Xenon Striking Problem

[Tom McGarrity]

I recently bought a Hokushin 600 xenon slide projector, it only struck momentarily twice, after that there was only quick clicking sound, presumably the igniter. The bubble, 550w, looks like new. Any suggestions ?

[Gordon McLeod]

If and only if you are comfortable and know what you are doing safely I would look for the cable to the lamp be too close to a grounded object as the ticking noise is the auto strike operating sort of indicates the rectifier has a no load output

[Tom McGarrity]

Thanks Gordon.

[Tom McGarrity]

[Tom McGarrity]

Do you think that this is the culprit Gordon?

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

That's a tick!!!

[Tom McGarrity]

Safe to say, this one’s past it’s best.
I’m looking for a Wacom KXL- 550HF.

[Tom McGarrity]

No longer required.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I like the non-shatter on the ruler.

The oxidation is probably a hint that the seal is failing, which would render the lifetime pretty short after that happened. Would be interesting to know why it happens though, looks like a production problem to me.

[Tom McGarrity]

I thought the ruler was quite appropriate Marcel.
A new lamp is on the way, from a friend, at a good price.

[Randy Stankey]

I bet it's a plating problem.

Just from work experience, I'm guessing that there might be a failure in the nickel plating on the stainless steel which allowed corrosion to take place.

There is a test that should have been done before that part left the factory to ensure that the nickel plating is good.

Mix 16 g. of copper sulfate and 6 ml. of concentrated sulfuric acid in a litre of distilled/deionized water.
Place a few drops of the solution on the part under test and let it react for five minutes.
If any blue-green colored corrosion shows up, the plating isn't good enough.

I wouldn't perform this on a lamp that you plan to use again but, since this one is already toast, I don't see any problems in doing it for academic purposes.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I bet it's a plating problem.

Just from work experience, I'm guessing that there might be a failure in the nickel plating on the stainless steel which allowed corrosion to take place.

There is a test that should have been done before that part left the factory to ensure that the nickel plating is good.

Mix 16 g. of copper sulfate and 6 ml. of concentrated sulfuric acid in a litre of distilled/deionized water.
Place a few drops of the solution on the part under test and let it react for five minutes.
If any blue-green colored corrosion shows up, the plating isn't good enough.

I wouldn't perform this on a lamp that you plan to use again but, since this one is already toast, I don't see any problems in doing it for academic purposes

If the base stainless was 304, 316L or 430 stainless then the Nickle should not elicit Nickle dermatitis as we see in the pictures. But if one uses high Sulphur stainless steel, then it certainly can... I would bet that this is a cheap Chinese made lamp that contains the wrong type of stainless.

[Randy Stankey]

I agree. Cheap stainless could be at the root of the problem.
In such a case, the passivation test I mentioned might not work.

That Mil-Std test was designed for austenitic (stainless) steel. Regular steel or cheap stainless could show a false positive on the test.

I just assumed that the steel would be a good grade of stainless because that's what "should" have been used.

[Tom McGarrity]

Hokushin Xenon Slide projector now working, with used replacement bubble, I couldn’t find a new one. Strikes first time. Thanks to all for your advice.