12.3V measured by Tony Williams
244T Yes 4.33-4.44V measured by Daniel Griswell
277T Yes 4.8V measured by Dan Karg
299T Yes 4.75V measured by Alec Hipwell
300EZ Yes 3.6V, measured by Eric Jones.Sadly, Canon's "EZ" and "EX" flash units use different TTL schemes. Despite the nearly-identical names, the "EZ" strobes (which use a system called "A-TTL") can only be used as full-power-manual strobes with pure E-TTL cameras like the G1/G2 or the D30.
300TL Yes 3.75V measured by Kevin Omura (manual only)
420EZ Yes 4V, measured by Joe Filer, 4.71V with a Quantum battery per Kevin Omura.(See note for 300EZ above)
533g Yes? 4.95V measured by Pierre Hurtubise, but it doesn't seem to fire...Kevin Omura also reports G2 problems with this unit
577G Yes 4.7V measured by Kevin Omura, and tested on a G2 (in manual and auto thyristor modes)
Comet CX244 No 11V (EOS FAQ)Tony Wu also called Comet's distributor, who measured 11.5V for him, right there on the phone! (now that's service!)
Contax TLA20 Yes ~4V, reported by Peter Dewdney
TLA30 Yes A trifling 2V, reported by Brad Grigor (watch out for those extra pins...)
TLA200 Yes ~4.11V, reported by EJ Haas
Dynalite Any Iffy? 10V (EOS FAQ)
Elinchrom (various) Your Call 9V these days, but over 20 years they ran as high as 30V, according to Elinchrom Customer Service via Tony Wu
Hensel Contra 500 Your Call 16.3V @10microAmps for all output ranges, as measured and reported by Jan de Vreij Dwingeloo
Super Miniflash 500 No 41.2V per Mike from Germany
2-channel IR trigger Your Call 17V per Teemu Virtanen
Lumedyne All Your call 12V since 1992, 100V before 1992, reported Direct from Lumedyne
Metz 20 B3 No 168V reported by Gerardo Nieto
20BC4 No 185V reported by Göran Samuelsson
20BC-6 Yes < 5V per Metz-Werke, reported by Duncan Burt
23BC4 No 183V reported by Frantisek Daniel
28C-2 Yes < 5V per Metz-Werke, reported by Duncan Burt
30B3 No 170V tested by Jussi Ohenjoa
30BCT4 No 68V reported by Peter Cooke & 165V from Paul Nelson, 172V from Vic
30BCT4i Your Call 7.4V reported by Jose Carlos Fernández but: 173V reported by Göran Samuelsson
32CT3 Iffy 22V with new batteries, reported by Rupert Vogl
32CT4 Iffy 12V reported by Lwo v IJzendoorn
32CT7 Yes? 2.88V, reported by Geoffrey Chan, 5.5V from Mike in Germany, and 9.25V from Craig Lapp
32MZ3 Yes 3.3V, reported by Samuli Vahonen
32 Z-1 Yes 3.46V, reported by Johan K in the Netherlands, 4V from "KC"
32 Z-2 Yes 4.086V, reported by Joe Lim
34BCT2 No 211V, reported by Egbert Nolte
36C-2 Yes 6V, reported by Alex from Italy
36CT3 Iffy 20.9V, reported by Frank Melchinger
38CT3 Iffy 6.5V, reported by Kai Dröge
40AF-4C Yes 4.4V, reported by Robert Elsinga
40MZ-2 Yes 4.74V, reported by Benny Khaw & 4.5V from Mike in Germany
40MZ3i Yes 4.5V, reported by Ismail Mus
45CL1 Your Call 7.6V, measured by Jeffrey Gillian (though Metz specs this unit at 6V, and assures us it's EOS-safe — while recommending a better E-TTL unit for best performance with the 300D, like the 54 MZ-3)
45CL4 Your Call 16.85-16.88V measured by Lee Phek Thong, Teemu Virtanen measured 14V and spoke to Metz directly about their newest G2 adapter
45CT1 No 600V (Göran Samuelsson measured merely 218V on his, as did Toney Hall — multiple versions?)
