As common readers already know, “for components solely” discount-priced eBay postings suggestive of units which can be (for one motive or one other) now not practical, are sometimes fruitful teardown candidates as dietary supplements to merchandise which have died on me personally. So, once I not too long ago noticed a no-longer-working Godox V1 digital camera flash, which sells new for $259.99, listed on eBay for $66, I jumped on the deal. For teardown functions, sure. But in addition, for reuse of its still-functional equipment elsewhere. And, because it seems, to unravel a thriller, too.
I’d lengthy needed to get contained in the V1 for a go searching (though its formidable price ticket had acted as a deterrent), partly due to its strong characteristic set, which incorporates:
- Excessive 76 Ws peak energy (5600K shade temperature)
- Quick (~1.5 sec) recycle time, and 480 full-power illuminations per battery cost cycle
- Supplemental 2 W “modeling lamp” (3300K shade temperature)
- 28-105 mm zoom head (each guide and auto-sync to digital camera lens focal size setting choices)
- 0°-330° horizontal pan and -7°-120° vertical tilt head
- A number of digital camera shutter sync modes
- A number of publicity management modes
- Auto (digital camera sync) and guide publicity compensation modes
- Digital camera autofocus-assist beam, and
- Final, however positively not least, multi-flash grasp and slave sync choices
And partly as a result of this gadget, like most of the flash items from each Godox and different third-party flash producers reminiscent of Neewer, is available in numerous choices that help a number of producers’ cameras. Within the case of the V1, these embody (differentiated by way of single-character suffixes within the in any other case equivalent product title):
- C: Canon
- N: Nikon
- S: Sony
- F: Fujifilm
- O: Olympus/Panasonic, and
- P: Pentax
That every one apart, what in all probability caught your eye first within the earlier “inventory” picture was the V1’s atypical spherical head, versus the extra frequent rectangular configuration present in items reminiscent of Godox’s V860III (a number of examples of which, for numerous cameras, I additionally personal):
The elemental rationale for each merchandise is their various output-light protection patterns:
Now, about these earlier-mentioned equipment:
The VB26-series battery utilized by the V1 can also be conveniently additionally utilized by Godox’s V850III and V860III flash items, in addition to the corporate’s RING72 ring gentle (optionally, together with the four-AA battery power-source default), and with Adorama’s Flashpoint-branded equivalents for all of those Godox units, a number of of which I additionally personal:
Right here’s the capper. Shortly after shopping for this preliminary “for components” Godox V1, for which the flash unit itself was the one factor nonfunctional, I got here throughout one other closely discounted V1 that, because it turned out, labored effective however was lacking the battery and charging cable. Guess what I did? 😉
About that battery cable…readers with lengthy reminiscences might recall me mentioning the VB26 earlier than. The sooner dialogue was within the context of the Olympus/Panasonic model of the V1 (i.e., the V1O), which had include the unique VB26 battery, and which I realized couldn’t be charged from a USB-C energy supply despite the fact that the battery charging dock had a USB-C enter; a USB-A to USB-C adapter cable (together with a USB-An influence supply) was as a substitute crucial. Properly, in testing out the battery this time, I absentmindedly plugged it and its companion dock right into a useful USB-C energy supply (and USB-C to USB-C cable) that usually finds use in charging my Google Pixel Buds Professional earbuds…and every part labored effective.
On reflection, I remembered the sooner failure, and in striving to determine what was totally different, I seen that the battery this time was the more moderen VB26A variant. I’d identified that each it and its even newer VB26B successor held a bit extra cost than the unique, however Godox presumably mounted the preliminary USB-PD (Energy Supply) shortcoming within the evolutionary course of, too (the charging circuitry is contained throughout the battery itself, apparently, with the dock appearing solely as a “dummy” wiring translator between the USB-C connector and the battery terminals).
Sufficient of the prep dialogue, let’s get to the tearing down. What we’re taking a look at as we speak is the V1C, i.e., the Canon variant of the V1 (right here’s a person guide):
I’ve lengthy assumed that the assorted “flavors” of the V1 (and flash items prefer it) have been primarily equivalent, save for totally different scorching shoe modules and totally different firmware builds working inside. Though I gained’t be dissecting a number of V1 variants as we speak, the truth that they share a typical 2ABYN001 FCC certification ID is a “bit” of a tipoff. I hope that this teardown may even shed at the least a little bit of added gentle on the accuracy-or-not of this speculation.
