Does anyone still use speedotron equipment

[spoolman]

Does anyone out there still use speedotron power packs and flash heads? I just had a friend close his studio and gave me his speedotron power packs and flash heads to sell.

Are they worth anything or are they just useless.

Doug

 

[chuckroast]

If they work, they are industrial strength studio lighting.

Are these Brown Line or Black Line Speedo?

 

[Hassasin]

They are definitely not useless, in their day they were competitively priced for pro use. But given current offerings with all sorts of options, wireless triggers, displays, infinite adjustments, easy multi-head setups etc, all at comparable price to Speedotron in its day, it would take a rather sentimental mind to buy them at above rock bottom price.

 

[albada]

Was Speedotron popular in the 1990s? If so, that would make them around 30 years old, which means their electrolytic capacitors are likely to be drying out and thus prone to failure. That reason alone would bias me toward buying new equipment.

Mark

 

[wiltw]

Sadly, the advent of the Chinese strobes like Godox has caused today's photographers to simply turn up their noses at traditional studio strobes, even if they consider supplemental lighting gear at all! Discussions in forums about supplemental lighting gear and techniques has really fallen off a cliff compared to even 10 years ago. The topic rarely gets discussed any more. I fear it is like manual transmissions among US drivers...few know the principles of proper gear selection, much less the actual skills of gear change; same for lighting. Those who have use and skills for both is a much smaller group than in the past, and traditional lighting manufacturers are shrinking in number. Used gear prices are reflecting such lack of interest among amateur photographers.

I would not worry about capacitor health, if the units belonged to a professional who continued to use them until somewhat recent years. If you buy them, please at least power them up for an hour every 6 months

 

[paul ron]

Was Speedotron popular in the 1990s? If so, that would make them around 30 years old, which means their electrolytic capacitors are likely to be drying out and thus prone to failure. That reason alone would bias me toward buying new equipment.

Mark

the caps are a serious concern with these old studio units. i had a big balcar with several heads, wnen turned on it would brown out an entire neighborhood. one day during a session, the box blew up spewing sparks n smoke. its no joke when they go.. replacing caps as a precaution will cost more than a new box. the caps are as big as soup cans, there were abot a dozen, each costing $40 back in 1986.

id be leary buying these old systems.

 

[Pieter12]

Speedotron is pro-level, high-quality gear. Depending on the age, condition and model I would not hesitate to use it. Selling the gear might be another question, pros seem to be favoring Profoto nowadays. Also, with the advent of digital cameras' high ISO capabilities the need for high-power strobes is not what it used to be. So investing in high-power systems such as Speedotron or Brocolor is less prevalent.Your best bet is someone who already has Speedotron equipment and wants to add to their arsenal, since the color balance and light modifiers would be the same.

 

[Pieter12]

Was Speedotron popular in the 1990s?

Speedotron was popular in the 90's, but they are still in production so they could be much newer than that.

Speedotron – The finest studio lighting since 1939

speedotron.com

 

[F4U]

I believe if I got old of one of those old sets I'd set up a bulb current limiter and a Variac to get those big capacitors going again. But since my radio gear is rated for tube electronics like shortwave radios and small transmitters and such ,I have my doubts if it was rated high enough. Probably not. You're fixing to fool with a LOT of juice. Might want to have a fire extinguisher handy, and be ready to run for the breaker box. Be careful, That's some serious juice. Just plugging it on and firing it up from years of slumber sounds mighty risky .But f you can get it waked up right and running, Remember, just because a capacitor doesn't feel warm doesn't mean its not a hand rgenade without a pin. Sounds like a sweet find. though GL

 

[ags2mikon]

@F4U You have a good point about running the Caps up with an auto transformer. Most of those flash generators ran on a 15 amp circuit. Keep Service Master on speed dial just in case.

 

[Pieter12]

First, the OP wants to sell the units, not use them. It would be useful information to include the age of the packs as part of the item description. Do you know the model and condition? Or, since it seems they are from a friend, maybe he could tell you how old they are. Armed with that information, you might want to do some searching on eBay or UsedPhotoPro to establish the value.

 

[mgb74]

It seems "pack" lighting takes a back seat to monolights now. There are repair centers for Speedotron (including Toronto), so that's a plus.

I think a lot will depend on whether they are the higher-end black line vs. brownline.

 

[F4U]

Also include the AC amperage draw, assuming it's 117v. I could be wrong, but I bet it's pretty high, especially after sitting for ages. A typical Variac from a ham shack might not be enough. Building a simple bulb current limiter is child's play, but you're need to have an idea of what wattage light bulb to put in it. Just guessing I'd say 200 watts. I am not trying to fear monger. I've worked on enough electronic gear to be very leery of huge capacitors. Even a little bitty .05 Rifa cap can put on quite a show.