45CT4 Your Call... 14V with NiCds, reported by Peter Andersen,25V measured by Frank Melchinger.. (different editions?) and Anders Lilja reported 24.7V, but it dropped to a safe 4.56V when connected to the Metz Adaptor SCA311, 12.7V from Mike in Germany
45CT5 Your Call 14.8V from Mike in Germany
45MZ-2 Yes 5V
50MZ-5 Yes 2.6V from Trevor Connell
54MZ-3 Yes 4.17V from Paul Schuurmans
56-1 No 211V from Woo Fei Wing
60CT1 Your Call 20.89V measured by Loring Palleske
60CT2 No 28.5 measured by Rupert Vogl
60CT4 Yes 5V (EOS FAQ)
202 No 200V according to Peter Sanders
402 No 206V on this circa-1974 strobe,according to ejb from the UK
404 No 80.2V from Mike in Germany
2034BC No 207V from Ernst Albert
Minolta Auto 22 No 240.1 measured by Derek Woodlands
Auto 25 No 210V measured by Steven Ferland
Auto 28 No 200V according to Wes Quigley, only 43V from Gene West
Auto 32 No 192V measured by Rob Babcock
Auto 128 No 297V according to Ed White
132PX Your Call 20-30V per Minolta Customer Service, courtesy Karen Wetterling
132X Yes 2.2V per SJ Chandler
Auto200X Yes? 2.9V per Brian Klug, but 6.7-6.9V per W.S. Ryu
Auto280PX Yes 1.8V (!) per Richard Crow
Auto320X Your call 10.44V, measured by Thomas Whitehurst, but varying 5.4-8.9V according to Ian Hamilton
Auto360PX Yes 5.24V per Nahau
1800AF Yes A mere 1.88V per Lieven Blancke & Mark Ball
2800AF Yes 1.74V, per Manuel V. Galang 1.65V from Jeroen Haringman
3500xi Yes 1.88V, also tested by Manuel V. Galang, who reported good manual success with his G2
3600HSD Yes 3.5V, per Toney Hall
4000 AF Yes 1.85-2.5V, per Mark Vinsen
5400HS Yes 4.7V, measured by Hardeep
Multiblitz Varilux 1000S Your Call 6.5V, measured by Frank van der Pol
Nikon SB-8E Iffy 21-28.4V, measured by Don Knull
SB-10 Yes 5.11V measured by Danny Manchester
SB-15 Yes 1.55, per Teemu Vertinen, a little higher (4.25V) for Paul Crane & 3.4V from Jack McDermott
SB-16 Yes 4.14V, per Harry Malmelin
SB-18 Yes 4.6V, per Joel Elias
SB-20 Yes 5.5V, per Nikon (via Stuart)
SB-21B Yes 4.6V, per Bernd Pickahn
SB-22S Yes 4.9-5.3V, per Leon Obers
SB-23 Yes 5.2V & 5.5V on the units tested by Göran Samuelsson
SB-24 Yes 3.8V & 4.4V, agains tested by Göran Samuelsson 5.4V from Don Swanson
SB-25 Yes 3.68V, per Colin Ethington, even less (2V) for Fred Phillips
SB-26 Yes 5.4V measured on a matched pair by Dave Tinsley, only 1.4V per Andrew Cassino
SB-27 Yes 4.42-4.50V, per Paul Johnson
SB-28 and SB-28DX Yes 1.5V, per Bharat Mistry a bit higher — 3.48V — from Patrick Hopkins — Jeff Macwright got 2.8V from his SB-28DX
SB-30 Yes 4.5-4.6V, per Jack Azud
SB-50DX Yes 5-6V, reported by Nikon to Howard Forbes
SB-80DX Yes 4.23-4.29V, measured by Dave Tewksbury
Norman 200B (Series 450) No 100V, measured by Steve Wise, though Brian Leonard got only 29V...
A200C Yes Built in PW Transceiver
400B Your Call 10.25V, measured byJC.Doddy, who found he had to flip polarity for it to function with his D-60
A400B Yes Built in PW Transceiver
ML400, ML600 Yes Both mono-light units offer PW compatible receivers (opt on ML400) -kdm
Norlite 400 Monolight w/photo-eye slave -kdm
P404
P800D
Superlight 800 Your Call 14.15V according to Phil Shima (who mentioned it blew-out the sync circuit.. in a Leica M6!?! (amperage? polarity?))
