[pure-silver] Re: Speedotron 2401A


----- Original Message ----- From: "Nick Zentena" <zentena@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 4:21 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Speedotron 2401A



Just wanted to follow up.

I didn't kill myself. That's a positive.

Joys of buying off Ebay the knob to dim the lights doesn't seem to dim
anything. Negative.

The used 102 I got has a loud fan. I know they're supposed to be loud but
still.

The power cord that came with it was missing the grounding prong. So I
grabbed an extension cord. It's an older pack that needs the different shape
connector of course so I used a razor blade to shape the connector to fit.
More negatives I guess.

I only tested 1200ws with the 7" reflector. I got F/36 at around 8 feet ISO
100. I guess I can forget about using the 1200ws too often -)

Because of the power cord issue I still need to figure out how to use the
radio slave I got. That's going to take some thinking. More negative.

Well considering what I paid it could be worse-)

Thanks for all the help

Nick

I don't know any simple way to test for watt-seconds. This is really a specification of the amount of power the condenser system holds and is only indirectly related to light intensity. That is affected by the efficiency of the flash lamp, which can vary with age and temperature, and the type of reflector or other housing.
Probably somewhere buried in the literature is something about guide numbers for the system. The guide numbers should be based on measured light output of an actual unit and are a better test of the system.
Low intensity can be due to ageing lamps or ageing condensers or a couple of other things.
Old type speed lamps had very short durations, I think the original Kodatron was on the order of 1/10,000th maybe it was 1/100,000, very good for motion stopping but caused reciprocity effect losses and was hard on both the lamps and ears. Modern strobes extend the duration to on the order of 1/1000 or even longer. The meter must be capable of integrating the output over this period to give an accurate reading. There are shutter speed testers that will also indicate flash duration. The little one sold by Calument is good up to quite high speeds.
I suggest leaving the stobe to charge for at least half an hour the first time. You may find the output has gone up. If the lamps have aged the only solution is to replace them. Some strobe lamps are reasonable, others are quite expensive and older ones may prove hard to find.
Speedotron is still very much in business and can probably supply you with instructions and service info.

http://www.speedotron.com/

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

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