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Norman P2000D + P1250 + cans
Apr 30, 2019 22:06:55   #
j-mo
 
Hello-

I have these on Craigslist and I may eventually put them on Ebay but I wanted to post here as well due to the appropriateness of the audience.

For sale are:
(1) Norman P2000D
(1) Norman P1250
(1) strobe unit with all parts (see pics)
(1) strobe unit missing one piece (see pics)

****SEE PICS, items shown are all of the actual items for sale!!!!

Please read carefully. I am selling these, hopefully, to someone that knows their way around them. These are UNTESTED but could very well be functional. We all know they are not just junk even if they don't work. I'm willing to entertain offers - provided said offers are not ludicrous. Please don't ask me to let these go for $40 or whatever .

If you are interested in buying them outright, or in coming to check them out first, please contact me. I will answer all reasonable questions but please remember these are NOT TESTED by me.

I will consider selling individual items but prefer to sell as lot. I will also entertain trade offers for other types of photo/video equipment.

I am located in Massachusetts.


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May 1, 2019 06:47:52   #
roxiemarty Loc: Florida
 
Let me see if I have it straight.............you just joined this forum 2 months ago; the strobe lights do not work, but you want us to buy them......untested? And you say they are not junk? If they are blown, they will be expensive to get repaired. Do you even know how to test them, hook them up ect? If not, find someone who knows about old studio strobes. The capacitors could be bad.

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May 1, 2019 08:00:58   #
SonyBug
 
roxiemarty wrote:
Let me see if I have it straight.............you just joined this forum 2 months ago; the strobe lights do not work, but you want us to buy them......untested? And you say they are not junk? If they are blown, they will be expensive to get repaired. Do you even know how to test them, hook them up ect? If not, find someone who knows about old studio strobes. The capacitors could be bad.


yes, he probably got them dirt cheap at a garage sale and wants to find a sucker to quintuple his money.

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May 1, 2019 10:53:57   #
digitalbill
 
Why would you not test them? You have a head with a bulb, just hook up to an extension cord, plug in the head and bingo they work or they don't. I have a lot of norman gear the 1250 is really old, I know I have one.

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May 1, 2019 11:34:02   #
j-mo
 
Hi all- I'm struggling a bit with the quote function so I will make clear which person I am replying to in each case.

To roxiemarty:
Although I did not sign up to comment until two months ago, I have been reading forums here for years. In any event, I'm following all the rules, so not sure why you are on my case about that.

As for not testing, I admit freely I am not very familiar with older strobe gear. The reason I said they're not junk either way is that I know that even if they DIDN'T work, there are only so many of these left in the world so maybe somebody would need them to repair theirs. And no, I don't know how to test them. I read that it was easy to blow them up doing it wrong though, and I read it was not nearly as simple as just plugging them in and hitting the button, so I didn't.

You say "find someone who knows about old studio strobes" and to that I reply: "great point...so why doesn't it make sense to you that I went to a serious photography forum where someone would be likely to know about them?"

Would you prefer that I lie and say "Yeah I tested these and they are guaranteed perfect?" I think my post is 100% legit...I gave a completely thorough, true account of the gear, what I know, what I don't know, and complete photo coverage to show every angle of the gear in detail.

To nikonbug: It's true I got them out of an attic...so what? I provided all the info, pictures, and a very frank post. Now a buyer can decide if that's something they want, or not. And a price can be negotiated. How is that different than any other used item? I know I am not going to use these personally cause I don't do studio portraits. So...no "suckering" going on here.

To digitalbill...if that's really the case, maybe I will try it. I just looked at it all, read some articles, and decided I was risking disaster if I just started trying to fire up this type of gear without experience. I chose the guaranteed safe route. I had hoped to get positive attention, maybe even a little advice other than "just plug them in" ...(is it really that simple? Asking honestly) and I'm not sure why this seems to have upset everyone so much.

Guys... This gear is what it is. It's worth whatever a buyer thinks it is/whatever they want to pay in their given situation after viewing all the info (and if possible, the gear themselves in person). How else am I supposed to go about this? It's not like my post is vague, makes crazy promises, or doesn't clearly show the gear.

