Kevin Ross Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Hi there fellow blueroom people. I recently purchased a QTX FX 1000 haze machine off eBay. It seemed to work fine when I was trying it out at home setting up the DMX address etc. However when I used it at a gig it worked fine for a few minutes then the pump stuck full on and it was just spitting out some haze but a lot of "unburnt " fluid. The heater is working fine but the pump is now just stuck on full power as soon as you turn it on. I have tried running it with just the remote (no DMX ) and also with no remote connected at all. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this and how to fix it. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I'd guess the triac running the pump has blown. I had a similar fault in a Martin smoke machine once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 It is usually a shorted triac when things like this occur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ross Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Thanks for pointing me in that direction. I don't suppose anyone has a circuit diagram or knows where the pump triac is on the control board or what it looks like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ross Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 Just to provide an update. I soldered in a replace triac and now everything is working well. When I was doing the work it looked like it already had been replaced once before. I will keep an eye on it but if it fails again does anyone have an idea what might cause two triacs to fail? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 There are a few possibilities. The pumps are usually solenoid pumps that are quite inductive, so it could be a back EMF spike from the pump that is degrading the triac over time, although theoretically it should only be turning off at the mains zero crossing point. That would require a snubber network to be fitted across the triacs main terminals. The other possibility is that the wiring harness is rubbed through somewhere and a momentary short circuit is occurring. That would make the triac fail too, but would also possibly be associated with a blown fuse. Another possibility is that the triac may not be being driven properly. If the triac has been changed before it might not even be the correct triac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Possibly in an effort to reduce parts cost, the manufacturer has fitted the cheapest triac they think they can get away with, and it's not quite rated high enough for the job, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 they're quite often thyristors, since most smoke pumps have a diode moulded into the coil anyway. That means the pump will only work connected one way round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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