This is topic Strong Lumin-X Hour Meter; Resetting? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-06-2005, 02:20 AM:
 
The service tech replaced a flickering xenon while I was away. He didn't reset the hour meter and didn't log what it read when the bulb was replaced.

1) Do those meters rest to zero & how?

2) While we are on the subject, do you guys use anything more than a simple notebook to log maintenance work? I mean, like a form of some kind that helps document changes more precisely than some guy's narrative in his own particular style of half-English?
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-06-2005, 02:32 AM:
 
Much of my experience with any form of lamphouse/console-including the Super Lume-X lamphouses, the meters are not allowed to be reset. For the hours tracked on the meter are on a continual basis.

Best thing for to do if a bulb has been changed and no install hours recorded on the lamp card, is to take one day's average operating hours, say it was 6.5 hrs for that day, and times that by the days from install to when you do this reading, then add this to the hours on the day when the bulb was installed and this should give you an approximate accumulative hours on the bulb at present. It won't be accurate, but it still be close within a few hours.

The Make and Serial number is usually on the box the bulb came in, but if the box was tossed, or misplaced, this information is stamped on the metal ends (either end) of the bulb itself. Just be careful when doing this method, for you might have to rotate the bulb around to get the serial number, the make is usually stamped big enough on the end to see without rotating.

Booth maintenance log:

One theatre that I know of has an actual log of what tasks that they performed, both upstairs and downstairs, what they did between showings, including the Thurs film work day, left messages for other operators to pay attention to if needed, and signed that page for that day verifying of what was written down was valid.

-Monte
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 02-06-2005, 03:06 AM:
 
We keep a log book in our booth.
Each day the projectionist writes down what he did, what needs to be done if something special, not on the weekly task list is required, and any catastrophe that has occured on his shift.
Sometimes we include little sidenotes about how busy we were or anything note worthy.
We also have a daily shift report that asks simple questions like weather or not the film was in proper frame and focus, etc.

My Xenon lamp technique has always been to write the hours in and hours out on the box and keep the box with the house.
In addition I keep a monthly Xenon report spreadsheet that calculates hours, when the next rotation is, etc.
And finally another spreadsheet that I print up service tags from.
It lists the last time the lamp was rotated, oil was changed, projector relubed, platters relubed, etc. with spaces for writing in each of the hour readings at the time the service was performed.
I then take the filled out service tags, punch in the numbers, and it calculates the next time it needs to be done.

For purposes of assuming how many hours you've got on something greater than your schedule history or energy will allow, the average movie is around 102 minutes.
Hope this helps you get some ideas.

G'luck.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-06-2005, 10:23 AM:
 
Feank,

Check with your local "Used Car Dealer" on how to turn those meters backwards! They are experts at that.......

Mark
 

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 02-06-2005, 10:44 AM:
 
I also keep detailed logs much in the same way Monte and Dominic explained. It is in a spreadsheet format and is divided among every major piece of equipment making up the who of each individual house. Each house has its own icon on the computer, as well as a paper backup printed yearly (just in case of a crash) and kept in a seperate file. We've ran this way since 1996 with no problems.

I also keep a paper backup for each lamphouse concerning bulb changes. This may seem like a lot of busy work and unecessary repetition, but when your computer is almost ten years old, its better safe than sorry. . . . and no, they won't buy me a new one.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 02-06-2005, 11:39 AM:
 
Would you really want a NEW one though?
In my experience older computers are much more reliable, barring hard disk failure which is easily rectified.
 

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 02-06-2005, 02:07 PM:
 
For word processing or entering data into a spreadsheet, I guess not.
 

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Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 02-06-2005, 04:25 PM:
 
The hour meter is a mechanical-type, a little like an older car's. Usually they can not be reset, unless you follow Mark's advise!

I think Monte's idea is good: just estmate the hours. A log book is a great idea, but I still think the bulb hour chart that comes with most lamphouses should be fill out and left right on the lamphouse. You can see the entire bulb history at a glance, and don't have to find or flip though several logbook pages.
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-06-2005, 05:39 PM:
 
Unfortunately, the Super Lume-X doesn't have the bulb-hour chart on the back like most other lamphouses, but a piece of artist tape on the back of that back cover can serve the same purpose. Just something as simple as "bulb replaced 1/1/2005 at 10529 hours" should be sufficient.

I always label the bulb boxes with the date the bulb was received at the theatre, the date it was installed (and projector number if not a single-screen platter house), and the hours at installation. When the bulb is removed, I add the hours and date of removal. It's also a good idea to label the boxes of old bulbs with the condition of the bulb (e.g. usable/unusable and general state--e.g. flicker, poor light, good but high hours, etc.). This can come in handy if you need to use an old bulb in an emergency.
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-06-2005, 06:25 PM:
 
Scott,

I label unusable lamps by exploding them (if they haven't done so already) and throwing them away or sending them back for warranty credit...if qualified for such warranty.

Steve
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-06-2005, 06:40 PM:
 
Manufacturers will accept exploded bulbs returned for credit for reasons other than exploding inside the lamphouse?

Most places around here just keep the unusable/non-returnable bulbs around for a while and dispose of them in large batches once in a while.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-06-2005, 09:35 PM:
 

quote: Scott Norwood

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Manufacturers will accept exploded bulbs returned for credit for reasons other than exploding inside the lamphouse?

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quote: John Walsh

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There was a case many years ago where I was sure the manager was fudging the records. He would leave old bulbs in as long as possible, and sell off the new ones sent, I think to pay for a gambling habit.

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Ah, ya gotta love this business!

OK, the meters don't reset (very stupid design flaw IMHO). So it's just a matter of keeping records, which is fine. But it seems to me that the whole purpose of the hour meter is to track bulb life; a reset button whould be kind of a no-brainer to fascilitate that. I mean, what's the point of knowing how many hours the lamphouse has been in service? Granted, you probably wouldn't want a big button within easy access on the outside of the lamphouse so that it could accidently be tripped, but a reset pin that was accessible from within the lamphouse would be simple and effective. Strong needs to think "inside the box."
 

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Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 02-07-2005, 10:11 AM:
 
A hour meter with a reset would eat $5 to $10.00 profit for the manufacturer....he could raise his price and lose the bid on the next project Seriously I prefer a non resetable and run a service life log on the lamphouse and or console for other items such as blower maintinance, reflector cleaning / inspection, D.C. contact + wiring inspection, bulb rotation...situations that most people tend to ignore.
Regarding destroying old bulbs....have you seen the unit that Neumade makes....a heavy duty metal tube with a screw crank to smash the bulbs....I can see it now, bulb busting parties
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-07-2005, 11:14 AM:
 
I serviced a few with resetable meters and changethem out quickly to non recetable because of fraudulent bulb claims
 

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 02-07-2005, 01:51 PM:
 

quote:

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Seriously I prefer a non resetable and run a service life log on the lamphouse and or console for other items such as blower maintinance, reflector cleaning / inspection, D.C. contact + wiring inspection, bulb rotations...situations that most people tend to ignore.

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quote: Frank Angel

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OK, the meters don't reset (very stupid design flaw IMHO). So it's just a matter of keeping records, which is fine

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quote: Aaron Mehocic

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For me, changing a bulb is about a 1 - 2 hour job depending if I'm pressured to get it on the screen quickly or not.

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quote: Carl Martin

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are there lamphouses that have 2 hour meters, one resettable and one not?

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