MAC Error

[DickM]

Just a quickie...

 

I have a MAC 300 on hire that died during a show last night. I think it's as simple as blown lamp (as all other controls still seem to function), but the LED display is flashing "0037".

 

Before I get the scaf tower out to replace the lamp, does anyone know what it's trying to tell me? The manual says it should show "LERR" (lamp error) if its blown.

 

Cheers, Dick.

[Wilf dLampy]

Try looking at the display the other way up, 7 becomes L 3 becomes E. It MIGHT make a bit more sense then.

[Stu]

And if the display is up the wrong way, for future notice it might be worth flipping the displays with the Up and Down arrow keys to make them readable from the floor for other gigs.

 

:blink:

 

Stu

[DickM]

Thanks guys... you were right of course!

 

I didn't know the display could be flipped upside down - I'll keep that in mind next time I hang one and make sure it can be read from the floor.

 

Incidentally, the lamp had not just failed - it had exploded, so there was tiny pieces of glass all over the place inside, including all over the filter and iris mechanisms. Not a pretty sight! Needless to say, the hire company are sending over a replacement and they'll have the lovely job of cleaning it all up.

 

Dick.

[peter]

Incidentally, the lamp had not just failed - it had exploded, so there was tiny pieces of glass all over the place inside, including all over the filter and iris mechanisms. Not a pretty sight! Needless to say, the hire company are sending over a replacement and they'll have the lovely job of cleaning it all up.

NICE!

 

Were any of the dichroics or gobos broken? I thought Mac lamps should be replaced when they enter the "green" stage - much earlier than them exploding.

 

At least the company are sending a replacement... Good luck

 

 

Peter

[Cwest]

Just for your information, all Martin MAC units with a digital display feature a “lamp hours counterâ€. You can use this to see how old the lamp is.

 

We highly recommend that discharge lamps are replaced when they reach 25% beyond their rated lamp life.

 

For example a lamp rated for 1000 hours should be replaced if it gets to 1250 hours.

 

This should reduce the risk of lamp explosion, but it wont prevent it totally, lamps can explode at any time for a lot of different reasons.

 

Chris West

Martin UK.

[DickM]

NICE! :P

 

Were any of the dichroics or gobos broken?  I thought Mac lamps should be replaced when they enter the "green" stage - much earlier than them exploding.

 

At least the company are sending a replacement... Good luck

 

Well, the replacement arrived as promised and (apart from having to erect the scaf tower to reach the FOH bar in the middle of an auditorium full of seating) we did a straight swap with no re-programming of positions required. The rest of the week was thankfully uneventful!

 

There were bits of glass all over the filters, but I've no idea how much damage was done from the glass being thrown around inside and 'crunched' between filters and in the rotation mechanisms.

 

Next time I'll check the lamp-hours before we rig them, but I would hope that a reputable hire company wouldn't send out a lamp that was in the danger zone - if they did, then they can only blame themselves for the man-hours they'll have to spend this week doing a complete refurb!