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Topic: LTI Lamps in UK.

Gordon McLeod
Film God

Posts: 9532
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
Registered: Jun 99

posted 10-12-2002 01:14 PM

Actually I have been noticing that few Osram lamps are staying stable much after 1200 hr on the 2K
All seem to get hard to strike and develop random flicker
Superior Quartz is a Superior lamp and there service is the best

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Ken McFall
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 615
From: Haringey, London.
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-12-2002 02:18 PM

George,

I've not had any of those problems with Osram lamps, we turn our lamps off at the end of each show and they strike first time every time. Stability hasn't been a problem either, the odd lamp but no pattern.
I run our 3k lamps to their hours in the £1500 glass mirrors and then use them in a metal mirror lamp house for as long as I am happy with their performance. Whilst not ideal, if the lamp failed in a metal mirror it's not quite the disaster. The 2k lamps are run in a glass mirror lamp house and will run for about 3000 hours with no problem. But again mindful of the possibility of a lamp failure I don't push any lamp too far for the reasons given in my earlier postings above.

I feel that if you are too greedy and run them too long, any gains will be lost with just one failure and lost show.

Take them out at 'life' and you're wrong.... leave them in and they fail and you're wrong. No win!!

I suppose there will always be the odd lamp or batch that may be less than perfect. Are the lamps manufactured in one factory? It's quite interesting to hear very opposite views of the same brand of lamp from here in the UK and America.

====================================================================

Darren

I tend not to have bad day's anymore, just bad people! I won't work with, or for, 'bad' people anymore so problem solved. So no dig intended to you personally.

If you get your lamps from Peter then say so... it's no secret and not a problem anyway. I value the service and relationship I have with George at Calmat so I'll stick with him. That's my opinion, which is after all what William was asking everyone for when he posted the question.

George Taylor can be contacted on:-
=====================================
Phone 01371872677 Fax 01371872351
Email GeorgeTaylor@Calmat.co.uk
Web site http://www.calmat.co.uk

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Ben Wales
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 602
From: Southampton. England
Registered: Jul 99

posted 10-12-2002 02:34 PM

While I was running as CP at a Imax Theatre, we were approached by this company for Imax (approved?) 15kw and a 7kw for our 35mm.

Although the price was good for these, I was a bit dubious on the QC with these lamps and that we were using Ushio, was impressed with their technical service and the advice to well away from LTI (ORC) Xenons.

Since I was made redundant there early this year, the Management (Bean Counters) have opted for these cheap Xenons, say no more!

I wonder what a 15kw 400A Xenon explosion is like

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Ken McFall
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 615
From: Haringey, London.
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-12-2002 03:00 PM

I've never been close to a lamp as it exploded myself, but when I was a manager of a cinema in Scotland we had just had a Xenon lamp house installed. I was on the house phone when it exploded. To me in the office it sounded like a pop. But at the end of the show while in the foyer I was inundated with questions about the loud explosion they all heard!

Also, I arrived at work one morning, not Stratford, to find a note that a lamp had exploded and they lost the last show. When I inspected the lamphouse the positive support had been blowen apart where it was welded to its mounting, this was a Morganite Peerless conversion. We lost a further two shows that day waiting for a part to be removed from another lamphouse and sent over to me to fit.

Makes me very dubious of some of the lamp houses I've seen in the last couple of years with very thin side panels....

Does anyone know of someone thats suffered any injury when these things go bang?

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Bill Hallsworth
Film Handler

Posts: 34
From: Loganville, GA, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 10-12-2002 04:29 PM

I've never used Osram lamps, only Christie and LTI. If you ask me, saving a few bucks on the LTI isn't worth it, since they only have about 75 to 80% of the Christie's life. Several of our ignitors will not even strike an LTI lamp, while the Christie strikes every time in the same house.

In my opinion, the Christie lamps are the best I have worked with.

Bill

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Richard Fowler
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 10-12-2002 07:20 PM

LTI bulbs are not made by Perkins Elmer the owner of the ORC plant...but...some of the principals who previously operated ORC are involved with LTI hence the same design philosophy is probably is being continued...we can not judge since we do not use their bulbs since we find Superior to be a great bulb.
Richard Fowler
TVP-Theatre & Video Products Inc. www.tvpmiami.com

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Wes Hughes
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 175
From: Raleigh, NC, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 10-12-2002 07:24 PM

When you guys have a lamp explosion with a xenon that is still under warranty do you not file a reflector replacement claim with the lamp manufacturer?

Perhaps I am just lucky, but I had three lamps blow on me this year alone (no, that isn't the lucky part). Two were LTI...one with about 70 hours and one with 900 (2K lamps). One was Osram with 700 hours (3K). Both companies replaced our reflectors. I just sent the remains of the old lamp, and in one case some of the reflector to them.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 10-13-2002 05:09 AM

Ken - I've never been injured by an exploding lamp, but I have had one blow up as I was removing it. This was in a lamphouse that, unbeknown to us, had an ammeter which was giving a false reading. Therefore we'd been seriously over-running the lamps and nuking them, and could not work out for ages what was going on. The explosion happened as I was inserting the lamp into its reinforced plastic 'condom' after having taken it out of the lamphouse. There was a huge bang and fragments of the envelope went all over the projection box. You could see pitting on the face visor looking at it later on.