Open the field, and the goodies inside come into preliminary view. The cone-shaped white factor (silver on the opposite facet) at prime is a reflector, a retailer bundle adder meant for “bounce” makes use of:
As-usual accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for measurement comparability functions are the first equipment: the usual USB-A to USB-C charging cable under the coin, and to the correct, top-to-bottom, the battery, AC-to-DC converter (“wall wart”) and charging dock:
A closeup of the wall wart, full with specs:
The underside of the battery, this time (as beforehand famous) the “A” model of the VB26:
And the charging dock, frequent to all VB26 battery variants:
Raise out the case containing the V1, and several other different equipment come into sight under it. At backside proper is a mini stand to which you mount the new shoe when the flash unit isn’t being straight put in on/managed by the digital camera (i.e., when the V1 is in wi-fi sync “slave” mode). And above it’s one other retailer adder, a goodie bag containing a lens cleansing material, a brush (helpful when, for instance, fastidiously brushing mud off the picture sensor or, for a DSLR, the mirror) and a set of soppy gloves.
Flip up the case prime flap, and our sufferer comes into preliminary view:
Right here’s a view of the bottom, with the flash head near-vertical. The V1 has dimensions of 76x93x197 mm and weighs 420 g with out the battery (530 g with it):
Right here’s one (working mode-dependent) instance of what that LCD panel seems like with a turned-on practical V1:
Flip the V1 round for the entrance view, with the top on the identical near-vertical orientation:
A closeup of the label (observe, too, the small round “gap” under the correct nook of the label; file it away in your reminiscence for later, when it’ll be essential):
And of the translucent entrance panel, alluding to a few of what’s inside:
The round part on the backside is for the focus help beam, and to its left you possibly can faintly see the wi-fi sensor used to sync the V1 (in both grasp or slave mode) with different flash items that help Godox’s 2.4 GHz “X” protocol in addition to standalone transmitters and receivers:
Now’s nearly as good a time as any, by the way in which, to indicate you Neewer’s reminiscent-named Z1:
The V1 and Z1 look the identical, are equally featured, and each use the two.4 GHz ISM band for wi-fi sync functions. Simply don’t attempt to sync them to one another as a result of the protocols differ.
Right here’s a straight-on closeup of the V1 flash head:
That round space on the prime, which is towards the bottom in regular operation (when the flash head isn’t pointed towards the sky, that’s) is the modeling lamp, consistently on when activated versus a standard “flash”. Right here’s what it seems like on, once more with an alternate practical V1:
And listed below are examples of the modeling lamp in use.
The ring across the outdoors of the flash head lens is steel, by the way in which, affording a chance for straightforward attachment of varied magnet-augmented equipment:
Lastly, some facet views; first the left (when seen from the entrance), containing the compartment “gap” into which the battery is inserted:
And now the correct, containing the battery latch, launch button and contacts:
The flash head at each extremes of its tilt vary:
And a closeup of the QR code sticker on this facet of the flash head:
Again to the right-side battery compartment closeup. Within the earlier picture, you may need seen what regarded like a protecting “flap” to the correct of the cavity, and above the battery-release button. In that case, you’d be proper:
The spherical feminine connector on the prime is not for headphones. It’s a 2.5 mm sync wire jack, for mating to a digital camera or transmitter as a substitute for a scorching shoe or wi-fi connection. Under it’s a USB-C connector used to hook up with a pc for updating the flash unit firmware. On a hunch, I mated this supposedly “lifeless” V1 to my Mac and was stunned to search out that the flash unit was acknowledged. I might even replace its firmware, in truth, and all and not using a battery put in:
Though this V1’s all-important illumination subsystem is DOA, it’s apparently not all-dead!
