Unused Flash Head

I have a 250w studio flash head I haven't used in 2+ years. How many flashes do I need to push through it to give the caps a good exorcise. Do I also need to leave it on for a while?

I asked the people at Paul C. Buff about this and they seemed to think it was a myth.

That being said, every time I turn on a strobe head, I try to give it a few full power pops.

No myth. I was radio and tv repair and currently a ham. The radios I work with suffer the same fate. I have seen caps go and it ain't pretty. I even have a scar between my fingers from one going in a tv.

Generally one simply turns on the power to the flash unit and leaves it on without firing, in order to 'form' the capacitor.

My Metz instructions are to do so every three months for 15 minutes, my Dynalite studio flash instructions are to do it once a month 'for a couple of hours'.

Instructions about reforming the capacitor do vary...my Strobonar 500 from the 1960's says to turn it on for a couple of hours, then flash it four or five times!

Your 'studio flash head'....

• is it truly a head which is connected to a power pack? if a real 'head' then you re-form the capacitor in the power pack...the head has no such capacitor.
• is it a monolight?...then it does have a power capacitor, which is what is 're-formed'

...what brand and model? Maybe a user manual is available online, to cut the guessing!

Sorry, it is a mono light. It's a generic. It's something I started out with, which is why it doesn't get used much.

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