Conventional Fixtures - Altman 360Q Lamp questions

[Synchronize]

I've never messed around with lamps before so this is probably going to be a series of dumb questions.

I was doing a little research, looking for some new fixtures to add to our ERS collections. I was compairing the wattage of the S4 Jr Zoom to that of our 360Qs. I went to Altman's website but they give two different wattages. In the subtitle of the fixture it says 700W but in the description it clearly states that it is designed for 575W lamps. Now that threw me a little because I know that we stock 1000W lamps as replacements.

I gained a little bit of insight from Ship's incredible lamp topic and found out that a proper lamp is a HX601 which is what is in the majority of the fixtures as the originals. We have about a million FEL 120V 1000W lamps that I dont know if I should use or not.

That also got me thinking.... In the past 8 months or so we have had 4 lenses crack. Two were just fractures accross the glass, the other two were spider webs. Could replaceing the old HX601s with the 1000W do that?

I have never preheated the fixtures either, really because I didnt know you were supposed to up until a couple months ago. Somebody want to throw in a lesson on that too?

Thanks

[derekleffew]

Use the search, Luke.

Originally Posted by Synchronize

...In the past 8 months or so we have had 4 lenses crack. Two were just fractures accross the glass, the other two were spider webs. Could replacing the old HX601s with the 1000W do that?

Absolutely, especially in 4.5x6.5s, 6x9s, or 6x12s. http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/l...-fels-bad.html, http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/l...360q-6x16.html. The Altman 360Q is not, nor has ever been, listed for lamps greater than 750W.

Originally Posted by Synchronize

...I have never preheated the fixtures either, really because I didnt know you were supposed to up until a couple months ago. Somebody want to throw in a lesson on that too?

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/l...entionals.html.

[Synchronize]

I used the search... thats how I found Ship's thread. I'm not the best at using the right keywords though. Thanks!

[icewolf08]

Many people lamp up their longer throw 360Qs with FEL lamps. While it can work, as Derek pointed out, the fixture is not listed, nor is it designed for use with 1kW lamps. This of course is not to mention the fact that the FEL is a very fragile and inefficient lamp. The HX-601 (of FLK) utilizes the same filament design and I have found can fall victim to the same fragility issues as the FEL. If you want to be in the 575W range, you will find that the GLC or the new SPH lamps will be much more efficient in terms of output and utilization of the reflector and they are much less fragile.

If you are looking for a little more punch, you might step up to the GLD/GLE lamps, which are 750W lamps. The GLD is the high output and the GLE is the long life version. I have changed over all of my fixtures that used to be lamped with FELs to these lamps and we have been very happy. At the lower wattage, we get (to my eye) more light. Sure, they are more expensive than the FELs, but they seem to last longer.

[Grog12]

Also remember that wattage is not the end all be all reason to pick a fixture or a lamp for a fixture. Make sure you're looking at Lumens, Color tempature and lamp life as well when picking out new fixtures and lamps for the fixtures.