CCT Silhouettes - type identification and maintenance

[ABB125]

Hello,

The organisation I work for has a reasonable number of CCT sils - around 35, plus assorted "spare parts"...

12 are 2k fixtures, the rest are 1k. Obviously I know the difference between these, but within each category there are a couple of variations which I'm unsure about.

Starting with the 1k fixtures, almost all have the "30" lens tube attached. Most are labelled (using marker pen on white tape) as MkII, but a couple are labelled MkI. I can't see any visual differences between them. Am I missing something, or have they been mis-labelled (which is a distinct possibility!). Secondly, all but one have what I believe is the standard lamp arrangement, where the bulb is plugged into a small metal plate which can be slid (in theory!) out of the lamp housing (a bit like the crumb tray at the bottom of a toaster). The anomalous one, however, has what I believe is called an "axial" lamp arrangement (and a few of the "spare parts" are also like this). What are the advantages/disadvantages of this?

Moving on to the 2ks, there are two sets of six (though I'm having a mind blank as to which two lenses they use). One set of six has "Silhouette 2500" printed/labelled on them (an original manufacturer label). Of the other set, two (I think) also have this graphic; the others have a blank space instead. Are they different, or has it simply worn off? Secondly, one of the unlabelled ones is rather different to the others: it has a lamp arrangement similar to the 1ks (the "toaster tray"), but with a CP43 lamp; all the others have the "open the big flap, then the lamp swings out on a hinged thing" arrangement using CP92 bulbs. Is this "normal", or has this particular fixture been bodged at some point?

We did have some more 1ks (I think more modern ones) but they failed PAT testing (all but one of the 10 or so which were not rigged somewhere at the time) and were disposed of before I could fix them (very annoying... I dread to think what might have happened if the PAT testers had found our Strand 743s!).

I would upload some pictures, but I haven't yet worked out how to (apart from a link from elsewhere on the internet!).

As a side question, what's the difference between "CP" bulbs, as fitted in the 2k fixtures, and "T" bulbs (like the T19s in the 1ks)?

Thanks very much.

[ABB125]

I've just realised I forgot to add the second part of my questions: any maintenance tips? The condition of the fixtures is  variable, some are very good, others not so.

[Whiskers]

CP lamps burn slightly bluer at 3200K but have a shorter life 400 hours giving 54000 lumens (2K)

T class are yellower at about 2950K life of 750 hours giving 21000 lumens.(t11) Equivalent CP at 3200K life is 250 hours giving 26000 lumens. 

As the lamp power gets smaller the life reduces, thinner filaments. 2000w T class are now hard to find, run the dimmer at about 8.5 to get a similar effect.

 

[Don Allen]

Theatrecrafts have a section under Manufacturers https://www.theatrecrafts.com/bhc/manufacturer/cct go to the Silhouette section https://www.theatrecrafts.com/bhc/equipment/cct-silhouette to look at the Documents.

I found the fep axial lamps left side disappointing so used the Philips Blue Pinchlamps right side.

[xllx]

The axial lamps were supposed to be better for gobo projection.

[ABB125]

19 hours ago, Whiskers said:

CP lamps burn slightly bluer at 3200K but have a shorter life 400 hours giving 54000 lumens (2K)

T class are yellower at about 2950K life of 750 hours giving 21000 lumens.(t11) Equivalent CP at 3200K life is 250 hours giving 26000 lumens. 

As the lamp power gets smaller the life reduces, thinner filaments. 2000w T class are now hard to find, run the dimmer at about 8.5 to get a similar effect.

 

Thanks very much

17 hours ago, Don Allen said:

Theatrecrafts have a section under Manufacturers https://www.theatrecrafts.com/bhc/manufacturer/cct go to the Silhouette section https://www.theatrecrafts.com/bhc/equipment/cct-silhouette to look at the Documents.

I found the fep axial lamps left side disappointing so used the Philips Blue Pinchlamps right side.

Thanks - I'll have a look.

Today I found one axial sil in a different location. Something very wrong has been done to it though - someone's bodged in a GX9.5 lampholder, so it now has a T19 lamp. Which literally doesn't fit all the way into the reflector dish; where the glass widens slightly at the join to the ceramic, it hits the reflector. I really don't think it's meant to be like this... (It also scrapes horribly against the hole at the back of the reflector dish when you insert it!

15 hours ago, xllx said:

The axial lamps were supposed to be better for gobo projection.

That makes sense - one of the one's I've found has "I'm great for gobos" labelled on it!

[Junior8]

CCT are still in business apparently  and their website though clunky has a product information page http://www.cctlighting.co.uk/page/45/Product_Information.html though you have to search by model numbers which are meaningless at least to me. Spares are available from them it seems. 

I always found them easy to work on but at this distance in time I can't recall how the lampholders were mounted in mine.  

Edited November 2, 2022 by Junior8

[sandall]

On 10/30/2022 at 5:29 AM, xllx said:

The axial lamps were supposed to be better for gobo projection.

Back in the day I put a load of 2nd-hand axials into FoH in a local-authority venue, to replace a mix of Sil30s & Strand T-spots. Brighter than the T11/T19 lanterns, but poor lamp life. Then I realised that because the lamp-base pins were aligned vertically, rather than side by side. when the filament sagged there was a 50/50 chance of it sagging towards the support rail & shorting out. Making sure the filament was always below the supports saved a small fortune in new lamps.