P808m, P808m/TLC
P808-P1200TLC
P12/12
P2000D Pack No 48V, measured by Peter
24/24 pack Your Call 11.8V measured by Phil Shima
P40/40
Novatron M-500 Your Call 7.5V measured by Lonnie Harrison
600VR Power Pack Your Call 12V according to Novatron, per Neil LubinNovatron will modify this pack to 6V for $15
1000 Pack Your Call 9.8V measured by Pat Taber
Olympus T18 Your call 4.8-8.5V, measured by "Andy"
OM T-20 Your call 5-7.4V as it charged, measured by Brian Zimmerman, only 2.6v from Greg Clark, who also has a few thoughts about varying voltage results
OM T-32 Your call 7.14V/8.4V, measured by J. Mark Morris/Russ Rosener, 9.5-11.3V from Tom Mac Inerney
FL-40 Yes 3V, measured by Harry M. Fetterman Jr
PS200 No 185V, measured by Stuart Lovell
Osram BCS25 Studio No 245V, according to Göran Samuelsson 168V & 176V, measured from two different strobe units by Craig Schroeder
BD25 Studio Yes 4.5V, measured by Craig Schroeder
VS340 Yes 5.3V, measured by Craig Schroeder
Sunny Boy No 188V measured by Craig Schroeder
Pentax AF-16 Yes 5V, measured by K.B. Lee
AF160 Yes 3.8V, measured by Gary Schaker for his 300D
AF200SA Your Call 7.65-7.72V, measured by Bill Miller
AF200T, AF280T Your Call 7.8V according to Pentax, and reported by John Glover
AF240Z Yes 4.8V, measured by Richard Hartland
Photogenic AA-01A Your Call 10.3V per Jim Ngo
DR-1250 Yes ~3-4V measured by Richard Davis
Profoto Compact Plus Your Call 23V for the 600ws unit, according to Loring Palleske — which fits the 22-25V range reported by Profoto Customer Service and forwarded by Tony Wu
Quantum QFlash T2 Your Call 8V, reported by Joel,>who also had a talk to Quantum about flash safety and EOS cameras and Jan C. Doddy
4 Radio Slave Your Call 6.8V, reported by Jeff MacWright (who also had a 4i)
4i Radio Transmitter Your Call 8.45V, reported by Lad,7.5V from Toney Hall and 8.71V from Jan C.Doddy
Radio Slave II Your Call 5-6V, measured by Lloyd, 8.98V from Bryce Turner
Speedotron D604 No 64V (EOS FAQ)
D802 No 69.7V from Don Swanson
1205CX No 60-70V per Speedotron customer service, and forwarded by Tom Bolton.Speedotron makes a low-voltage adapter, part #35248, with MSRP $36
2403CX No 66V (EOS FAQ)
2405CX No 70V reported by EOS Paul Chaplo, M.F.A. — whose dealer promptly put Safe Syncs on all their rental units
Sunpak Ringflash Your call 6.85, measured by David Dodell
Digital Flash Your call 6.4-6.6V, reported by Geert Bosch, 6.78V from Sandy Levenberg zero volts when used as a slave
Remotelite II Yes 4.12V, reported by Jeroen Haringman
MG-1 Your Call 6.99V, reported by Kai Zhu
GT8 No 200V, reported by Marcos Schwindt
DS20 Your call 6.2-6.63V, reported by Marco Paganini
25DX Yes 5.46V, reported by Harold Kroeker
Digi Robot 32 Yes 3.75, reported by Gary Hays
GX14 No 160V, reported by Robert Rozee
GX17 No 288V, tested by Jason Wiebe
30DX Your Call 10.4V, measured by Ted Pembroke 7.5V down to 5V for Mon Francisco, but Fred Phillips got a mere 4.6V
Auto 30SR Your Call 6.4V, reported by Mike Richter
Auto 36DX Yes 2.4V, reported by Fred Phillips, & 5.86V from Bob Rogers
Auto 36FB Your Call 15V, per Paul Nelson
AP-52 No 144.8V, according to Kai Zhu, and 188V by another netizen who sent a photo of his test rig, strobe, & reading.
120 J Your call 11.01V-11.6V (depnding on the meter used),measured by Sandy Levenberg, 10.9-11.6V reported by Bryce Turner with varying batteries, but 24.3V by Toney Hall
Auto121 No 155-215V, measured by Lawrence Yau
Auto124 No 203V, measured by Simon Block
Auto130 NO 200V, measured by "dhamant"
MX130 No 190, measured by Göran Samuelsson
134 No 43.5V, measured by Janne Rajala
Sp140 No 180V, measured by Hjalti Jakobsson
144,144pc? Your Call 5.8V, reported by Michael Kirby 6V, reported by Martin B. Reinhardt, 6.8-6.95V, reported by Pierre Hurtubise (Different batteries, or different versions of the same strobe?) 6.16V, per Sunpak (via Pierre H.)
