[pure-silver] Re: old Norman P400D battery pack
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 07:52:22 -0800
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Healy" <fourbyfiveguy@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 10:02 PM
Subject: [pure-silver] old Norman P400D battery pack
Hi. I've been given a Norman battery pack P400D. It hasn't
been used in about 10
years. I think that the guy who owned it may have thrown
money at it and then
not used it all that much. Has anyone had experience
turning one of these things
back on again all these years later, and making it
function without
electrocution?
Mike Healy
It depends on what sort of capacitors are in it. The
caps are used to store energy over a period of time which is
then discharged very quickly to fire the lamp. Most
electronic flash units use electrolytic capacitors. They
depend on a chemical reaction to form one of the plates of
the capacitor. When inactive the "plate" tends to dissipate
so the cap must be re-formed. Its quite possible it will
come up without any problems when turned on but it should be
alowed to stand under charge for a long period of time,
perhaps a day or more, to fully reform the capacitors. Then
dischrage it and charge again. If you have a means for
controlling the line voltage, a variable transformer for
instance, its a good idea to bring up the voltage slowly at
first to make sure the caps have not degraded to the point
where they will short when full voltage is put on them.
If you can open the case check the caps for any signs
of chemical leakage. If there is any it should not be
connected and the caps will need to be replaced.
Note that the stuff that comes out of electrolytic
caps is corrosive and will damage other things in the
chassis.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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