The explorer is the one to get! I have 2 and they work just fine. It does not really pay to try a do-it-yourself project. Same goes for low priced boat and car inverters that are designed of simple lamp lighting and small cooking appliances.
Within the innards of your electronic flash unit there are a number of different componants that are used to step up the voltage from 117AC Volts to anywhere from 300VDC to 1000DC Volts which is required by the capacitors. This requires a step-up method as well as a rectification function, that is, converting the AC to DC. In the olden days transformers and selenium rectifiers were used to achieve this conversion. Nowadays solid state voltage multiples (capacitor networks in conjunction with diode circuits) rectification "bridges" are used. Most of the time, however, many of theses circuit designs are not compatible with other devices which are used to step up 12 Volt (DC) batteries to 117AC Volts which incorporate their own step up and conversion circuitry.
To measure things like sine waves, an oscilloscope and the knowledge of using this device is required. To make a long story short, I hate the odor of burning electronic circuits and wiring. It's and acrid stench and usually indicates big time replacement or repair expenses are on the way.
Hope this helps- Ed
