Lightning effect using camera flash units

Step 7 Using standalone camera flash units

For one of my flashes, I used a standalone camera flash unit.  These are powered by batteries, and are triggered by shorting the two contacts on the 'hot shoe' mount.  For use with this display, you will have to power the flash unit using a power supply, unless you want to be changing batteries every few minutes.  Some flash units have an external power jack, but most don't.  I used some alligator clips to connect a 5V power supply to the battery terminals.  The flash normally works on 6V (4 AA batteries) but worked fine on 5V.

The wires connected to the 'hot shoe' mount will be connected to the normally-open contacts of one of the relays.   When the relay actuates, it will short the wires together and trigger the flash.