This was a seriously unpleasant experience and I felt the need of a stiff Scotch afterwards, but the bottom line is that if you're wearing all the protective gear, you'll stay safe. I dread to think what state I would have been in if I wasn't. I spent an hour the following morning hoovering up the shrapnel, and was discovering quartz fragments in unusual places for a week or two afterwards.

For the record, the lamp which blew up was an Osram, but I really don't think that is an issue at all - no xenon designed to be run at 70 amps is going to withstand being run at 120 for very long. When we eventually discovered the incorrect ammeter, we worked out that we must have been putting 110-120 amps through it. It also explained why the picture was so beaufifully bright!

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Peter Hall
Master Film Handler

Posts: 314
From: London, UK
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-13-2002 05:23 AM

Leo -

Re your post "I was inserting the lamp into its reinforced plastic 'condom' after having taken it out of the lamphouse. There was a huge bang and fragments of the envelope went all over the projection box. You could see pitting on the face visor looking at it later on. This was a seriously unpleasant experience and I felt the need of a stiff Scotch afterwards"

Reinforced plastic condoms, (!?), after having taken "it" out of the lamphouse ! I'll say a "seriously unpleasant experience " - I'd say that anyone involved in such a session would need a stiff scotch afterwards !

Peter

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Ken McFall
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 615
From: Haringey, London.
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-13-2002 05:28 AM

Leo....

OPPS!!

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 10-13-2002 05:43 AM

I don't know what's worse, that or the Mexican doctor!

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William Phillips
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 117
From: Cardigan, Wales, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 04-02-2003 01:23 PM

Bumping this back up to see if anyone in the UK has tried these [Smile]

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Pete Naples
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1565
From: Dunfermline, Scotland
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 04-04-2003 07:41 AM

One of my services bought one as it was so cheap. Lasted about 200 hours or so before it de gassed itself.

The company selling these things has also been telling fibs to prospective customers, my customers in fact, trying to get them to come over to the dark side. As these lamps are marketed by Strong, the claim that only they (the company pushing them) are the only source for these lamps in the UK must surely be false too? There are at least two supply companies here in the UK who deal Strong equipment, I'm pretty sure ourselves and BTS would be able to get these lamps too, we just choose not to!

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William Phillips
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 117
From: Cardigan, Wales, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 04-04-2003 11:59 AM

Cheers Pete

Since starting this thread I have changed to USHIO. I had an Osram 1600hsc that started a very bad flicker at just under 600 hours. The lamp was also so dim it was nasty. So I sent the lamp to Osram and was told that the lamp was being over cooled so lamp got sent back to me. Played around with cooling but same flicker. So I put an old lamp in that I knew was good and no flicker.
A few days later I got a USHIO and since the 12/12/02 and 923 hours later the picture is good, the arc is so steady it looks like a new lamp and at the moment there are no signs of any problems. The cooling is all as it used to be.
I have been rung now a few times by the company but still need a lot of convincing to change. My requirments for a lamp are that it performes well from the day it is put in until the day it comes out. That it is safe to handle and use. And that the thing is not going to explode [Eek!]

. The price is not important as long as its not over-priced.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-05-2003 09:57 AM

David said.....
"Forget LTI lamps in the UK. They are low pressure, making them easy to strike, but after a very short time they will blacken and light output rapidly becomes so poor as to render the image unwatchable."
_____________________________________________________

I have to completely disagree with you...you must have insufficient exhaust air flow or some other problem going on there....possibly shipping damage...what you experienced with the lamp blackening is seal failure and that is somewhat common with ALL MAKES of xenon lamps I've experienced it with both Osram, Christie, ORC, Superior Quartz and almost all others made. If it happens repeatedly its a good indication there is a problem with your equipment. Between one ex employer and my present one I have well over a hundred LTI lamps out there so far and not one failure in close to two years. At my first employer many were installed in Strong Follow Spots which are brutal to any xenon lamp. OK, I did have one trouble with LTI once and that was that two lamps came mis-labeled. Big deal. For me my luck with them is as good as Christie and far better than Osram so far. Until any of you have at least a couple dozen or more LTI's in the field at the same time,and that have been operating for a while you really have NO BASIS to make ANY CLAIMS one way or the other!! So I regard anything you say here as pure speculation and totally as [bs]

Low pressure? It takes a certain amount of gas pressure in a lamp so you can ionize the gas and then sustain an arc, more [bs]

and speculation.

It obvious that some of you prefer buying from a certain dealer, and that is fine and a good thing indeed. I could really care less what lamp you end up using but don't post your experience on just one or two lamps worth of experience...thats worthless!

Mark

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