speedotron 2401a help

[eddie]

hello all,

i have a speedotron 2401a flash controller.

the other day i left it on all night. now i can not get it to flash. the fan comes on the strobes and the modeling light works but no flash. what gives?

i have a back up unit that works as it should...so i know that the strobe is working.

what has happened? i opened it up ( a stupid move i am sure....electricity has tried to kill me before so i should not mess with this kind of stuff!....)

any ideas? i find it hard to believe it just dies all the sudden....possible but unlikely i figure.

i got the units of a song so i do not want to pay big money to fix them...any ideas?

thanks

eddie

[Peter De Smidt]

You've checked the fuses, right?

[IanMazursky]

Hi Eddie,
I would give speedotron a call. They were very helpful to me in the past with questions.
The speedo packs are very simple in the inside and only a few things can go wrong besides the fuses.
The transformer and caps are the biggies. You can also try to trigger the pack manually by opening it up and briefly connecting the trigger leads.
I wouldn’t play around with it unless i was wearing very thick rubber gloves, the ones used for electrical work.

Just be very careful not to kill yourself. I knew a few guys who ended up in the emergency room because of old speedo packs.

[eddie]

You've checked the fuses, right?

tried to find them under the little 20 and 15 numbers...where are the fuses?

[Jfnphotography]

This is going to sound funny, did you smell it? Most of the time if electronic fail you smell burned electronic or plastic. Does it fire when you turn it off?

[Peter De Smidt]

http://www.speedotron.com/system/application/client/files/products/manuals/manual_86266.pdf

[eddie]

thanks.

no funny smelly. the modeling lights still work as does the fan in the flash head. i just can not get it to flash! doh!

[Greg Blank]

Most likely there are no fuses, My 1205CX does not have fuses, they utilize breakers that can be reset by depressing them.

I work around electric quite a bit with Jobo stuff, but Flash equipment you really should be specially trained to do so. Those capacitors in the box you have are powerful enough to kill several people in one short burst. I would call Speedotron. I certainly would not get the "itch" to open a power pack.



tried to find them under the little 20 and 15 numbers...where are the fuses?

[Michael Graves]

Most likely there are no fuses, My 1205CX does not have fuses, they utilize breakers that can be reset by depressing them.

I work around electric quite a bit with Jobo stuff, but Flash equipment you really should be specially trained to do so. Those capacitors in the box you have are powerful enough to kill several people in one short burst. I would call Speedotron. I certainly would not get the "itch" to open a power pack.

In theory (this is only theory, mind you) Speedo's automatically discharge the capacitors on shutdown. That said, I wouldn't touch the inside of that power pack if you forced me. I own two Speedo power packs, and one day during a long shoot that involved head shots of every single person the 2401 crapped out, just like Eddie describes. I said a few words unbefitting a professional and pulled out the 810 and finished the job. A few days later I pulled the 2401 back out to see if I could find the problem and it fired right up. It hasn't give me a lick of trouble since. I perceive that they don't like getting hot.

[W K Longcor]

In theory (this is only theory, mind you) Speedo's automatically discharge the capacitors on shutdown. That said, I wouldn't touch the inside of that power pack if you forced me. I.

Even after dischargiing , I have had units still have enough charge in the capacitors to kill a horse. One " discharged" unit blew a quarter inch hole through the blade of a screw driver when it arced. The "repair man" ( NOT me!) had to go home to change his underwear! Please, as said before - if it needs to be opened up for repairs - let the pros do it!