200 No 171.5V measured by Paul Lane
Auto 221 No 173.5V measured by Robert VanTichelt
Auto 221D Your Call 9.26V measured by Akira So
Auto 222 Your Call 6.7V measured by Dean Glanville
Auto 240 No 38V measured by Didier en France
244D Your Call 7.55V measured by Dave Oshinsky
Auto266SR Yes 5.7V measured by Zapped
Auto322 NO 227V (Jay Lorenzana reported a mere 149V, after a thorough test of his unit)
Autozoom333 Your Call 7.9V measured by Roy Campbell
333D Yes A big 2.0V measured by Tom Troughton, 4.24V from Kai Zhu
344D Yes Actually reported as less than 0.25V, by Adam Rubinstein (though Tony Bonanno's rated 4V)
355AF Yes 5.36V, reported by gpigg
383 Super Your call 3.74V, per Colin Ethington; 3.83, per Curtis Avery; 6.85V, according to Sunpak's techs; 6.86V per Geoff McKnight; 6.8V per Phil Shima using a Quantum battery; 7.05V per Jon Boehm; & 10.29V from Dave Dill.
Auto 388 Your Call 7V, measured by Göran Samuelsson
Auto411 No 193V, measured by Nick Adams
422 Your Call 10.75-12V, measured by "Wayne", 6V from Kent Fulcher (or is the 422D a different model? Richard Khanlian also measured 5.5V for his 422D)
Auto431 No 30-50V, according to Marcus Bletz
433 Your call Reported at <8V
433D Your call 7.8V, according to Jeff Tokayer & 6.4V measured by Kristina Sterling, but only ~4V from Gerald Wang, who also noticed some variation when using alkaline versus NiMH batteries, while Peter Yund got 14V
444
444D
Your call 10.8V, according to Dave Grandeffo, who's been using it for a couple of years on his Coolpix950 without a hitch. Mike Flaherty got 11.49 and plans to use it on his D30, Harold Kroeker also got 11V with both Nikon and Contax adaptors
Auto433AF Your Call 7.52V, reported by Wade Herman (6.9V, according to Sunpak's spec reported by Mike Dubrow)
522 Your call? ?? 10.84V, measured by Charles E. Hunt III but 170V reported by Martin B. Reinhardt and 197V from Conrad Hoffman & 195V from Adam 22V from Ted Mishima — so be careful and check your strobe as there may be more than one edition of this unit out there! Michael Foos checked with Sunpak, who reported "usually 190V."
544 Yes... 4.6V, reported by Tom though 6.75V reported by Gary Hays
555 Your call 6.67V on mine —
Ed White reported varying outputs from 4.1V to 6.9V.An email from Sunpak/Tocad assures me that no cameras have ever been harmed by a 555.
611 Your Call 4V reported by Kent Fulcher, but some old models will trigger at 190V, according to Tocad (via Jonas Lohr)
622 Pro
(not Super)
Your Call 8V reported by Lou McLaughlin, 6.5V from Don Swanson
622 Super Your Call 8V, reported by Tim Brown
888AFZ Yes 5.8V, reported by Franck Michaud
1600A No 46.6V, measured by Andrew Hall
Auto 2000 DZ Yes 3V, measured by Ken Kane
2600 No 73V, measured by Ted Richards
Auto Zoom 3000 No 246V, measured by Pontus Fred
Zoom 3600 thyristor No 194V, measured by Ray Huttenmeister
Auto Zoom 4000 No 200V, measured by Max Osmond
Power Zoom 4000 AF Yes 3.6V, measured by Kees Dorsman
MS-4000 monolight Yes 5.8V, measured by Alan Fairley
4205G Yes(?) 3.75V, measured by Igor Wesdorp (6.*V from Göran Samuelsson and Arnoud Brouwer)
PZ4000AF Yes 3.8V, checked by kdm -available via KEH (49.00) 12-2011 *TTL on older, non-digi, manual 1:1 and 1:16th
PZ5000AF Yes 5V, checked by "MikeTwo" thru ToCAD's (Sunpak's) own John Long
Vivitar 100 No 270V, per Nigel Kirlew, and 256V measured by Bambi Torres
Auto Bounce 40D Your Call an oh-so-close 6.2V, per S. Ciccarelli,who's happily using it on his Powershot G2
AF-N 132
(Nikon)
Yes ~4V, from Per G. Østerlie
161 No ~60V per Howie Hecht
Auto 215 No ~i198V per Steve Orton
253 No 200V, from BigWaveDave
255 No 284V, checked by Greg Sutton
272 No 240V, checked by "RoyDM"
273 No 290V, also from Nigel Kirlew
283 -pre 1982 no Older units have been reported as high as 600V!