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May 1, 2019 12:31:05   #
digitalbill
 
with the instructions I gave you are not at any risk. just plug in the head first, then the power cord, turn on,
test the modeling light, then turn on the power to the head and hit test.
Not many places that repair these, not a diy project. I am in southern ca and we still have a company that works on these but not many out there. I have 6 power packs and about 20 heads that just keep working.
There is no danger in blowing up a unit by just testing it. By the way the instructions on the power pack that state switch only when on is wrong, make all settings with power pack off, then test. Do not change settings when powered up. Before changing settings discharge capacitors first by hitting test with power cord disconnected. Hope this helps.

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May 1, 2019 13:33:15   #
roxiemarty Loc: Florida
 
I'm sorry if my reply offended you. We just don't know enough about you to decide if your item for sale is worth it. You did explain yourself quite well. As another person noted, there are very few places left to repair them. They may still be fully functional. I have old Novatron studio strobes, similar to these. Mine blew a capacitor, and had to be repaired years ago. The place was over 200 miles from me. But I'm not sure they are even there anymore. I'm sure you can still get bulbs and modeling lights online. Once again, I'm sorry. It was very early, and I stated my thoughts.

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May 1, 2019 14:12:01   #
j-mo
 
No worries, we're good. I get why the replies were what they were, and now you all have more insight into my position as well. I've had a chance to elaborate, and I got some good tips from digitalbill as well. As far as I'm concerned everything is cool. Now I just have to decide if I am indeed brave enough to follow bill's instructions. :) I've already had a few inquiries stemming from my CL ad too, so we'll see how this goes.

Thanks everyone for your interest and again, please feel free to ask me anything if anyone wants more info than was already provided. If I do get a test done, I'll also come back and report the results.

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May 1, 2019 16:45:20   #
roxiemarty Loc: Florida
 
j-mo wrote:
No worries, we're good. I get why the replies were what they were, and now you all have more insight into my position as well. I've had a chance to elaborate, and I got some good tips from digitalbill as well. As far as I'm concerned everything is cool. Now I just have to decide if I am indeed brave enough to follow bill's instructions. :) I've already had a few inquiries stemming from my CL ad too, so we'll see how this goes.

Thanks everyone for your interest and again, please feel free to ask me anything if anyone wants more info than was already provided. If I do get a test done, I'll also come back and report the results.
No worries, we're good. I get why the replies were... (show quote)



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May 1, 2019 23:33:41   #
Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.
 
The Norman flash, probably the best industrial strength flash system ever made. These were designed by Lynn, a GOD of the electronic flash power base systems. There are only two rivals to the Norman, Speed-O-Tron out of Chicago and of course the Rolls Royce of flash Braun.

I was extremely lucky when I was young to run into Mr. Lynn at a photo expo. By the way, articles on electronic flash by Lynn ( his signature was often Lynn on flash), dozens of articles in multiple professional and amature photography magazines were published under his name.

Here is what Mr. Lynn told me and also demonstrated to me with gear in front of me. The heads have built in shunts that block the power from discharging when a head is plugged in or removed. This is good for any of the ports regardless of how many are plugged in. Know that the front flash head port is for a single head to be attached and it will deliver that maximum volume from the capacitors.

Once plugged into the mains (power supply from the wall 120V), the unit should be left plugged in for at least 0ne (1) hour before trying the unit. Critical addendum to that is that the power bases should be plugged in ALL the time. The capacitors and electronics are designed to be left plugged in all the time. Note again, a head does not need to be plugged in while the power base is plugged in, ALL the heads are designed with a shunt so any accidental discharge can not occur. So leave the unit plugged in ALL THE TIME except during transport. I have four (4) 2000 and one (1) 800 power base, they have been plugged in all the time and draw only minor amounts of electricity in a month.

You can and should see a near doubling to the out put after 24 to 48 hours after initially powering the box up. The capacitors are a semi liquid pile that favors continuous power. If I turn one off to transport it is rarely more than an hour.

Prior to powering a base up YOU MUST USE A CONTINUITY CHECKING DEVICE to confirm that the line is GROUNDED and the polarity is correctly configured. IF the unit is not GROUNDED you will have problems with the power base and will most likely do some nasty damage to the base. You should NEVER use any power base nor mono system if there is any problem with the ground connection.

