OT - studio strobe supply recap

Doc B. · 1624

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Offline Doc B.

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on: November 26, 2014, 10:31:38 AM
This is probably not really a useful venue for discussing this, but after doing some research I decided to rebuild my dead Speedotron 2403CX studio strobe power supply. I knew it was fading for many years and decided it was time to fix it in preparation for a photo shoot of my soon to be completed motorcycle project. Just to see where it was at I plugged it in yesterday, and sure enough after about 15 minutes one of the dozen 30 year old bigass caps inside let go with a mighty steam bath. The price of a new 2403CX is pushing $2K. Used ones on the bay were going for around $600 last time I looked. And they probably have their own 30 year old caps inside, waiting to burst.The only thing wrong with this supply seems to be the ancient caps, so recapping seems to make sense.

One of the neat things about the steady march of technology is that high quality high voltage caps can now be had for a lot less than they used to cost. In the past B&H photo sold Speedotron replacement caps for something like $60 each, so a recap would be $720 in parts alone. PB found a similar cap from Digi Key for a much more reasonable price, and so we ordered up a dozen, will recap the supply next week and see how it works. If it is successful we can probably offer a recap service for Speedotron power supplies.

Speaking of obscure recap services, we do recaps of Hammond organ tone wheel generators too.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline mcandmar

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Reply #1 on: November 26, 2014, 02:19:38 PM
Pics please, i'm curious to see whats inside it.  I assume its basically a high voltage reservoir?

M.McCandless


Online Cary

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Reply #2 on: November 26, 2014, 02:44:49 PM
Many years ago we used Norman strobes, they had a problem of the caps exploding . This was not a good situation since we worked around high explosives. At one time we had only eight working power packs out of thirty five. I was so angry with them I melted a couple of the packs at one of our underground tests. We made the switch to Broncolor, never had a problem.

Cary
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Brooks Institute of Photography



Offline Doc B.

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Reply #3 on: November 26, 2014, 04:53:22 PM
Pics please, i'm curious to see whats inside it.  I assume its basically a high voltage reservoir?

Yeah basically there are 12 big caps and a triggering/power supply board, with switching to control the distribution of the energy to the various strobe jacks. If I hadn't been around this stuff for so many years I would probably be very intimidated instead of simply having a great deal of respect for the 2400WS energy source. No hands go in that box until after a voltmeter check to make sure it is discharged.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline Grainger49

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Reply #4 on: November 27, 2014, 01:30:45 AM
I only got bit by DC once, 400V.  It hurts and doesn't let go.  Much worse than any AC.

And...  Happy Thanksgiving to the Bottlehead Crew.