Final, however not least, let’s take a look on the scorching shoe:
As beforehand talked about, my working idea is that this (together with the software program working contained in the gadget) is the important thing differentiator between the V1 variants. It’s (maybe unsurprisingly) additionally the most typical factor that breaks on V1s:
So, I’ll be holding onto this a part of the gadget long-term, each for just-in-case restore functions and for an additional experimental mission that I’ll inform you about later…
Did you discover the 4 screws holding the new shoe meeting in place? Let’s see if their elimination allows us to get inside:
Right here’s the eliminated scorching shoe meeting, each within the “unfastened” and “latched” positions (managed by rotation of that gray button you see within the photographs):
And right here’s what’s inside:
Subsequent step, take away the 4 “nook” screws whose heads have been obscured by white paste in earlier photographs:
The outer bracket piece now lifts away:
Leaving an assemblage that, for already talked about causes, I’m not going to additional disassemble, with a view to protect it for potential future use:
Sadly, though this preliminary disassembly step gave me a teaser peak on the insides, I wasn’t but seemingly capable of proceed farther from this finish:
So, I returned my consideration to the flash head (the different finish), round which I’d remembered seeing a set of screws that held the plastic cowl and steel ring in place:
Beneath it was a Fresnel lens.
From Wikipedia:
A Fresnel lens…is a sort of composite compact lens which reduces the quantity of fabric required in comparison with a standard lens by dividing the lens right into a set of concentric annular sections…The design permits the development of lenses of enormous aperture and brief focal size with out the mass and quantity of fabric that may be required by a lens of standard design. A Fresnel lens might be made a lot thinner than a comparable standard lens, in some instances taking the type of a flat sheet.
With the Fresnel lens eliminated, the Zenon tube meeting comes into clear view:
Should you have a look at the underside, you’ll see a two-rail “monitor” on which it strikes forwards and backwards to implement, along with the fixed-position Fresnel lens, the zoom perform.
I used to be capable of unclip the brackets holding the fronts of each halves of the top meeting collectively, however additional progress eluded me:
So, I subsequent tried peeling away the spherical rubberized items protecting each ends of the “tilt” hinge:
A-ha! Screws!
Now for the opposite facet…
You realize what comes subsequent…
And now, one half (the decrease half, to be exact) of the flash head enclosure lifts proper off:
I initially thought that this mysterious purple paste-covered doodad is perhaps a piezoelectric speaker, for producing “beep” tones and the like, and its location coincides with the “gap” under the label that I confirmed you earlier, however…once more, maintain that thought:
We now get our first clear views of the flash head insides. Take a look at, for instance, that sizeable heatsink for the modeling lamp LED!
4 screws maintain the meeting in place throughout the different half-enclosure. Let’s eliminate these:
Liftoff!
Right here’s our first glimpse of 1 facet of this explicit PCB. Take a look at that large inductor coil!
Disconnect a few ribbon cables:
Tilt the meeting to the facet:
Subsequent, let’s take away the modeling lamp LED-plus-heatsink assemblage:
The 2 are sturdily glued collectively, so I gained’t proceed additional in making an attempt to pry them aside:
Now let’s take away the PCB from the white plastic piece it’s usually connected to:
Let’s look first on the now-revealed PCB bottom. First off, unsurprising thoughts you given the excessive present circulate concerned however nonetheless…have a look at these thick traces:
See these two switches? The motor position-controlled Zenon tube bumps up in opposition to them on the far finish of its zoom journey vary, seemingly disabling additional movement in that course (why there aren’t comparable change contacts on the rails’ different ends isn’t clear to me, nonetheless):
Lastly, observe the red-color, white paste-capped gadget within the higher proper nook. Its “TB” PCB marking, together with the wire working from it to the Zenon tube, suggests to me that it might be a thermal breaker meant to quickly disable the flash unit if it will get too scorching. Concepts, readers?
Let’s now flip the PCB again over to the facet we glimpsed earlier:
Time for a quick divergence into flash unit operation fundamentals. Within the “recharge” interval between flash activations, a sizeable capacitor (which we haven’t but seen) will get “crammed” by the battery electron circulate. At the very least a few of that saved capacitive cost then will get “dumped” into the Zenon tube. However right here’s the trick…the Zenon tube’s illumination time and depth differ relying on the digital camera’s desired publicity traits. So the place does any “additional” present go, if not wanted by the Zenon tube?
