djtuffer Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Guys, I have a pait of MAD Power Flowers that have a bit of an issue. The lamps seem bright to start with but once they have been running for a while the seem to get dimmer. I have been told this could be a cooling issue so will look at upgrading the fans. Looking at the ballast however I have some questions. The brown wire is Live and the Yellow wire goes to the Ignitor. Aren't they the wrong way round when you look at the diagram on the ballast? Shouldn't Live be in to terminal 3 and terminal 1 to the ignitor? Does it matter That they are this way round? Also it looks like this ballast supports 240v. To make this change I just need to move terminal 1 wires to terminal 4 right? Do you think the lamp dimming could be to do with the 230v/240v thing? Lamps are brand new Osram HTI-152. Cheers http://www.tuffer.co.uk/ballast.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulDF Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 As it is at the moment it doesn't really matter about which way around the brown yellow wires are connected, some ballasts it does matter but with only two connections isn't an issue.Reading the ballast info it says 3-4 for 240v so if you wanted to then you could - might be more trouble than it is worth as the wires probably wont reach.You may be better off putting your effort into sorting cooling issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard CSL Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 if the lamps start bright then go dim I doubt this has anything to do with the balast or the cooling, have you tried adjusting the sweetspot of the lamp after they go dim, as this sounds to be more likely the cause of the problem. All discharge lampps take a while to get to full brightness, as the gases heat in the lamp and the spark settles, if the spark is setteling in the non sweetspot area of the lamp this could be your problem. I find it easier to undo the lamp and pull out slightly to see if the spot is further out on the lamp, then start adjusting the three screws 1 turn at a time to get the brightest part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djtuffer Posted April 21, 2013 Author Share Posted April 21, 2013 I was checking the lamp alignment today and noticed that the problem seems to affect one unit more than the other. The bad unit seems to be slightly dimmer and I notice the colour temperature of the lamp changing. The ballast also was a bit hotter. Thinnk the ballast on this unit could be on the way out? These units have not been heavily used but are around 8 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard CSL Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 I was checking the lamp alignment today and noticed that the problem seems to affect one unit more than the other. The bad unit seems to be slightly dimmer and I notice the colour temperature of the lamp changing. The ballast also was a bit hotter. Thinnk the ballast on this unit could be on the way out? These units have not been heavily used but are around 8 years old. It is quite normal for the lamp to be different colours in different parts. Colour changing in the lamp is all part of the lamp settling down, new lamps tend to bed in over their first 100 hours.The ballast is only a coil on a laminate core, temperature is due to the current drawn across the lamp.New lamps draw more current than older lamps initially, as the lamps approach their final hours the current draw gets significantly higher, and colour temperature changes as the gasses expire.So it maybe that one of your lamps is older than the other, and would require replacement soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djtuffer Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 Both the lamps are brand new. I swapped the ballasts over tonight and it didn't really make any difference so I think they are both good. I think it may just be slight differences in the lamps. Will let them run in and see if the issue settles. Thanks for your help, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 The poor lamp colour on the mad/abstract units is connected to the burning angle of the MBI150 lamp used. If running with the ceramic cap at the top they can go a funny orange colour. They work much better with the cap down. It's nothing to do with the ballast. It's been a problem ever since the days of the Futurescan 3 CED but all the scanners tended to be used with the mirror at the top so it didn't show up much. The powerflower tends to be used with the lamp the other (bad) way up. The cooling design on the MAD powerflower is not that great either, there were some problems with lamps exploding due to inadequate cooling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djtuffer Posted April 23, 2013 Author Share Posted April 23, 2013 I noticed that Osram state the HTI-152 used in these should be used with a horizontal arc. In these it's vertical. Seems like an obvious design flaw. Not too bad if they are on a stand pointing down a bit as the lamp is then almost horizontal, Not good if the unit is on the floor pointing up however. It sounds like some high flow fans would be a good idea! Anyone have experiene with Papst fans? A bit more noise and draws 0.4w more power but would hope that shouldn't be a problem. Papst Fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djtuffer Posted May 4, 2013 Author Share Posted May 4, 2013 The problem with these was old dried up PFC Capacitors. Changed them and they are now very happy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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