[This message has been edited by Aaron Mehocic (edited 07-01-99).]
 

Christie bulbs are fine, but OSRAM is definitely better. If you install an OSRAM and a Christie into 2 equally powered lamphouses in the same building at the same time, you will notice that the OSRAMs last longer (also cost a bit more) and look better onscreen. The Christies put out a very blue-ish light whereas the OSRAMs are very white. The diference is very noticable when you can do a side by side comparison. I would go with the OSRAMs because you will change bulbs less frequently and save $$$ in the long run. ORC bulbs are stupid

[This message has been edited by Joe Redifer (edited 07-01-99).]
 

1. Osram: probably the best bulb made these days

2. ORC: Nice strong light and lasts reasonably well, although in some lamphouses (CFS and Super Lume-X) they can be finicky on auto striking.

3. Christie/Ushio: Another well made solid performer.

Aaron

 

I wander if Charlie Tang's Chinese Lamp is also the maker of Yumex bulbs? (just kidding) Yumex is terrible! THOSE BULBS SUCK!
 

Aaron

 

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[This message has been edited by Stephen Jones (edited 07-04-99).]
 

Christie are pretty good too.
 

Funny...I have done this very test and the Christie lamps out lasted OSRAM (and ORC). Osram burned their bridge with me in the mid '80s with their "it isn't my fault the lamps arrive broken, blow-up, flicker, don't have any gas in them...etc). My favorite line from them was the "in-rush current" thing. It is amazing how my in-rush current problem vanished when I switched to Christie lamps. Christie lamps main mode of early failure is out-gassing...much better than an explosion. I generally get the longest life on Christie lamps with Christie power. I once installed a 7-plex with the Christie package (sans projectors...Centurys though I'm normally a Simplex man)...those lamps REALLY went the distance...I believe one of them went to 14,000 hours and was very scary to change. The damn lamp really didn't darken but took about 5 minutes to sabilize at the beginning of the show. I changed it years after installing the booth during a union training seminar on lamp changes.

I feel that the OSRAM lamps have gotten better over the years though and the theatre I work at on Saturdays uses them though we have used Christies here too. The Christies generally lasted longer (and were more stable).

Steve
 

I think it really depends on what lamphouse/power supply you use. Different brands seem to like different bulbs. IMHO use what works for your equipment.

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Scott

 

And by the way: USE the face shield, protective gloves and body shield. If it explodes and your injured, you won't have a leg to stand on with workers comp if you didn't use protective equipment. Management must supply all 3 items or I would refuse to change a bulb. Even a cold bulb changed very carefully can explode in your face!
 

That's the second one that blew up. The first one blew at 350 hours, in a different lamphouse. I checked the third bulb in service, and I think I will pull it very soon. It had about 975 hours, and it does not look very good.

Paul

Both were in the Strong Super Lumex.

Think we will go back to Christie bulbs.

ooooooOOOOOOOOoooooooo! I'll have to check that immediately. There are 3000 watt lamps in all three Super Lumex's at this theater, coupled to switcher power supplies. I better check those power supplies to see what they are, also. The installer set these up to run at 100 amps. I have not changed that setting.

Thank you for the "heads up" tip!

I am at the theater now, and yes, they are XQ-3000 H/S bulbs in a 2500 watt lamphouses. The switcher power supplies (Strong International) are rated at 50 to 100 amps, 20 to 30 volts DC. Model # 628000 5. I looked at the remnants of the bulb that blew up, and the anode has 3 melt-down bumps straight across the anode face, with a 4th bump below the center one. I never saw anything like that before....not with a 3 phase power supply.

What do you think?

Paul

My main choice however is with the Osram, but I was not impressed with their 7kw xenon's I used last year in a console setup that seam to go unstable after 200hrs!.
 

I'm running 7k Osrams vertically, and after about 200 hours the arc starts to dance around pretty bad. Christies seem to have held up a little better in this position.

Gordon said good things about the 7k Superior Quartz lamps ... anyone else have comments on them?

 

Some will probably disagree with me, but that is what I have heard. Your comment is not to far off.

As the bulb gets older, it gets harder to strike. Sometimes the igniter sounds like it is splattering crap all over the place. Obviously, this might be equivilant to several hours per strike.

I'll bet that you'll get a more accurate answer from the bulb manufacturers.

Paul

So far, we lost two reflectors to Q-Arc bulb explosions in the Strong Super Lumex lamphouses in the last three months or so.