Initially, the surplus electrons have been as a substitute shunted off to one thing known as the quench tube, a wasteful strategy that each restricted battery life and unnecessarily lengthened recharge time. These days, both gate turn-off (GTO) thyristors or insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) as a substitute discover use in chopping off the present circulate from the capacitor, saving remaining cost for the subsequent Zenon tube activation. I’m admittedly no energy electronics design knowledgeable, so I can’t confidently say which strategy is in use right here. To help the extra knowledgeable-than-me readers amongst you (quite a few, I do know), observe that the 2 units above the coil are S6008D half-wave, unidirectional, gate-controlled rectifiers; the IC above them has the next marks:
EIC
SN
5M
Once more, I say: additional insights, readers?
Earlier than shifting on, let’s take a more in-depth have a look at that zoom motor:
And now, let’s determine get inside that hinge (the place, I believe, we’ll discover that aforementioned sizeable capacitor). Wanting carefully on the ends I’d beforehand uncovered, I seen two extra screws on every, however eradicating them didn’t seemingly get me any additional alongside:
Within the strategy of unscrewing them, nonetheless, I noticed that I hadn’t but confirmed you the pan vary supported by the top:
And within the strategy of doing that, I seen extra screws beneath the pan hinge:
That’s extra prefer it (though I’m now inside the principle flash physique, not but the hinge above it)!
Let’s begin with the now-detached again panel:
The LCD behind it’s seen by the clear part, clearly, however don’t neglect concerning the ribbon cable-fed multi-button-and-switch array under it:
That very same panel piece from under, with one other have a look at the ribbon cable:
And eventually, that very same panel piece from above:
Let’s return to that earlier inside view and get these 4 screws off:
The multi-button/change meeting now lifts away straightaway:
And that black piece then pops proper off, too:
Right here’s a cross-section view of the round multi-switch construction:
And with that, let’s return to the multi-sided construction we noticed earlier, inside the principle physique:
Subsequent are a collection of sequential wiring disconnection pictures; there are a number of ribbon cable harnesses, as you’ll see, a few of them terminating within the tilt hinge above and a few passing by the lean hinge to the flash head above it:
With the entrance half of the principle physique shell now free and clear, let’s have a look at what’s inside:
That factor towards the underside middle, with a blue/black wire combo popping out of it, is the aforementioned focus help beam. However what concerning the one within the higher left, with purple and black wires popping out of it? Right here’s a prime view of the front-half piece; observe the “gap” at backside proper on the corresponding exterior location:
Keep in mind the thriller gadget contained in the flash head, with a reminiscent red-and-black wire harness and exterior “gap”, that I initially thought was a speaker and requested you to recollect?
I’d initially realized it wasn’t a speaker once I took my practical V1, activated its “beep” perform and discerned that the sound wasn’t coming from there. However once I noticed the second comparable device-and-hole, I grabbed my practical (and absolutely assembled) V1 once more and realized that when (and solely when) the flash head was pointed horizontal and ahead, the 2 “holes” lined up. My working idea is that one of many units is an IR transmitter with the opposite an IR receiver, and that this alignment is how the flash figures out when the person has each the pan and tilt settings at their “regular” default positions. For what motive, I can’t but exactly type out; there’s no indication I can discover within the person guide that the V1 operates any in another way when pan and/or tilt are in any other case oriented. However conceptually, I might think about that the flash’s built-in controller and/or linked digital camera is perhaps taken with understanding whether or not the unit is getting used for standard or “bounce” functions from an working mode, publicity setting and/or different standpoint. As soon as once more, readers: concepts?
