Martin SmartMacs. Yes, that's what I said, SmartMacs. Pan/tilt issues.

[partyanimallighting]

Thanks again for all the responses. Regarding the new lamps in the warehouse......I've spotted the cardboard box.....but it's totally inaccessible right now so as soon as I roll everything out and get access to the box and a new lamp I'll post my findings.

[partyanimallighting]

Well, I finally got some time to do some further testing and I swapped out the old lamp with the new and started up. The unit went through it's "RESET" and homed successfully. I then struck the lamp and after I would think less than a minute, the "HOT" error message popped up, even though the housing itself was not even warm to the touch. So it's definitely not a lamp issue but probably is a fault on the motherboard located in the tilt arm. Once again, I'm reaching out for some ideas or feedback as to how this issue can be resolved before a dumpster comes calling.

[indyld]

I'd be surprised if the issue was on the main board ( 62090174 ?) and it certainly isn't where I'd look next. There are lots of other things that can go wrong in a lamp system first. Lamp feedback circuits of whatever kind are in this fixtures, ballast/driver etc. I don't know the SmartMac specifically, so without actually having one in front of me I can only make generic suggestions about how we approach these kinds of errors. For Martin kit specifically, if I can't work out what's what or would like to clarify something with the manufacturer I get in touch with the distributor/support in our country and they are very good with the detail on the older kit as the main people there used to work for Martin technical support and service. However, everyone's access to support for this kit is different depending on where you are in the world and what the support channel is like.

Edit to add: Although this symptom is usually stuff out in the fixture, rather than back at the control board it does look like there is a CMOS battery on that board. Is there any chance it is flat and that the fixture has forgotten something important? Presume this is for temporal stuff like user settings memory rather than hardware function, but might be another possibility in the mix.

Edited December 17, 2023 by indyld

[partyanimallighting]

Hi indyld, you're absolutely right. There's the definite possibility of a faulty ignitor or ballast (I've confirmed that it's not the thermo or lamp in the one specific unit I'm testing) but to be honest, because of the age of the fixtures (20+ years since first launched) and a total lack of literature available online re: troubleshooting, known common issues etc I'm ready to abandon ship. There is also a lamp detect PCB that could be a major suspect but my reason for pointing a finger at that mainboard was due to the fact that the "HOT" error message came up while the heat sinks were actually quite cool soon after lamp strike and I'm assuming (due to a total lack of knowledge of the unit) that some sensor on that mainboard might be erroneously triggered or a faulty lamp detect PCB could be causing the error message to be triggered. The last time I opened up a similar type of unit would be some 10+ years ago and those were Elation (Robe) Power Spot 250's so my memory is really quite hazy too (as I recall, it's a large toroidal transformer feeding the ignitor then the lamp through a lamp thermo).  I did speak to someone in the only rental company in the island that had SmartMACs some 15+ years ago and he told me that they were dumped many many many years ago due to incessant issues, especially with the gobo trapdoor not closing properly and the snap lock malfunctioning/breaking but to his knowledge they didn't have lamp issues/error messages with their units as I'm having with these. And he did rightfully state that, to his recollection, if a unit was repaired, some other issue would appear and the cycle would never end. Availability of replacement parts seems to also be a nightmare and it honestly just doesn't seem feasible. I think I'm done.

BUT!!!! I really do appreciate all the feedback I received during this attempt.

[indyld]

Fair enough.

Hot or Heat is often just a "lamp not struck and dunno why" type of message. Had a Robe Spot 600E today that logs a Active lamp timer error, which in many of that era of fixtures basically tells you the same thing. It's not hugely informative. 

Today I narrowed it down to either ballast or igniter and requested a price for both. Had started to strip out the ballast to swap with a known good when I found a suspect connection on one of the feedback connectors to it. 

So, turns it can strike it just wasn't happy to. But none of this comes from the error message. 

[Richard CSL]

I had a load of these do this HOT thing, I found it to be a lack of voltage to activate the lamp relay, we changed the yellow pollyester capacitors on the relay board from memory and this worked on some of the fixtures but not all (6)

good luck and do report your findings.

[partyanimallighting]

Thanks for the advice Richard CSL but I've basically abandoned ship on these units. Too old, too cumbersome, too problematic and sourcing parts is a PITA.