Specifications for Honeywell Auto/Strobonar 360 Flash Unit

Excerpts from Honeywell's Technical Manual titled:
Maintenance Instructions for Auto/Strobonar 360

The original manual was published in May 1972 by:

Honeywell Photographics Division
P.O. Box 1010
Littleton Colorado
BO120

73003247-001A 3C
May 1972

Notes:

• The photographs shown in this website were taken with this flash unit which was purchased in the mid-seventies.
• This manual is no longer in print, and Honeywell no longer produces flash units.
• The following are excerpts only from the Technical Manual. The manual is approximately 46 pages with diagrams and troubleshooting instructions.
• Copyright regulations do not permit us to provide the entire document, however more information from the manual can be provided upon request to this website (contact gds@islandnet.com).

Unit Description

The Auto/Strobonar 360 has three automatic ranges and is equipped with a mounting foot which has a hot center contact. It can also be used with a shutter cord. The 360 is powered by two built-in rechargeable nickel cadmium cells which comprise the battery. A wall box containing a rapid charge unit is supplied to recharge the battery.

On the back of the Strobonar are mounted an exposure calculator, an Automatic/Manual selector lever for adjusting the three automatic quench levels or manual (full light) operation, and the ready light indicator.

The shutter cord receptacle and charger receptacle are located on the side of the Strobonar. On the opposite side are located the battery switch and open flash button.

Two wall box charger models have been provided for the Auto/Strobonar 360; single voltage and multivoltage. The single voltage charger accepts 104-129 VAC, 50-60 Hz or 208-258 VAC, 50-6- Hz input. You must select the proper input voltage by positioning the switch, located on the bottom of the charger, to the correct position.

Specifications

a.	Power Source	Two A size welded nickel cadmium rechargeable cells.
b.	Battery Charging	Full charge -- 3 hours.
c.	Capacitor Forming	Flash the unit 5 times at 30 second intervals. After the capacitor is formed, recycle time will be less than 9 seconds.
d.	Equivalent Battery Source	2.6 VDC and an impedance of 0.068 ohms.
e.	Guide Number	Automatic -- not applicable Manual -- 42 for ASA 25 film
f.	Automatic Range	2 to 22 feet.
g.	Flash Duration	Full power -- approximately 1/4000 second. Auto-quench -- vary between 1/4000 and 1/70,000 second.
h.	Recycle	9 seconds maximum with fully charged battery and formed stroage capacitor.
i.	Flashes per Charge	5 flashes minimum after a 5 minute charge. 20 flashes minimum after a 20 minute charge. 40 flashes minimum after a 3 hour charge.
j.	Angle of Illumination	50° ±2° horizontally and 60° ±2° vertically.
k.	Color Temperature	Approximately noon daylight.
l.	Full Power Light Output	44 lumen-seconds per square foot when measured 4 feet from flash head at the 5th flash. Measurement must be made with fully charged battery and formed storage capacitor. Unit must be flashed for measurement after 20 seconds of power operation.
m.	Auto-Quench Light Output	With the ASA set at 25, light output is regulated at three different levels, depending upon the position of the Automatic/Manual selector lever. Light output must be measured at the center of a 4 foot minimum diameter, 18% reflectance, neutral gray target.

ASA Setting	Auto/Manual Selector Setting	Automatic Range (feet)	Nominal Output (lm-sec/ft2)
25	f/2	4 - 15.5 ft.	3.2 (2.26 - 4.52)
25	f/2.8	3 - 11 ft.	6.4 (4.52 - 9.1)
25	f/4.0	2 - 7.8 ft.	12.8 (9.1 - 18.2)

n.	Shutter Synchronization	Between the lens shutters -- x-sync all speeds. x-sync -- usually 1/60 second.
o.	Battery Switch/Open Flash Button	2 position sliding switch ON-OFF and pushbutton switch to open flash or test flash Strobonar.
p.	Auto/Manual Selector	Automatic -- selects one of three range indexes. Manual -- selects manual operation.
q.	Ready Light	Indicates when unit has reached 70.7% of rated minimum full power light output (31.0 lumen-seconds/square feet at 4 feet.
r.	Mount	Standard universal shoe mount.
s.	Connector	Locking tip connector or standard PC connector.
t.	Strobonar Physical Size	3.25" deep x 1.35" wide x 3.78" high.
u.	Strobonar Weight	9 ounces

Principles of Operation
General

Auto/Strobonar 360 provides a source of repeating photoflash light. It is powered by a built-in, rechargeable nickel cadmium battery. A two-position switch on the side of the Auto/Strobonar connects the battery to an oscillator/rectifier circuit. The oscillator/rectifier circuit converts the low d-c voltage from the battery to high-c voltage which is stored in a storage capacitor. Closing the camera shutter contacts or the open flash switch triggers a xenon flashtube which converts the stored energy into light.

The unit is supplied with a wall box which contains a rapid charge circuit. The rapid charge circuit charges the battery from fully discharged to fully charged in three hours.

The Auto/Strobonar has a quench circuit which automatically regulates light output. Using a light-activated, silicon-controlled rectifier (LASCR) the quench circuit detects and integrates (sums) light reflected from the subject. When the reflected light reaches a predetermined level, the flashtube is turned off automatically.

The Automatic/Manual selector lever on the back of the Strobonar selects either of three automatic positions or manual position. The lever positions three different size apertures in front of the light sensing window of the LASCR, thereby controlling the amount of light reaching the LASCR during a flash. Each aperture corresponds to an f/stop to be set on the camera for the film being used, thus providing a selection of shooting ranges and depth-of-field control.

Test results for the Strobonar 360 used in the Discontinuity of Motion experiments.

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