These units are extremely safe, as are the Speed-O-Tron units. I have sent Novatrons to the land fill with out testing, these are terrible inconsistent pieces of crap. They were known early on in the industry as Nova-Bombs and for good reason. Use them as you will, I refuse to be in a room with one. As to the Novatron Heads, pretty poor showing but you can use Speed-O-Tron Brown Line heads in the Novatron power bases, but why bother, they deliver inconsistent results.

Another item of interest is that the flash tube can be pulled (it uses a three prong plug into the flash head), after removing the flash tube look at the circular white ceramic insulator base, if it is stamped with the letters 'UV' this means the glass cowling around the flash tube is a type of glass that removes UV light before it can exit the head. This is desirable for certain types of work. If the tube is NOT stamped 'UV' then the glass protective outer shield will NOT absorb UV and it is freely passed out of the head.

Many of the Norman power bases have old and worn capacitors. Two of mine are this way. I have checked the output and founded it to be less than the top unit of mine. But these units still work quite well but at a lower capacity.

One last heads up, then the 'ready' light illuminates the unit has recharged to 80% capacity, to get full out put I will wait a few seconds for full out put. There is a castor dolly that goes under the box, this is a vary good item, water and power bases (in fact ANY flash) do not mix. Never ever use power bases around water (unless it's a Braun, then your ok for about ten minutes!). Another critical thing, if the unit still has lights on but refuses to discharge (and you are an idiot!) pass your hand closely along the side or top of the unit (about an inch or so) and the base is radiating a strong feel of heat, yes, you have over heated the unit and the thermal shunt kicked in and shut the unit down till it cools down!

Dame fine equipment that lead the way for safety and excellence in design. Lynn way one of the best!

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May 2, 2019 18:33:23   #
j-mo
 
Thanks for that post, Timmers.

So, unfortunately I seem to be stuck at step 1 here, and for a very aggravating reason...I didn't really notice til yesterday (when I set out to try digitalbill's suggested steps for testing) that the connector ports where one would plug in an AC cord are housed in perfectly round sockets containing the male plug that is built into the unit's chassis. Unfortunately, after looking at literally every extension cord I have in the whole house and garage, I can't find a single one with a female plug end that fits into this circular port. Every single one of them is too big, due to either/both the bump on the bottom for the 3rd prong, and/or the plastic "nub" commonly found on the top of extension cord female plug ends. I don't feel comfortable shaving these down, especially the bottom bumps. This leads me to believe that these units came with proprietary AC cords, or something like that (?) which I do not possess. Anyone know about that aspect? Suggestions?

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May 3, 2019 01:14:21   #
Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.
 
j-mo wrote:
Thanks for that post, Timmers.

So, unfortunately I seem to be stuck at step 1 here, and for a very aggravating reason...I didn't really notice til yesterday (when I set out to try digitalbill's suggested steps for testing) that the connector ports where one would plug in an AC cord are housed in perfectly round sockets containing the male plug that is built into the unit's chassis. Unfortunately, after looking at literally every extension cord I have in the whole house and garage, I can't find a single one with a female plug end that fits into this circular port. Every single one of them is too big, due to either/both the bump on the bottom for the 3rd prong, and/or the plastic "nub" commonly found on the top of extension cord female plug ends. I don't feel comfortable shaving these down, especially the bottom bumps. This leads me to believe that these units came with proprietary AC cords, or something like that (?) which I do not possess. Anyone know about that aspect? Suggestions?
Thanks for that post, Timmers. br br So, unfortun... (show quote)


Here is the skinny on that problem. First, you can shave a standard orange extension cord down so it will fit into the power base. There are plugs made still that will fit into that hole to fit snugly, but truth is the edge shaved extension cord is the best solution.

Now for the shitty news. These plugs where a really bad idea. The round ground post is easily sheared off when plugging and un-plugging the power cord. One unit that I have has this plug end, so the solution was to install an extension cord and to secure that plug/cord so that it can not be removed.

A better solution was to have the old designed plug REMOVED and replaced with the newer computer style grounded plug. I have two converted boxes and plugging and unplugging works like a breeze.

NEVER, EVER try using a unit where the ground post is loose or missing. You will destroy the flash unit

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