When I returned to my studio today I found 2) x 200 and 1) mono 4000, the reflectors have been painted black on the inside as well. I have found very little online about these, can anyone tell me more about them?

gmff wrote:
When I returned to my studio today I found 2) x 200 and 1) mono 4000, the reflectors have been painted black on the inside as well. I have found very little online about these, can anyone tell me more about them?
Well. Bowens have made several 200 Ws units, so it is difficult to tell exactly which one of those it is, but you could probably email Bowens with a serial number, if you can find one.

You can be fairly certain the 4000 unit isn’t 4000 J, but I don’t think that Bowens ever made anything below 200 J (Ws). It should be easy to get an approximate rating with a light meter comparison between it and another known source.

I can’t fathom why a reflector would be painted black inside, unless it was being used only with a narrowing modifier like a snoot or barn doors.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: some of Bowens' earlier models (particularly the E range) had sync voltages in excess of 200 V, and even some later Espirit monolights were up to 14 V; so be careful not to fry your camera. It would probably be better to stick to triggering them optically.

Brian A

This is what they look like. You can see the black paint on the inside of the reflector.

Ah yes. From what I remember, the 4000 was a 125 Ws unit. and as you can see from the backplate, has half power switches for both the flash and modelling light. I don't know much about the X200, but I would presume it was/is 200 Ws with a similar power configuration.