Robe Colorspot 250AT lamp issue

[theisbr]

I am runnng 4 Robe Colorspot 250AT fixtures at our church. I replaced the lamps in all these fixtures about a week ago, as they were reaching the end of their useful life. Within 10 hours of use, one of the fixtures stopped lamping on and displayed the HEAt, LA Er messages. I have looked at the user manual and see that that is displayed when the lamp has been commanded to be re-struck before the 5 minute waiting period and that there have been 7 successive unsuccessful lamp strikes in a row. I had an extra lamp and replaced it only to have the same issue again today. The arc lamps that I pulled out both times were completely "fogged" on the inside of the lamp. Any guesses as to what might be the cause? The fixtures are several years old and this is the first real issue I have had with them.

These are the Philips MSD 250/2 lamps.

Could this be an igniter issue or a ballast issue?

Thanks

 

[Amiers]

Were they working before with the old lamps?
Are the new lamps the same as the old lamps?

Did you clean the new lamps before you installed them and not touch them with your hands and wear gloves.

First thing I would check that is the easiest is to see if the socket is burnt.

Page 6 n 7 has some good info if you don't have it.

http://www.robe.cz/index.php?type=1...user_manuals/User_manual_Colorspot_250_AT.pdf

After checking the easy stuff you looking at tearing it apart and diving in to get to all the other parts.

But if it was working fine before you switched the lamp I would say improper lamp installation.

 

[theisbr]

Thanks for the reply Amiers.

The lights were working fine before I changed the lamps. I did not clean the first lamp but did use a cloth to keep from touching the lamp. The second lamp I did touch so I cleaned it with a cleaning cloth that came with another Philips lamp. It smelled like an alcohol wipe.

I have noticed a quick buzz during lamp strike, but as I have 10 fixtures striking I have not yet identified which fixture is making the noise.

 

[Amiers]

Well to test if you still have the old lamps I would put it back in and see if it fires. Maybe you got a bad lamp. Hopefully you didn't touch it or the side of the cloth with your hands. It's good practice with those lamps to always clean them coming out of the package.

Then get yourself a box of non powder latex gloves for installs.

If the old lamp fires then you can rule it your new lamps are bad. If it doesn't then you might of blown socket, ballast, or ignitor. But my bottom dollar is on the lamp.

 

[theisbr]

I have put in an old lamp in he fixture and it fired right up. I guess that means I was not as careful as I thought on my installation.

 

[Amiers]

I have put in an old lamp in he fixture and it fired right up. I guess that means I was not as careful as I thought on my installation.

Or the lamps are bad, it does happen but as a precaution get yourself some disposable latex gloves and alcohol swabs for the future.

See if you can return the ones you got as the MSD lamps aren't cheap