Looking for a Radio Slave for Old School Balcar Studio Strobes

[EricNelson]

I've got the 1200 and 2400WS Balcar power packs and I just fried the receiver of my Micnova radio slave plugging into it to see if it would trigger it. My 2400WS pack is similar to this one.

I'm wondering if there is a radio slave made today that can handle the voltage from old school power packs like these? I can use a synch cord plugged into a Wein safe synch, as I'm using a Canon 6D, but I'd prefer going wireless.

Thanks for any help.

Eric

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I've got the 1200 and 2400WS Balcar power packs and I just fried the receiver of my Micnova radio slave plugging into it to see if it would trigger it. My 2400WS pack is similar to this one. View attachment 1145

I'm wondering if there is a radio slave made today that can handle the voltage from old school power packs like these? I can use a synch cord plugged into a Wein safe synch, as I'm using a Canon 6D, but I'd prefer going wireless.

Thanks for any help.

Eric

Well as long as it not fried your camera ,the slave did its job and saved you a lot of money.Calumet made a Canon -dedicated unitbut Calumet is no more.I'd go for one of theselow-cost chinese unitsor use a light slave triggered by your pop-up flash

 

[EricNelson]

I've not updated in a while so it's time.

Some kind soul took pity on me and sent me an extension cord to run my 1200WS pack.
Excited I headed over to the rental studio I keep my gear at. I plugged in the unit, everything switched to run on 220, and the modeling light and flash worked. The fan was making some odd noise.
I let the unit run without firing for a long time at first as it had not been used in over 2 years. After testing the flash, and it fired, I let it run with the modeling light on but it started smoking badly and I shut the thing down. Seems the fan in that head is now cooked as it won't run on my 2400WS pack either but the flash tube will fire. I just don't think it's a good idea to run it without a fan even with no modeling light.
So I'm kinda stuck till I can find someone who is willing to work on this ancient thing.

 

[williamkazak]

Sorry to hear this. We used to use Balcar units in the studio in Chicago in the 70's and 80's. We purchased from their salesman, Ken Lerner I think his name was. Later, Ken went on to Speedotron and I also saw him at Calumet in Chicago. Nice guy who told it like it was. I still cherish my Balcar umbrella. I have a white one with the black back. I never bought the diffuser front for it. The owner, Denis Scott, used one though on his setups. I shot models in B&W in our studio downtime. I made wonderful 11x 14 B&W prints for model portfolios using Hasselblad and 35mm. We emulated Avedon, Skrebneski and Scuvullo and tried to match their B&W quality. Those were great times for me and I totally miss it. My head is screwed on wrong now, trying to relive those times using what attainment I already achieved in those days but in the eternal right now.

 

[EricNelson]

I don't miss the darkroom as I spent nearly 20 years running and operating a small lab in Wicker Park and later in Humboldt Park. Totally word of mouth, under the radar etc. Now I just wish I'd moved to Thailand sooner but I'm still young enough to enjoy it. I did ship most of my darkroom gear here, but aside from the frozen film I fear most of the paper et al has probably gone bad.

Ken and Denis are familiar names from back in my assisting day although I never assisted Denis.
In the meantime I may buy a friend's pair of Godox 600WS heads w/matching batteries to use. I am not sure if, assuming I can find a Bowens ring for my light boxes, (chimera and the like) if the head's hardware can support the weight. Not nearly the versatility of using the Balcars but should last a while and are good for location shoots.