Assembly and Operating Instructions for HiViz Kits
Assembly Instructions for the Optoisolator Kit (OPT)
Assembly instructions for other kits
An optoisolator can be used in place of an SCR to provide complete electrical isolation between a trigger circuit and your flash or camera. The assembly instructions for the optoisolator kit are given below.
Parts List
The following parts are included with the kit.
Optoisolator (6-pin IC)
8-hole IC socket
PC board
1 470-Ω resistor (yellow-violet-brown)
3-ft of 2-conductor cable
Connections to the PC board require soldering. In addition to soldering tools (15-30 watt soldering, solder, and wet sponge), you'll find the following tools helpful. Click on the images for larger views.
| A pair of wire cutters such as the ones shown below.
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A pair of small diagonal pliers (not essential but helpful for snipping wires)
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Solder in a well-lit, well-ventilated, open area. Avoid contact with all metal surfaces on the iron.
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Keep the tip of the soldering iron clean by wiping it against a wet sponge or towel before and after each use. A clean tip should look shiny and silvery; any yellow or black material on the tip will get into the solder and may weaken your solder joint.
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Once the tip of your soldering iron is clean, touch a bit of solder to the tip just before use. This is called tinning, and helps the solder run more evenly.
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Heat the connection to be soldered by holding the soldering iron to it, until solder applied at the junction between the two melts and flows freely. This ensures the connection and the solder are both hot enough to yield a good solder joint. This should take no more than 10-15 seconds. After the connection is heated, try to get solder along the entire length of the connection by briskly moving the solder and iron along.
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Avoid touching only the solder to the connection, and then the soldering iron to the solder to melt it onto the connection. The connection will be cooler than the melted solder and won’t form a good solder joint.
- Let new solder joints cool for several seconds before examining them. There should be solder all the way around the connection, forming a rigid joint. When done, unplug your soldering iron and let it cool.
Soldering Tips |
Click on the thumbnails below in order to view full-size images of the breadboard with the components that have been added in each step.
Instructions
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Step 1: Adding the 8-pin IC socket
Insert the 8-pin IC socket into the unplated side of the PC board into the holes shown to the left. |
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Step 2: Crimping and soldering the legs of the IC socket
Turn the PC board over to show the plated side. Bend the legs of the IC socket outward to hold it in place (see the upper photo).
Solder each leg of the IC socket to the corresponding copper strip as shown in the lower photo. In order to get a good solder joint, make sure the solder runs freely on the copper contact and covers the leg. Also make sure the solder doesn't bridge across to a neighboring contact. If you get a solder bridge, you can remove it by running the tip of the soldering iron between the contacts that are bridged.
If the solder beads up and seems to sit on top of the copper, it's possible that you have a cold solder joint. Such connections do not conduct. You may think that you've made the connection when, in fact, no current will flow. You can guard against cold solder joints by heating the copper with the tip of the soldering iron and then touching the solder to the copper rather than to the tip of the soldering iron. If you think you may have a cold solder joint, reheat the solder and try to draw off the solder bead. Then resolder. |
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Step 3: Adding the resistor
Insert the legs of the resistor through the non-plated side of the PC board as shown in the upper image. Then turn the board over and solder the legs onto the copper contacts. Snip the legs off down to the solder. The completed solder joints are shown in the lower image. |
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Step 4: Adding the input cable
Cut about a 6-inch length from the 2-conductor cable. Strip back the gray outer insulation about an inch on each end. Then strip each end of the red and black wires back about 3/16 inch. Insert the red and black wires from one end as shown in the photo.
Turn the board over and solder the wires to the copper contacts. Snip the wires off down to the solder. (photo not shown) |
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Step 5: Adding the output cable
Strip the ends of the remaining length of gray 2-conductor cable as you did in the previous step. Insert the red and black wires from one end as shown in the upper photo.
Then turn the board over and solder the legs onto the copper contacts. Snip the legs off down to the solder. The completed solder joints for both input and output cables are shown in the lower image.
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Step 6: Inserting the optoisolator
Place the optoisolator on the socket as shown. The indentation on the chip is to the lower right. Note that only 6 of the 8 holes of the socket will be used. Make sure the legs are aligned with the holes and then push down slowly and firmly to seat all the legs.
Strictly speaking, a socket isn't required for the optoisolator. One could solder the chip directly to the PC board. The advantages of using a socket are that the chip can't get overheated during soldering, and the chip can easily be replaced if necessary. |
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Step 7: Connecting the input cable to your trigger
The 6-inch length of cable that is connected to the lower right of the PC board (see previous photo) connects on the other end to your trigger circuit. The following connections are for the delay unit of any of these v10 triggers: DU, SK2-DU, SPG1/2-DU, TPG-DU, LAT-DU.
The photo to upper left shows the optoisolator connected to the delayed output of an SPG1- or SPG2-DU.
The following connections are for the Multi-Trigger:
The photo to lower left shows the optoisolator connected to the immediate output of an MT. |
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Step 8: Connecting the output cable to your flash unit or camera
The longer length of 2-conductor cable that is connected to the lower left of the PC board (see photo to left) connects on the other end to your flash unit or camera.
In order to connect to a flash unit, you'll need to either splice the 2-conductor cable to the PC cord from your flash or use a Flash-to-PC adapter. These are not provided with the optoisolator kit.
In order to connect to a camera, you first need to have your camera's remote shutter release cable. Then, cut your shutter cable in two in order to splice it to optoisolator output. The remote cables usually have 3 wires. Shorting two of them together performs the autofocus and exposure operations of the camera. Shorting the third wire to the other two closes the shutter. You would use the output of the optoisolator to perform the latter function. See this information. |
