Light problem
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Lights and Sound
Forum Discription: Technical discussion
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2138
Printed Date: 10/31/25 at 7:30pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Light problem
Posted By: 75director
Subject: Light problem
Date Posted: 11/24/06 at 3:59pm
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I'm having a problem with some of our 360Q Ellipsoidals. Several of them seem to shorting out. The lamp either comes on then goes out, or doesn't come on at all. Some times wacking it with something kicks it back on (if it don't work, hit it, hehe) The lamps are not burned out and it's not a problem with the power supply. Sometimes when they come on they make a crackling sound. The instruments themselves are only a few years old. Is it a problem with the lamp base, or maybe a problem with the plugs? Any thoughts would be appreciated. |
Replies:
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 11/25/06 at 4:25am
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I have not had anything to do with the Altman 360Q, but from your
description there is a loose conductor possibly at the terminal block
or at the cable connection point of the globe base. What you will most likely find is that the terminal screw is loose & the conductor cable was not secured tightly during manufacture &/or has relaxed when current [amps] is applied. This will cause arcing & over heating of the terminal. Over a period of time the copper wire will become brittle, along with the protective sheathing on the cable. What your probably experiencing, is when the Profile [ellipsoidal] Lamp is cold it will work when it is switched on for a short period. Then when the lamp is hot, the conductor wire becomes loose in the terminal & breaks contact. If you have a techie or sparky they should be able to rectify the problem fairly quickly, although depending how bad the wire or terminal has decade, they may have to relace the damaged conductor section or the terminal. ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: TimW
Date Posted: 11/26/06 at 11:36pm
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I also haven't used the Altman 360Q, but the specs that I looked up show they use a bi-pin bulb like my shakespears use. I am having the very problem you described. My problem is with the socket itself. There has been arcing between the bulb pin and the socket, corroding the socket so no connection can be made. You can tell if this is your problem by shining a light in the socket and compare one side to the other or to another socket that works fine. It will be obvious if this is your problem. I have ordered new sockets to replace the ones that have gone bad. MUCH cheaper than a new fixture. |
Posted By: Gaafa
Date Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:07am
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As these brands of lanterns are forgin to me. That?s a good clue Tim! The bi pole pin bubles here are captivated in the base & are possibly less prone to arcing. Although as becomes more evident, with manufactures producings lamps under licence in China, this problem will become more pronounced. Similar to those gawd awful ES []Edison screw] base bubles. Which use alluminium threads that weld into the base thread & have to smashed up to get out. Unlike BC [Baonet Cap] which are easier to remove & more positive a connection in a the spring loaded base. However this brings up the need for maintence inspection & servicing of equipment in theatre, on a regular bases. Unfortunetly we tend to set & forget lighting in the rig & unless there is a problem don?t bother checking it. As most techues under stand & acknowledge that electrical equipment works on the transmittion princple of;- ?spectral Manifestation Of Known EMF {SMOKE}. Which is proved when smoke leaks from with in the equipment, it will ultimatly stop working! This princple is based on the ?Ocham?s Razor? ]a.k.a Occam?s] theory. {The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae (law of succinctness): entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, which translates to:- ?entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity?. This is often paraphrased as;- "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one." Occam's razor states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating, or "shaving off," those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. In short, when given two equally valid explanations for a phenomenon, one should embrace the less complicated formulation. Further as has been proved under the same principle. That Light globes don?t emit light but rather absorb or suck up darkness. Inversely storing & transforming it into smoke, to power the globes darkness absorption process.  I'm sure this will help you further = in some way?  ------------- Joe Western Gondawandaland turn right @ Perth. Hear the light & see the sound. Toi Toi Toi Chookas {{"chook [chicken] it is"} May you always play to a full house} |
Posted By: tblan
Date Posted: 12/13/06 at 4:34pm
| It sounds to me that you do indeed have a loose connection (nothing is likely shorting, that would be a much bigger problem), though i think it is loose by the lamp (where the pigtail comes into the fixture) rather than at the connector. I have this problem every now and then with my S4's, its a pretty common occurence with conventional fixtures. |
Posted By: bmiller025
Date Posted: 12/21/06 at 2:59pm
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I know this problem really well! Actually deal with it much of the time! The connection between the lamps and the socket inside the fixture is where the short is happening. Pull out the lamp, and look at the pins. If they are not really clean, what you describe happens. Get a very fine file, and gently scrape off the crud on the pins. I also suggest looking at the socket they go into. If there is black residue on the contacts, that needs to be scraped off in a similar manner, or you will need to replace the sockets. Not terribly expensive (maybe $10-15 per light). As these instruments get older, this happens more and more. Replacing the sockets is the only way to make the problem go away for a long time.
Good luck! ------------- http://www.brianmiller.biz/BrianDesign.htm |
Posted By: Wayne
Date Posted: 2/05/07 at 12:21am
| I have quite a few 360Q instruments in inventory and have run across this problem on several occassions. You probably will find that when the instrument is at, say a 90 degree angle, it works fine. However, when you aim it in a more traditional 45 degree angle it goes out. That is very typical of a worn socket. Also check the posts on the lamp and see if there has been some arcing. Most likely you will see some build up. The sockets are relatively cheap and pretty easy to replace. |