I noticed on Aliexpress that you could buy Asus Zenflash little modules for $7 US a pop which I figured could be cool to buy and figure out how to re-use in DIY projects.
They are USB triggered and are only supported on a handful of Asus phones and I don't believe any new phones support it hence why you can buy them so cheaply.
Upon opening it it does look like it could be hackable.
Unfortunately all the high voltage circuitry seems to be driven directly from the microcontroller so those signals would need to be identified and replicated by an Arduino or equivalent.
I don't have a supported phone so USB protocol analysis is probably out of the question as is measuring the signals (it doesn't do anything when plugged in).
But the main functions seem clear.
Red and Black wires go to either side of the flash tube.
White is the trigger coil (slightly closer to Black side).
There looks to be only one small transistor and one mosfet that needs controlling although I'm not sure about the exact arrangement.
Looks like it has a few features that were never used like possibly a IR receiver on the side, and positions for two LEDs that aren't populated.
Does anyone have any ideas about what the best way to control it would be?
I haven't gotten very far on an initial inspection, a few things are puzzling me like what TC1 is.