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Topic: Strong Lamphouse problem

Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 06-01-2008 06:37 PM

Anything coming from Europe is going to feel pricey these days...the dollar is so weak.

Then again, Strong still makes their AC igniters (Super Lume-X, Super-80 and Ultra-80) for their stand alone lamphouses so that too is an option.

We have not had too many problems with the DC igniter.

Steve

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Tristan Lane
Master Film Handler

Posts: 444
From: Nampa, Idaho
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 06-01-2008 09:03 PM

In regards to Mark's comment: The magnet was one of the first items to be replaced since arc instability seemed to be the cause of the problem.

The DC ignitor was simply not the problem. It's effective enough when coupled with a switcher, and from what I hear is equally effective with high reactance. Some people speculated that the inrush current on the Strong Super Highlight console rectifiers wasn't quick enough, and thus the ignitor struck too early. Adjusting the spark gap within the ignitor and other items were tried, with no success.

It is my opinion that the AC ignitors provided only a small improvement. Lamps frequently double and triple striked even with only 500 hours on them. It seems that there was some other characteristic of the lamphouse causing the problem.

One thing to note: I tested one of the problem lamphouses with a hardwire V1 switcher and the problem went away. So it indicated to me that the rectifier was bad, but other affected theaters had already tried swapping the HRPS rectifier with a newer one without success. It seems that a combination of many things is leading to the problem.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-01-2008 11:09 PM

quote: Tristan Lane
Some people speculated that the inrush current on the Strong Super Highlight console rectifiers wasn't quick enough, and thus the ignitor struck too early.

This may have been speculated because Wrong had many, many problems with Stupid Troopers about 7 otr 8 years ago. The lamphouse and ignitors in the Stupid Troopers which were just made from the old Lum-Ex lamphouses and always struck too early for reliable igniton when run from the switchers. After Jack Schmidt had a heart attack over the problems(literally!) he got them to switch over to the DC type ignitor. That also did not totally solve the problem and another problem krept in at the same time. When I was at GTS we discovered that the black coloring in the ignitor cases they were using conducted the high voltage from inside the case to ground and also to one of the mounting feet which was metal. We then mounted all of our ignitors on thick delrin insulating mounts and the DC ignitors then performed very reliably. Interestingly, ever since that episode the cases on Wrong DC ignitors have been white or beige in color.

We also have a fair number of the 4 to 7kw gray version 2 switchers and none of them exhibit this "horseshoeing problem" at start up and these rectifiers are nothing more than 2 of the 1 to 3 k units stacked in parallel and operated from one control board. Go figure....

Mark

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