Question about Norman power pack and heads

[laurence_mohr]

Does anyone know if I can hook up an LH2 and/or an LH4 head to the Norman P800D

power pack? I can't find a url for Norman. Thanks in advance.

[john gettis]

Not sure of the answer to this question but here is a link to the

Company that owns Norman http://www.photo-control.com/

[jmf]

no. the p800d is for the 900 series heads like the 2000, 2400, and 2500

[brian_gordon1]

The Norman LH2 and LH4 lampheads are in the Norman 450 series, which means they operate at 450 volts. The 800D, 1250D and 2000D power packs are in the 900 series, putting out twice the voltage to the heads. This is why the pin configuration on the connection cords is different, so you can't mistakenly plug a 450 series head into a 900 volt power pack. There is also an issue with total power that the flashtubes can withstand. The LH2 and LH4 heads use the standard FT120 four-pin removable flashtube capable of handling 200 watt-seconds of power. Much older Norman LH2 heads (some of which turn up regularly on eBay) do not have the user-replaceable tube, and can reliably handle only 125 watt-seconds of power at 450 volts. I believe the pin configuration is the same for these heads, but have not seen one close-up. These older LH2 heads are recognizable because they have a sheet of plastic over the reflector, and the reflector is not removeable. The LH2000 and later LH2400 lamp heads can take 2000 watt-seconds of power.

 

An added complication is that some of the newer portable Norman units put out more power at 450 volts than the older models, so they use yet another design of plug, so you can't plug in a 200 watt-second head to a power pack that puts out 400 watt-seconds.

 

You can operate any flashtube at less than its rated power, but don't put more power through it than it is designed for. Thus, a Norman 200B portable unit can be switched to put 50, 100, or 200 watt-seconds of power through the lamphead, and the studio packs in the 900 series can be switched to put out anything from 100 watt-seconds all the way up to the maximum output through one lamphead.

 

Happy shooting!

 

Brian Gordon

(Norman user for 25+ years)