Calumet T1000C light set?

I picked up a set of 4 heads and 2 transformers, which have the designation T1000C. These look to be 50s era and come with custom

built lucite carriages which double as stands. The heads are aluminum. Any idea where I can find more information on these? Thanks!

Can you post a photo?

<p>It's actually a Calumet T-1005-C Elliptica. Trying to add photos now. <img src="/photo/17800196" alt="" /><img src="/photo/17800195" alt="" /></p>

<p>Here's a view of the head</p><div></div>

Oh please tell me you didn't pay a lot for a bunch of 35-40 year old electronics. Have they been used anytime in the past

few years? If not you likely will need new capacitors and possibly triads. I also do not recommend connecting them to any

modern camera. The sync voltage will fry it.

<p>Thanks for the feedback! I was able to get the whole kit for about the price of a replacement bulb (assuming they can still be found). They are working. I'm handy enough to sort a cap swap, but the other elements might be uncharted water. Thanks for the heads up regarding the sync voltage - I'll make sure to get an air gap of some kind in the chain, or just use it with the film stuff. I don't know where to begin with the replacement bulbs - Do they appear to be standard? </p>

Can you post a photo of the pack the heads plug into? I'd like to see that and the pack and head connector. I think the

Calumet Elliptica sysystem msy predate the Calumet electronic flash gear we used for studio flash gear when I was a T.A.

At UT-Austin in 1979. It looks like the heads can be used with Balcar / Paul C. Buff lreflectors and speed rings.

 

Be very careful if you start working on as pack.

<p>I don't think Triacs were invented when that old heap was designed. Likely it's just a multiplier diode-capacitor ladder inside to boost the voltage, with almost no regulation.</p>

<p>I have to agree that the open-circuit trigger voltage will probably be in the hundreds of volts range. So I hope the heads came with optical triggers! If not I'd buy some cheap opto devices to trigger 'em. Even radio triggers aren't that indestructible.</p>

<p>I also remember one of my fellow students at photo college being thrown across the room by unplugging the head from a similar pack to that while it was fully charged. Take care!</p>

<p>RJ, triacs have been around as HV switches since the 60s when solid state electronics first came into use. I used a pair of triacs in 1962-63 to turn on and off a desk lamp remotely using only 12 VAC trigger voltage. That was very sophisticated for the time.<br>

But I agree w/ Ellis, and RJ, be very careful when working on old gear that has big caps and high voltages.<br>

<Chas><br />I've been wiring stuff together since I was 10 ;-)</p>

 

<p>Thanks for the warnings! I definitely don't want to find out the hard way that the 1/4" jacks on the heads are not for the triggers. Photos to follow. </p><div></div>

<p>Here is the jack for the power source, which is hard wired into the head - Does it trigger from the head, the pack, or either?</p><div></div>

<p>Triacs in 1962? Let's see, I'd have been 13, had just built my first miniature transistor radio and could barely get my hands on silicon transistors at the time. Most of the stuff was still Geranium - sorry - Germanium (or valve) powered! And any thoughts of solid state controlling voltages above 20 volts were a pipe dream. You yanks must have had it good in those days.</p>

<p>Now that I have had a chance to dig in a bit, here are some additional bits - They use 8-pin octal (tube/valve) style strobes. Indeed the power packs use three tubes/valves as well. I found Calumet sales literature from 1966 that has these in it. Immediately and randomly found three more heads with the right connectors, so now it's 2 bases, 7 heads. Now to find where on earth I can find those 8 pin lights...</p>

<p>Fired them up tonight to find everything works really well. Once the packs were fully energized, one began triggering an internal relay switch that sounded as if something was toggling back and forth about 2x per second. It didn't appear to cause any issues, but at one point the strobes spontaneously fired one time, but the tranceivers are also new to me, so they could have been the culprit in that case.<br>

Any ideas what what switching sound would be? I imagine it will be distracting for someone if they were in the studio with them. Thanks again for your help!<br>

JP</p>

 

The clicking sound is a relay in the pack that is regulating the voltage. The rate at which it is clicking indicates that the capacitors are on the way out. You can keep using it like that but your relay may burn out. I would contact Devon Reno at Photo Electronics in Chicago. He's quitting the business soon but he knows how to fix these Balcar-made packs. You can find him at www peekyou com/devon_reno/173771430. Tip: the username on that page is his aol email username. He can also tell you a story about those rectangular plugs and a foot-long spark. :)

The clicking sound is a relay in the pack that is regulating the voltage. The rate at which it is clicking indicates that the capacitors are on the way out. You can keep using it like that but your relay may burn out. I would contact Devon Reno at Photo Electronics in Chicago. He's quitting the business soon but he knows how to fix these Balcar-made packs. You can find him at www peekyou com/devon_reno/173771430. Tip: the username on that page is his aol email username. He can also tell you a story about those rectangular plugs and a foot-long spark. :)

 

- Only 4 years too late to help the OP!