Wanted manual Bowens Quad 2002

Hello David, seeing you have not had any response so far makes me cut in at this point, although I am not in possession of the manuals or schematics. The Bowens Quad 2000 pack is of vintage 1974, being followed by the Quad 2002 in 1978. One important thing to know is that you have to switch off the mains power and wait about 3 seconds before unplugging or changing heads. Both units have a sync voltage on the jacks of about 230 VDC. By all means, do invest in a safe sync device. This applies not only when you intent to trigger via sync cable, this advice is also valid and good when using one of the popular radio remote gadgets. I remember the time when Bowens introduced their first issue infrared wireless remote in 1981 and were forced to make an alteration in the electronic circuitry a year later when damages occurred due to the high sync voltages of the old packs.

The flash power jacks of the Quad 2000 and Quad 2002 packs are lacking the extra hot wire connection to supply power to a cooling fan (original heads are without a fan), therefore it is best to limit the modelling light for the halogen type heads Quadmatic H/K to 300 W max. The older Quad heads take an E 27 socket 250/275 W tungsten bulb.

The problem you have with No.2 section one of the Quad 2002 indicates that the flash power capacitors of that particular section are going bad. Having them replaced with new ones would run about $150. Marking No.2 switch accordingly and leaving it off permanently would still get you a usable unit of 1100 Joule. You may have noticed, on the Quad 2000/2002 all sections that are switched on must show the section ready indicator before the central ready indicator comes on. The ready indicator will come on already when 70% of full charge is reached, making it possible to trigger the unit this soon. Flash power is not stabilized, but after about 6 seconds charging time the units are fairly constant in output. Triggering the units immediatly after the ready indicator comes on will yield uneven exposures.

The available flash power is applied symmetrically to the flash power jacks on the Quad 2002. You may switch a section off in order to reduce flash power, even when all are in ready condition. An internal power dump discharges the switched sections in about a second. All this is from memory. Perhaps there are others who are still in possession of manuals.

Hope this helps,

Hans Strobl, Wuerzburg, Germany

Thank you hans. That is very usefull information. My father is a retied electrical engineer he worked for the ABC (Australia) from when they started trasmitting till about 8 years ago. We'll probably pull one of the packs apart and make our own schematics. One thing i noticed when i fired the flash it peaked at about 8amp. We had the meter hooked up from the mains to the pack. could it be sending a charge back thru to the mains? Thanks again hans. Dave Curtis. (Australia)

"We had the meter hooked up from the mains to the pack. Could it be sending a charge back thru to the mains? "

Dave, it is not possible for the unit to send a charge back to the mains electrically. The system strictly works one way. Hooking-up a meter to the pack will not get you much useful information. A technician would have to use an oscilloscope with memory function set on one-shot mode. Generally speaking, all well-designed flash units will incorporate a so-called glow prevention circuit which cuts-off the charging circuit from the mains for a fraction of a second after firing a flash. This short delay (about 0.3 s) will prevent the hot plasma in the flash tube to continue glowing, being fed by the mains (after-glow prevention). The charging circuit of your Bowens Quad 2000/2002 will be dead for this short time. When starting the charging cycle the unit will be drawing about 25A peak (start of cycle), coming down to about 6A average for the remainder of the cycle. Once the ready indicator light comes on, the current is about 1A. What you have to worry about are other things: 1.the Quad 2000/2002 does not have any efficient EMI filtering, meaning there is considerable interference being fed down the mains line. This may have negative effects on all electronic devices e.g. radios, computers, transceivers etc. 2.the sync voltage is 200 to 250 VDC, which is asking for trouble when using modern cameras. Wireless trigger devices are not necessarily a solution to the problem, their circuitry is affected the same way. E.g. Bowens Pulsars are 25 VDC max. One last word of caution: If you do not have the proper qualifications in electrical work -- do not attempt doing repairs yourself. Repair of flash equipment is hazardous work and can be fatal when electric shock occurs. Your father, though being an electrical engineer, still has to familiarize himself with the specifics of flash equipment. Make him aware that the power capacitors of the Bowens Quad 2000/2002 are charged to 640 VDC, so proper safety precautions must be taken. If he has any questions pertaining to the design of the Quad, have him contact me.

Hans Strobl

Wuerzburg, Germany

Thanks again hans. We have a couple of oscilloscopes but un fortinatly none with a memory function, however this is not needed any more as i was trying to find out about running a petrol generator conected to a pure sinewave inverter but thats a whole different issue wich ill worry about some other time with more research. Thanks again for your info. I like to have all the facts and figures before attempting any repair and much research. My last project was striping down a Canon A1 and was lucky to find the original Canon training video. Thanks Hans David. Australia