chrisft Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Hey guys, I'd like some advice on when to change the lamp in an Atomic 3000, should I just wait till it blows or is there any kind of recommended usage or life expectancy?? A few of ours are starting the blacken slightly around the ends and I just wondered if this is a sign they need replacing?? And what does happen when the lamp blows?? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samwise Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Hi Chris, In my experience the lamps don't really blow, they do start to blacken around the edges and eventually start missing strikes and then finally stop working, I would say when they are starting to strike irregularly or overheat too quickly then its time for a swap. I might be wrong but I've changed three because they were exhibiting this behavior. Other units have had very blackened ends but been fine, plus a replacement lamp is about £50 or so? One unit once came back with a note stuck to it say "THIS UNIT IS F**KED" which simply needed a new lamp... Also be careful to follow the instructions and observe where the wires are routed inside the reflector housing as they can dump charge into the reflector if the wires get to close. Hope that helps. Sam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csg Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 To add to the reply above, xenon flash lamps are rated in terms of flashes at a given power. On strobes like the atomic where flash power can be varied, and flash duration also, it is more or less impossible to predict lamp life other than by behaviour and the colour at the end of the tube. As these lamps run at much lower gas pressure than their short arc relatives there is no particular danger in simply letting the lamp run untill it fails. Ive never seen a strobe tube fail in a violent way, so I would say just use them untill they fail. As stated above, they tent to fail in a progressive way, becomming a bit erratic before failing altogether. And at £50 each you should count yourself lucky - the lamp for my diversitronics 5000dmx's is the wrong side of £200 a go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisft Posted April 22, 2010 Author Share Posted April 22, 2010 Hey guys, Thats great - Thank you so much! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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