Damn - after 2 yrs and 2 months one of my Bowens heads is not happy

V8burble

V8burble

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I was at a client's house the other day shooting a couple of little babies and noticed whilst shooting that occasionally there was a beep just like the ready beep of my Bowens 500R heads, although I didn't have any of the heads 'ready beep' turned on. I remember thinking... whatever that is it sounds just like my heads. Anyway, after viewing the results there are a number of shots where one head had misfired and hence the beep (E5 misfire warning beep). Apart from a couple of dead modelling lamps over time this is the first actual failure for me and I can't say I'm happy, especially as they have a 24 month warranty :suspect:
So, it's got to go off for a service at Bowens and we will see what's up with it I guess. :(
There is never a good time to be without a head is there, I guess I'll have to rent one for a week or so.
 
If it's any help you can borrow a Lencarta ElitePro 300 head for a couple of weeks - it probably has a very similar output to your failed head and as Lencarta and Bowens have the same accessory mount, it will work with your accessories.

It's one that I've been using in my own studio for a year or two, but I have plenty of heads here and can spare it for a couple of weeks
 
Wow, that's very kind Garry! :clap:

I'll talk to Bowens on Tuesday and see what they say, and let you know.
 
The missfire bleep is often a worn out flash tube, they are user replaceable, you could have swopped the tube from the working head to try out, flash tube wont be covered by the warranty.
 
Yes I could try swapping flash tubes from my other heads but my worry is that I knacker a good flash tube when swapping it LOL. I might have a play tomorrow, although I would have thought a tube would either work or not work rather than just misfire now and again :shrug:
 
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V8burble said:
Yes I could try swapping flash tubes from my other heads but my worry is that I knacker a good flash tube when swapping it LOL. I might have a play tomorrow, although I would have thought a tube would either work or not work rather than just misfire now and again :shrug:
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David is right, this could easily be a flash tube very near the end of its life. Telltale signs are usually discolouration and darkening. It's reasonable to expect around 100,000 flashes from a decent quality tube, which in your case amounts to about 1,000 flashes per week
 
Yes, thanks David and Garry... After reading David's post I couldn't help but take a look now!
Swapped tubes and the intermittent fault went with it and the suspect monobloc was perfect so bingo it is indeed just the tube. Interestingly it fails 100% at settings below 1.7 and about 1 in 5 at 2.7 and virtually fine at 4.0 so there you go, it can just misfire intermittently.
Just need to get hold of a new flash tube now :thumbs:
Edit:
And a spare!!!
 
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V8burble said:
I was at a client's house the other day shooting a couple of little babies and noticed whilst shooting that occasionally there was a beep just like the ready beep of my Bowens 500R heads, although I didn't have any of the heads 'ready beep' turned on. I remember thinking... whatever that is it sounds just like my heads. Anyway, after viewing the results there are a number of shots where one head had misfired and hence the beep (E5 misfire warning beep). Apart from a couple of dead modelling lamps over time this is the first actual failure for me and I can't say I'm happy, especially as they have a 24 month warranty :suspect:
So, it's got to go off for a service at Bowens and we will see what's up with it I guess. :(
There is never a good time to be without a head is there, I guess I'll have to rent one for a week or so.
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Hi All,

Ive got this problem with my Bowens. Ive only had them for a couple of months and only used them a handfull of times, so it couldnt possibly be needing a new flash tube....could it????

Lyn
 
You could say the same thing about 12reg cars up on the ramps in car garages. New things can and do fail. Have you tried swapping flash tubes over to see if the failure follows the swap? It only takes a minute to unwind the trigger wire and pop the tube out.

Edit:
If you do isolate it as the flash tube it would be worth talking to Bowens.... you never know they may take a view on it and replace.
 
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V8burble said:
You could say the same thing about 12reg cars up on the ramps in car garages. New things can and do fail. Have you tried swapping flash tubes over to see if the failure follows the swap? It only takes a minute to unwind the trigger wire and pop the tube out.

Edit:
If you do isolate it as the flash tube it would be worth talking to Bowens.... you never know they may take a view on it and replace.
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Thanks, Ive just emailed them. Hope they will send out a replacement one as im not very happy its only lasted since Feb 2012 (and ive only used them on 5 shoots)!
 
Have you swapped tubes to check it's the tube? Otherwise you will get an email back saying they can't comment on what's wrong until they have inspected it, which is fine but who pays for sending it? Especially if the mono bloc itself is fine.
 
Well left the lights up and went to have lunch, tested them again and it's working fine!!!!! Hmmm would it do this if the flash tube needed replacing (never had a problem before).
 
Yes, temperature may well have an effect as it has cooled down. I found that turning it down low to say 1.0-1.5 and hitting the test button resulted in most failures to fire whilst at high values it hardly missed a beat.
 
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