283 post 1987 China Your Call Recent (post-'87) revised 283's ("Made in China") are safer with modern cameras, running around 9-10V. Bob Atkins reports some as low as 5V. Recently units marked "Made in Korea" have also appeared... measured at 8v by Andrew Cassino and Tony Bonanno.
Kevin Omura used a Quantum battery and got a hefty 261.4V out of his (sn3012330), while Göran Samuelsson had two units with different voltages: 230V and 190V.
285 No Alan Latafat Correa checked with Vivitar and they clarified: The 285HV has a voltage of 12V. The 285 has a voltage of 350V.
285HV Your Call Alan Latafat Correa checked with Vivitar and they clarified: The 285HV has a voltage of 12V. 7.45-7.8V, according to "Bob from MediaPlus.com," Mike Dubbs, and "Steven at bellatlantic.net." Peter Savage checked his 285 and 285HV units, and read only 6V. Mike Flaherty measured around 8.5V on his 15-year-old 285, and feels safe using it on his EOS D30.
365 No 46V, according to Kevin Omura
530FC Your Call 8.3V, according to Bob Thibodeau
550FD Your Call 8V, according to Ted Felix — only 4.24V, per Stephen Sugiyama, and 5V per Timothy Horn (serial 0031524) — but 6.66V from Rick Zotz, 7.5V from Tri Do, and 10.18V (serial 5031715) by John D. Duvall.
560D Your Call 15V, according to Vivitar via John Faughnan
Series One
600 M/P/O
Minolta
Pentax
Olympus
Your Call 8.7V, measured by Keoeeit
628AF Your Call 6.8V, according to Louis Carresi using a Nikon shoe
728AFC Yes 5.77V, per Petteri Luukkanen
730AFC Yes 3.25-3.37V, per Neuz2U (Allen N)
730AFM Yes 6V, checked w/Vivitar by Ashish Bhutada
Series 1
836AFC
Your Call 3.6V, measured by Saul Gurdus
1900 No 90V, measured by Samath Wije, 127.3V from Ted Coffey
2000 No 54.4, measured by Greg Speth, but 180V+ from Lou McLaughlin, who reports that Vivitar appears to have made completely different strobes with this same model number, 202V from Chuck Roake too
2500 Your Call 10.95V, measured by J. Mark Morris, 14.5V from Lou McLaughlin
2600 No 148V, reported by Ted Felix
2800 No? 140-170V, according to Bart Van Oudenhove, though Paul Durant reports his new one measured 20V. Dave Senciall says his G3 wouldn't fire his 140V version, and Jack Benson reported his 2800-D (same model?) returned only 4V, & 33.6V, checked by Gunars Lucans
3500 Yes(?) 6V, checked w/Vivitar by Bart Nathan though Bart Daatselaar reported 9.1V from his — Scott Slayman tried his with varying dedicated modules and got varying voltages in the 4-7V range
3700 Your call 9.1-9.4V, checked on four different units with a Fluke meter by Jim Sharp
3900 Your call 9.9V, checked by Larry Wilson
4600 Your call 19.5V, checked by Dave Grant
4900 VT Yes 4.2V, checked by Wolfgang Kurth
Macroflash 5000 Yes ~6V, checked by Jay Philippbar
5200 Your call ~9.4V, checked by "Dr. Droo" Baxter
5250 Yes 5-6V depending on the module, checked by Jeff Wiseman
7600 Your Call 7.5V w/new batteries, measured by Dennis Yep
Wein Pro Sync 1
IR transmitter
Your call 15.18V, measured by Sandy Levenberg
(Newer model is reportedly 6V)
Pro Sync LX-2 Your call 10.36V, measured by Jan C. Doddy
200 Flash No 122.7V measured Don Swanson
White Lightning All   See listing under Paul Buff above
Last Updated ( Saturday, 14 January 2012 )

1 (352).497.5356

Location, On-site Studio, In-house studio, Architectural/Landscape or Editorial reportage. We offer digital masters from 35mm (raw NEF), medium formats (6x6cm) and large format film on a variety of recordable media spec'd to your print, TV, Billboard or Web requirements. Read more..