I decided not to use that lamp and ordered new ones.

After I left, the manager decided he'd use that lamp (after I had expressed my concerns to him).

I told him I was annoyed with him because (a) it was dangerous; he has no training and wore no safety gear and (b) I had already told him that I thought the lamp was questionable.

One month later (today) that lamp is dead.

And...guess what...he went and installed another lamp; he's still untrained.

Furthermore, I would have preferred to get the console checked out for an electrical fault before putting another $500 lamp inside.

Geez.

I'd like your input: What could have caused that lamp to fail so early?

My money's on "bad karma."

Seriously, could it have been just a bad bulb...or fingerprints..? Am I going too far to have the console checked out for wiring? I'm now told that "it used to make a funny noise."

BTW, I am not an electrician...There's another guy who will be handling this. But your input could help save time and get him back to Miami a little faster. I know he'd appreciate that.

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~Manny.

Some people can read "War and Peace" and come away thinking it's a simple adventure story while I, on the other hand, can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.
Lex Luthor, "Superman: The Movie"

It's a PerkinElmer XM2000H/VC. If I understand correctly it failed during a show.

~Manny.

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It did not explode. This theatre is on another island, so I will have to travel there to see things first-hand. I don't think I'll learn a whole lot more until I get there.

The console type is ORC Optimax CV1600.

~Manny.

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That explains it all. ORC/PerkinElmer bulbs are total garbage. I have had generic CHINESE bulbs that outlasted PerkinElmer bulbs many times over...

-Aaron

The whole inside of the glass turns milky white (from the air) and it looks like the inside of the bulb is on fire. If it wasn't so dangerous, it'd be kinda' cool.

I had some off-the-wall bulbs go "Pbspthbptsihbthp!" on several occassions. There was a gent at the Sho-West Trade Show that was pushing some new overseas bulb about 8 years ago. I talked him into letting me try one, and he agreed that if I was not happy with it I didn't have to pay for the bulb. If I liked it, then he said I should pay for it. Sounded like a good deal to me.

When I got the bulb, I stuffed it in the XH-30 ORC lamphouse, and I was amazed on how nice the light looked. About 300 hours later, it blew the seal. Funny thing is the seal blew during cool-down, and I was threading the projector for the next show. Then I heard the "Pbspthbptsihbthp!" sound, and I immediately knew what it was. I had plenty of time to install a new bulb, but the sound of the seal letting loose was funny!

Anyway, I sent the bulb back, and there was no questions asked.

Randy, I never seen one do that.

I've been reading a lot lately about the unreliability of ORC/EG&G/PerkinElmer bulbs but, generally, I must have been lucky because all of the one I've installed (so far) have panned out just fine.

In fact, I'm finding that a good amount of these lamps are the ones I installed two years ago (before I left the company that I'm now working for again).

I am interested in trying Christie bulbs because I've been reading about the superior quality of light from those.

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~Manny.

Some people can read "War and Peace" and come away thinking it's a simple adventure story while I, on the other hand, can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.
Lex Luthor, "Superman: The Movie"

A rep. gave me some amp. ranges, but no voltage. Is there a generally "assumed" voltage or something?

quote:

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"Is there a generally "assumed" voltage or something?"

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The nature of xenon arc lamps is that the operating voltage is relatively constant.
The lamp current is really the important specification. The voltage is dependent on current but also the gas composition/pressure and the electrode gap, so unless something is very weird it will be in the normal 20-odd volts range with that size lamp.
Lamp specs give an acceptable range of current and voltage - not any exact requirements. Most lamps come with a test card that says what volt/amp readings the factory tested it at, your readings should be close. Ssomething is fishy if your readings are very different - but unless the lamp has lost pressure the problem is with the lamphouse circuits. There is simply no way to force a change in a xenon lamp's voltage/current ratio.

Side note: I have never installed a lamp and been able to match those test card readings. (i.e. I set exactly the current on the test card, and the voltage is never the same as on the card) Maybe the measurement points are different? Who knows, just don't expect to match the test card numbers exactly.

When stage lamps go, the glass sometimes shatters and the whole thing dies shortly thereafter. (The filiament burns up in the air.) Other times, the thing will just crack down the side, letting all the gas out and letting air in. I guess there's not enough air in there to burn up the filiament, because it keeps burning.