KevinE

did anyone get anywhere with contact info for Turbo products? The main kidderminster number returns a 'number not in use tone'.

Mine arrived yesterday evening.

I gave up in the end, and rang the freephone number. Unfortunately, it only keeps you on hold for 14 minutes then kicks you off. 4 tries and an hour later and I managed to get an online chat window, she gave me a different number. When I rang I got music on hold for One Hour and Twelve minutes. Then a woman answered saying she was working from home, she explained that the web application was coming up with errors because I didn't have a credit history and they used a credit agency to double-check your identity. She asked me the date when I submitted my last tax return which luckily I knew as it was christmas eve, and she then entered the application manually through the keyboard. Just as I was putting the phone down a courier called in and said 'good afternoon!' which was met with incredulity as I'd started the application at 8am.

not going smoothly here, website reports it can't verify my identity, which is strange because it never has any problems when I log in to pay them money

I've just measured an XS 'straight' tube and its 2.3mm OD. Very thin wall. The manual recommends deep cleaning with dilute hydrogen peroxide. I dont have a curly one to check.

certainly more clever than the unique, maybe why they have a slight reputation for being temperamental. For example the heater triac going short will not lead to overheating, just a flash code. I saw a unique overheat such that the glass wool insulation became incandescent. This was due to a bodged repair where the thermocouple had been connected backwards. The fluid pump is also short protected so it can't continuously pump under fault conditions. The punp has an undersized supply fuse, and the triac keeps the current lower than the rupture current. If the triac goes short, the fuse blows and it fails safe. The tube heating current is 30A.

here's an excerpt from the manual describing 'autocleanse'. Certainly the XS versions go through this at shut down as well.

yes, directly heated. The later ones use a straight tube around 4 or 5 inches long and a small rodding drill is stowed inside the cover for convenience. These have a strict controlled shut down like the Unique if blockages or spitting is to be avoided. There's also controlled start-up which is supposed to gently heat and eject any stray fluid before entering normal running mode. I suppose it's designed to prevent burning and coagulation. Of course this is all academic when the thing is installed under some stage and turned on and off by switching the mains socket in the DJ box.

looks like an earlier version of the later 'XS' units, they also used a fishtank pump, and I agree they shouldn't be floating about, but the screws look like they were wrenched out at some point. I know the later ones used a different heater triac and toroidal transformer, a little fluid bottle and a simple straight heater that can be rodded with a supplied tool through a little hole in the cover. Otherwise I cant see anything to worry about. The heater connections must be scrupulously clean and well made otherwise it will throw a tantrum.

These were an expensive machine to just throw away. Do you want to take a few pics of parts that make you suspicious, and then put them on here instead?

I supplied some VX12's last summer as replacements for some DMT12's (they had been used in a disco and the drivers destroyed)..and these were not bi-amp-able. Made in Scotland apparently, and very nicely finished. Two of them were damaged by the courier; one was replaced under warranty (cabinet dented) and the other repaired, handled by Kidderminster within 2 days.

isn't this sort of thing likely to lead to potential stability issues? After all, there's no error correction. Does it have to be your actual DMX?

as far as I know, the technohaze sensor uses the heatsinking properties of the fluid to keep it cool; the control pcb heats it, and if the temperature rises so far, it assumes it's become uncovered. It's soldered to the end of a piece of wire then covered in a heatshrink boot. Might just have fluid in it and need drying out and re-sealing.

The Formula Sound AVC2 is designed to prevent people blowing-up speakers. It works. It is used by sound system contract rental companies to protect their installed assets when speakers and amps are used by people who are likely to blow them, either by accident or on purpose. It must be set-up before use. Take a look or chat to them. Formula Sound AVC2

there must be some sort of control from the led driver otherwise how would it turn the LED off if it overheated? For example many of the better fixtures will switch the led off if it detects one of the fans has locked. LEDs are generally current-controlled, so once you're certain the psu should be giving full output, take the led load off and measure again. If you're certain its 24-30V then a small 24v lamp across it will give a better indication than a digital meter if we're looking at a pwm signal. A power led will normally light to some extent with a few milliamps across it, try powering it seperately from a 9V battery or two.

I have a mobile DJ client who is mad on graphics lasers, and a few weeks back he brought me a 'little' RGB 3W disco laser for repair. I had to really shout at him to stop staring into the laser window at a distance of about 6 inches while he showed me the fault. (luckily it was dead). The philosophy seems to me, they're cheap and easy to obtain, so they can't be that dangerous. Some shoebox sized ebay disco lasers are quite able to burn skin at 3 feet.

Osram do special leading-edge thyristor dimmable GLS led lamps, I've got some in my lounge as I have a dimmer switch that works off my TV remote and I didnt want to change it. They work exceedingly well, no flicker.

sorry just realized you said 12in crt, these wont be big enough, it has to be a 12.1" lcd or a 14in crt. :)

sounds interesting, I think a 4:3 12.1" lcd translates as equivalent viewing area to a 14in crt. The only problem is the signal, which must sync to 25khz/55hz, unusual by anyone's standards! I dont mind trying one if they're cheap enough! :)

Ideally I want to gut a faulty CRT monitor and put an LCD panel inside the original case, along with any power supply and electronics. It's only a 14in tube.

A few years ago I used to be able to get a multisync adapter you could strap on the back of a VGA monitor and it gave you conversion from any legacy standard into VGA, dipswitch selectable TTL, analogue 75R, PAL, RGB, you name it. But the company is no longer trading. Can anyone recommend a cheap converter? Source video is RGBHV TTL at 25khz/55hz. Nearly EGA but not quite. I tried a GBS8200 as advertised on ebay and amazon which shows its EGA line frequency up to 25.5khz, but it's presumably faulty as it floods the screen with red once it's warmed up.

wonder if you could do something with a fish tank pump, they're rated continuously.

so faulty element from new? What was wrong with the original one, did you find out?

if it works when you detach the spot-welded thermocouple from the heater tube, it suggests there is leakage somewhere. A tiny electrical leakage from the tube heating circuit to the temperature control circuit (they're normally mutually isolated) will cause the temperature reading to be misread by the controller and trip to fail. The heater needs several amps and the thermocouple several millivolts..the two don't mingle well. Typically this is caused by either a breakdown in the triac insulating pad (the triac switches the heater on the secondary side) or a breakdown in the insulation between windings in the mains toroidal (it sits low down and can fill with haze fluid on a badly maintained machine). For the record the heater/sensor assembly is plug and play, you can't get the polarity wrong as you already know. Le maitre do a comprehensive service manual for the Neutron Star XS and the diagnostic checks are all in there. PS..the controller also measures rate-of-change of temperature on the heater, and it knows what it should be. If it's outside that window, it will also trip with an led blink code. B-)