Vl1000 keeps blowing bulbs

[Lilly]

I've got a stack of VL1000's adn there's one unit that keeps blowing it bulb. they last only a quarter of the time compared to the rest of them. Anyone experienced this? Any solutions?

 

Thanks guys....

[woody74]

Have you done the obvious stuff like meter the mains coming in, and visually inspecting the lamp housing to see if there is evidence of sparking?

 

If it's just the one acting up, it pretty much rules out a bad batch of lamps, so it is possible that the lamp housing has a short that only shows up when the fixture is in a certain position.

 

-w

[Jivemaster]

Usual suspects for reduced lamp life are impaired ventilation, and impaired lamp base.

 

CAn you replace the lamp holder, the part could be less expensive than a lamp.

[David A]

The most obvious and likely fault is that the voltage tap on the main transformer is wrong, that is the first thing to check

[Pete]

Sorry to seem to be less helpful than those who've posted before me but what sort of VL1k is it?

 

Tungsten or discharge?

[vl nick]

If it's a VL1000 Tungsten as said above check the voltage. There are 230v and 240v lamps out there for these units. If you are using a 230v lamp you either need to run the unit at a lower value from the dimmers or using a bucking transformer to give you a lower voltage. The lamps tend to pop when you do fast/erratic pan and tilt movements with the lamps on full (tungsten units only).

 

If you are renting the units I suggest you contact your hire company, or if alternatively if you own the units I suggest giving your dealer a call.

[Bernie D]

The lamps tend to pop when you do fast/erratic pan and tilt movements with the lamps on full (tungsten units only).

I have experienced a lot of problems with VL1000TS bulbs going, and it is often on switch-on. The sort of shows I use them on rarely use fast moves, but of course they move quickly when homing. I set the 'home' setting for the dimmer parameter to 50% and found a big improvement in reliability.

 

I have been told that it was a faulty batch of bulbs, and on another occasion that it is a lamp design error. I'm not yet convinced of either explanation, but what I can see is that a large filament moving while hot is not likely to last as long as one that sits still most of its life.

[AndrewR]

As mentioned, check your mains.

 

Lamp life of a 230v lamp running at 240v.... about 2 days.

 

230v lamp on 230v..... too long to bother counting.

 

If you're lucky and have dimmers that can do it, limit your output voltage to 230v (yay for SLD!)

 

(oh and they got used for a lot of rock gigs, with very fast moves.)

[Pete]

I saw a whole truss load go,all the lamp channels plugged in to hard power. They were 230v lamps,and they just didnt like the 240v mains they were getting.

[Lilly]

So I've checked the voltage across the bulb. I'm getting ~220VAC. I've changed the Power supply board & the main controller board and I still can't get this unit to output 240VAC. Also, On the old power supply board I had an output resistance of 8Mohm, whereas on the replacement unit, I've only got an output resistance of 5Mohm. Thats not screaming "smoking gun" to me... Anyone else???

 

 

Lilly

[Ynot]

So I've checked the voltage across the bulb. I'm getting ~220VAC. I've changed the Power supply board & the main controller board and I still can't get this unit to output 240VAC.

Your problem won't be voltage then, as it's OVER-volts that will reduce lamp-life, not UNDER.

[Jivemaster]

Study the blown lamp, magnifier if necessary, Look for burned pins. If the holder doesn't contact the pins well the additional local heat burns the lamp contact and the pin can burn away and then the holder gets worse, and the problem repeats.

[Doug kelly]

Hi Lilly

 

I have a few questions about your fixture which version of the 1000 are they? Do they have a dimmer in them or do you feed from a dimmer circuit?

 

You have replaced the power supply board is that the 24v supply or the dimmer?

 

Doug

[Lilly]

I've got an onboard dimmer unit and yes, I agree that this power supply/dimmer is not the problem. Interestingly, what I have found is that the rotational characteristics of the the head is quite jerky. So much so that when the head unit turns to an either extreme, it does so with a crash. This is looking like a smoking gun for me as an illuminated bulb doesn't like harsh movement. I swapped the controller board out and movement now on all axis' is smooth/no crashing.

 

Thanks for all your help so far peoples....

[Ynot]

... when the head unit turns to an either extreme, it does so with a crash. This is looking like a smoking gun for me as an illuminated bulb doesn't like harsh movement.

Bubbles like hard movement even less when they've JUST been turned off - ie in cool-down. That's when most bubbles are most vulnerable.