Bowens remote control protocol

polyglot

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• Oct 16, 2013

• #1

I have a pair of Bowens monolights, the 500DX and 1000DX digital things that support IR remotes. The problem is that people seem to want $400+ for a remote.

Does anyone know the IR protocol they use?

Or have a compatible remote they'd part with on reasonable terms?

 

MattKing

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• Oct 16, 2013

• #2

Somehow I expect they are more complex then the Wein IR remote that I bought in a job lot of used flash accessories.

I was somewhat bemused to discover that our TV remote set off the Wein IR remote.

 

OP

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• Oct 17, 2013

• #3

Hehe; the Wein cells are just a trigger as far as I know. Any sharp edge in light received (e.g. a flash triggered nearby, or the square-waves produced by a TV remote's LED) closes a triac and triggers the flash.

I expect Bowens uses a similar approach to the TV remotes with a bitstream AM-modulated onto a 40kHz carrier for ambient-light rejection, if only because those IR transmitter and receiver modules are cheap and ubiquitous. If I had a remote I could discover the protocol but of course I don't...

 

MattKing

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• Oct 17, 2013

• #4

The Wein unit is actually part of a pair - an IR transmitter that fits on the camera hot shoe and the corresponding receiver/trigger.

And they both appear really, really old.

 

MDR

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• Oct 17, 2013

• #5

The Multiblitz Musen should be able to trigger the Bowens Unit and is under 100$ for under 50$ Fotodiox Universal IR Infrared Remote Flash Trigger for Optical Slave Flash. Good luck. BTW the Bowens Gemini IR Remote Control (under 100$) and the Bowens Pulsar TX RX Kit are way less than 400$ more like 250$. The Pulsar system is Radio and not IR

 

BennehBoy

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• Oct 17, 2013

• #6

I've got some Pulsar's they work really well.

 

OP

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• Oct 17, 2013

• #7

I'm not looking for triggers, guys. I'm looking for the remote that allows you to control the flash, i.e. change the power level and other settings. Something like an RC-3.

 

MDR

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• Oct 17, 2013

• #8

The Bowens Gemini IR Remote Control (http://www.bowensdirect.com/gemini-remote-control.html) that I've mentioned in my previous post is such a thing and it should be able to work with your Mono Units and that for a measly 55 pounds the RC3 is a more capable unit though and can be found for around 150 pounds.

 

OP

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• Oct 17, 2013

• #9

Is the Gemini remote really compatible? I thought it was only for the Gemini lights and I have Esprit Digital models. They're about $120 in Australia, which is kind of OK but still offensively expensive for what would be a $5 remote on any other device.