At this level, by the way in which (and talking of flash heads), the highest half of this a part of the case spontaneously disconnected from the pan-and-tilt hinge meeting:
Returning to the principle physique, let’s see what’s inside. Again, full with the LCD (the on/off change is within the decrease proper nook):
Proper facet:
Left facet (observe the battery latch, contacts, and many others. initially highlighted earlier than):
Entrance, with an preliminary “reveal” of the first “energy” PCB (though there’s loads of analog stuff within the earlier flash head-located PCB too!):
Prime:
And backside, revealing a secondary “digital” PCB, glimpsed at earlier along with the new shoe meeting elimination, and that we’ll focus on additional shortly:
There’s another PCB of observe, really, which isn’t seen till after you take away two screws and disconnect the LCD meeting, then flip it round:
Right here’s the place the principle system controller might be discovered, due to this fact why I check with it as the first “digital” PCB. It’s the APM32F072VBT6 (PDF), from a Chinese language firm known as Geehy Semiconductor. The complete product household, as you’ll see from the PDF, comprises dozens of members, primarily based each on the Arm Cortex-M0+ and Cortex-M3. This explicit SoC proliferation (on the prime of the desk labeled “APM32 MCU-ARM Cortex -M0+” within the PDF, on your ease of finding it) integrates a Cortex-M0+ working at 48 MHz together with 128 Kbytes of flash reminiscence and 16 Kbytes of RAM. I can’t discover a discrete flash reminiscence chip for code storage on the PCB; the IC within the decrease proper nook is a LMV339 quad-channel comparator, and just about every part else listed below are connectors (such because the one at backside labeled TTL, which ribbon cable-connects to the new shoe meeting PCB) and passives. Oh, and the speaker’s in-between the new shoe meeting ribbon cable connector and the comparator 😉. Observe, too, that this explicit PCB is explicitly labeled “Canon”, addressing my earlier query as as to if the principle meeting {hardware} was generic, i.e. differentiated solely by firmware, or digital camera manufacturer-specific to any diploma.
Right here’s a facet view, displaying the USB-C and a couple of.5 mm sync connectors:
And flipping the meeting again over, in addition to flipping the LCD upside-down, you’ll discover that this facet of the PCB is successfully clean, save for the earlier-noted energy change:
Subsequent, persevering with with the “digital” theme, let’s look extra carefully on the bottom-mounted PCB:
This one requires a little bit of background rationalization.
I’ve already informed you that the first 2.4 GHz transceiver system for multi-unit sync functions is upfront behind the purple translucent panel, and also you’ll see it once more shortly. However there’s one other 2.4 GHz transceiver system within the V1, this one Bluetooth-based and designed to allow flash unit configuration and management from a wirelessly tethered smartphone or pill along with a Godox (or Adorama) app. That’s why, unsurprisingly now that the background, the 2 dominant ICs on this facet of the PCB are Texas Devices’ CC2500 low-power 2.4 GHz RF transceiver and, to its proper, TI’s CC2592 front-end RF IC. Flip the PCB over:
and once more, unsurprisingly, you’ll discover the embedded Bluetooth antenna.
Lastly, let’s look extra carefully at what I referred to earlier as the first “energy” PCB:
Lots of the ICs listed below are just like those we noticed within the earlier flash head-located PCB, reminiscent of two extra of these mysterious ones labeled “EIC” however now with barely totally different second- and third-line marks:
EIC
SK
5B
And on the opposite facet:
is extra analog and energy circuitry, together with a sizeable capacitor on the backside (albeit not as sizeable as I believe we’ll see shortly!).
Talking of which, let’s shut by wanting carefully at that tilt hinge meeting. Right here it’s from the entrance:
Prime:
and again:
All are pretty unmemorable. The left facet just isn’t a lot much less boring:
At the very least till I tilt it barely, revealing a inexperienced tint indicative of a PCB inside:
The best facet is kind of a bit busier, with wiring harnesses previously working as much as the flash head:
Much more titillating once I once more tilt it, in addition to shifting wiring to the edges:
And talking of wiring (and titillating relocation of identical), right here’s the underside:
Cautiously, each as a result of I don’t know precisely what’s on the opposite facet and, if I’m proper and it’s an infinite capacitor, whether or not it’s absolutely discharged, I proceed:
Monumental capacitor, certainly!
Refilling this sizeable “electron gasoline tank”, of us, explains the 1.5 second recycle time between flash activations, and makes the 480 activations per battery recharge all of the extra exceptional:
And with that, barely greater than 4,000 phrases in, I’m achieved! Not fairly “in a flash”, however I nonetheless hope you discovered this teardown as fascinating as I did. Pontificate together with your ideas within the feedback! And in closing, get pleasure from these two insides-revealing restore movies that I discovered throughout my analysis:
—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line e-newsletter.
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