 

[paul ron]

the worst was the acrid smoke like mustard gas has us gagging, the fireworks was pretty scarry too. if i were to test a unit, id do it outdoors on concrete. my unit burnt the wood floor under it and could have caused a fire. the box was extreamly hot, you couldnt toutch it.

my unit was in use for years, it just gave out one day without warning.

yeah the amperage draw is high. when id turn it on, the loft would brown out for a second or two till it cycled... it was on a 20 amp breaker that didnt trip right away either. realize the caps are fully charged n hold it for quite awhile. im sure a shock will be deadly... i wouldnt toutch the box when it blew just incase it was shorted to the metal case.

i know people that reshape caps by slow charging. but a marginal cap may work fine for awhile but is it worth taking a chance burning down the house? id trash the old units. the newer strobes are so much better n faster.

 

[spoolman]

the worst was the acrid smoke like mustard gas has us gagging, the fireworks was pretty scarry too. if i were to test a unit, id do it outdoors on concrete. my unit burnt the wood floor under it and could have caused a fire. the box was extreamly hot, you couldnt toutch it.

my unit was in use for years, it just gave out one day without warning.

yeah the amperage draw is high. when id turn it on, the loft would brown out for a second or two till it cycled... it was on a 20 amp breaker that didnt trip right away either. realize the caps are fully charged n hold it for quite awhile. im sure a shock will be deadly... i wouldnt toutch the box when it blew just incase it was shorted to the metal case.

i know people that reshape caps by slow charging. but a marginal cap may work fine for awhile but is it worth taking a chance burning down the house? id trash the old units. the newer strobes are so much better n faster.

First, the OP wants to sell the units, not use them. It would be useful information to include the age of the packs as part of the item description. Do you know the model and condition? Or, since it seems they are from a friend, maybe he could tell you how old they are. Armed with that information, you might want to do some searching on eBay or UsedPhotoPro to establish the value.

Thanks for the replies. All of the equipment is the Black line. There are 5 202VF flash heads with flash tubes,reflectors and cables. There are 4 power packs: an 810,1205CX,2403CX and a 4803 CX.Plus power cords and cables for the power packs.

They were last used in December of last year and I recently charged all of the packs individually so they are fully charged.

I will try to list the flash units on ebay or kijiji but shipping the power packs is going to be expensive.

Doug

 

[Pieter12]

Thanks for the replies. All of the equipment is the Black line. There are 5 202VF flash heads with flash tubes,reflectors and cables. There are 4 power packs: an 810,1205CX,2403CX and a 4803 CX.Plus power cords and cables for the power packs.

They were last used in December of last year and I recently charged all of the packs individually so they are fully charged.

I will try to list the flash units on ebay or kijiji but shipping the power packs is going to be expensive.

Doug

I'm glad you weren't flipped out by all the doomsayers who assumed the packs had been sitting for 30 years and about to explode. Yes, shipping will be expensive, try to sell locally if possible. I have bought almost all my packs online, they all arrived fine and I don't remember paying exorbitant shipping costs.

FYI, this is interesting: https://strobist.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-to-keep-your-old-flash-from.html

 

[paul ron]

shipping weight will kill ya for sure. my box weighed at least 40lbs without the heads n cables. with postal costs costing more than the box is worth, local pick up is the way to go. driving 40 miles is still a good deal on equipment like this.

as for boomsayers... its more cautionary than doomsayers.... poor selection of words.

yea you'll reform the old caps with slow charge n all the other methods, but its just a matter of time. old caps are exactly that, old n drying out.. no matter how long they are used or not. you cant get the Jeannie back in the bottle.

 

[Pieter12]

shipping weight will kill ya for sure. my box weighed at least 40lbs without the heads n cables. with postal costs costing more than the box is worth, local pick up is the way to go. driving 40 miles is still a good deal on equipment like this.

as for boomsayers... its more cautionary than doomsayers.... poor selection of words.

yea you'll reform the old caps with slow charge n all the other methods, but its just a matter of time. old caps are exactly that, old n drying out.. no matter how long they are used or not. you cant get the Jeannie back in the bottle.

He's selling, the buyer will end up paying for shipping one way or another. And the buyer will be taking the risk the capacitors will eventually go up in smoke. But unless the units are really old, that could be quite a while. Someone who needs the kind of flash power Speedotron Black Line packs can put out doesn't have a lot of choices.

 

[PGillin]

Tons of speedo gear for sale in Toronto I'm sure. I'm currently trying to sell a complete kit of blackline, two smaller packs and 4 202 heads plus some accessories, in Vancouver. I bought it all in Toronto about 6 years ago from a studio that was closing!
We used it all the time doing the Hudson's Bay catalog & flyers, patio furniture for walmart and Canadian Tire, and when I moved back out west in 2021 you could still find it in a few of the bigger ecomm/advertising houses, think TC or St Joe's. They bought tons of it when the business was good, and it just doesn't quit, so for stuff that's being done in-house when the clients aren't around it's still the go-to. Profoto, and especially the mono lights, is much more popular when clients are around to see the gear or on location where size, weight, and power draw is more of a factor.
As to what to price it at, hard to say without knowing what you've got.
I believe you can still rent it from Vistek...

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Does anyone out there still use speedotron power packs and flash heads? I just had a friend close his studio and gave me his speedotron power packs and flash heads to sell.

Are they worth anything or are they just useless.

Doug

I used Speedotron Brownline 1200 until just recently. very robust equipment and last I heared, still being serviced.