That bulb is in service, as it replaced the one that blew up in No. 2 with 349 hours or so. Both bulbs were part of the July batch we received.

I am going to replace them with 2500-Watt bulbs from either Christie or Hanovia, whichever I can get my paws on.

Paul

I am aware of some locations that use 3000W lamps instead of 2500W, feeling they are a more reliable lamp. That's fine if: a) the 3kw lamps are physically compatible; b) the cooling and exhaust is VERY good (MIN of 250CFM, I would say); and c) you run a fairly "soft" 3000 Watts (100A or less).

Pat
 

Thanks for the input. At 100 amps with the switcher power supply, the load voltage is about 25 volts. This gives 2500 watts. That is about 100 watts above the minimum requirement for the 3000 watt lamp. (presuming the figure of 80% is still valid for manufacturer's recommendation)

It would seem to me that after a xenon lamp ages (about 1000 hours or so) ignition may become a little harder. I have observed this in our lamphouses. Of course, with the Strong igniter, it'll make practically anything strike.

If a 3000-watt bulb is used, there is no headroom to compensate for bulb aging in our system.

Just my thoughts.....Do they make sense?

Paul

We use 2000 and 3000 watt in the L.P.A. lamphouses with L.P.A. reactor power supplies. We have had some "bad batches" over the years that had me going around changing capacitors and tighening wires, etc. Most likely unnecessary. But for the most part the ORCs perform well. Only two explosions of the 50 in use and those were due to improper handling or insufficient cooling.

Our theaters only run one or two features a night then the bulbs are resting. But we usually get over 2000 hours without problems. We do changeovers in all theaters and leave the bulbs on for the whole performance. We disabled the "simmer" mode in the LPA units many years ago. Somebody said the lamps would last longer without it. I never noticed any difference.

But there are some name changes of late. Anybody know how that affects the final product? At first it was ORC provided by L.P.A. then just ORC. Now I see it is Perkin Elmer. But the address is always the same. ??

Whenever a theater calls and says they have a hard-to-start lamp I always check the weather map first. Seems the ignighters on these LPAs rely on a spark gap that is affected by barometric pressure. So if there is a typhoon in your area be sure to turn your power on early. Quirky..Yes?

Bill BuncH
Misawa, Japan
 

Christie also has an huge current range that works well with them on any given size.

The only quirk I have had with them is on some igniters they are harder to strike.

Steve

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"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"
 

They didnt really 'go out of business', they were victims of a merger and a resilting spinoff.

-Optical Radiation Corp. (ORC) was absorbed by EG&G Technologies around 1996. Shortly before this (1995, IIRC) ORC sold its Cinema Products Division (except the bulbs) to Ballantyne.

-In 1999, EG&G spun off its optoelectronics division (including ORC) to PerkinElmer.

PerkinElmer has not been known for doing things right the first time: They were the makers of the mirror that doomed the Hubble Space Telescope...

I'll Stick to my Osram and Christie xenons, thank you. I have even seen a CHINESE(!) generic bulb hold up better than an ORC/PE... :O

-Aaron
 

This one just decided to go "Pbpthbpthbthp!" in the middle of the show. We only lost two shows.....two too many.

While I was at it, I decided to change the mirror that was demolished in the last Q-Arc explosion....and showed it to our popcorn salespeople with a comment that this is what someone's face might look like if the bulb blew up while changing it.

If I can get a good picture of the mirror, I'll send it to Brad and maybe he might post it. This is the worse mirror I have seen. Hopefully, it'll keep the personnel out of the lamphouse unless they are fully qualified and have the protective clothing to change a xenon bulb.

Paul

Perkin-Elmer's offices and manufacturing plant are/were located only a few miles from where I live. They have shrunk dramatically over the last five years.

The rumor I heard was: They had first made a smaller-scale version of the Hubble Telescope mirror for testing purposes. Although smaller, it was still large and very heavy. To move it around, it was placed in a nylon web sling with only three lines arranged like a triangle that went up to a crane hook. Several lower-level people commented on how three lines wasn't enough, but upper engineering managment ignored them (which was a fairly common problem there.) One day, one of the lines let go, and the mirror slipped out of the sling. My friend said you could hear it crash through out the entire building. Without the test article, Perkin-Elmer was forced to rely on existing and computer-generated data, in addition to hurrying up the project.

--jhawk