Flash failure

I haven’t used my little AF201FG flash for a while and it has been kept in a drawer without batteries, but when I tried it yesterday with new batteries it was completely dead. The contacts look clean and the batteries were fine in another appliance; it was working beforehand. Any ideas?

Looking clean and being clean are the difference between silence and a whine.

Clean the contacts first. If possible, get one of these:




https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111741724919?hash=item1a045368f7:g:ZjUAAOSwYUZcMFYu&a...

The electrical contact equivalent of a lens brush. They are excellent at cleaning contacts. Only have 1 to 2mm of bristle showing.

RS (Radio Spares) sell the same thing for a wee bit more money:

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/etching-accessories/0514868

Best regards

Thanks K10D I found something similar in my cupboard, a pencil shaped ink eraser, which has done the trick.

The *ist series are perishers for this. The battery contacts look fine but when out of use an invisible film of something or other builds up. Also, over time, the batteries tend to compress the terminals against the battery door so they no longer spring back to press the contacts together. Pulling them outwards with the fingernails restores the springiness and pressure. That, in turn, rubs the muck off when the door is opened and closed and the terminals slide against each other. This doesn't happen if the camera (or flash) is stored out of use.

Thank goodness for the help here, it was about to go in the bin!