Another thought: I've been reading some articles on here that advise against using 1000W FELs for
altman 360Qs. Since these are similar fixtures, should I get different lamps for fear of the 2216s not being able to take the heat, or just not worry about it?
Hello!
Back in 1990 I served as the first Head LX in a newly built producing
theatre; talent and raw materials in, shows and garbage out. We had 230 of
Strand's 2000 series, this was just before the S4 hit.
Strand told us we were free to operate all of our 2,000 series with FEL's. I stayed with the
theatre for its first 2-1/2 years and the longer fixtures ran problem free, problem free as far as running FEL's goes that is.
With FEL's we found we couldn't keep rear lenses in the 4.5 x 6.5 units.
For more than a year
Strand kept sending us replacement rear lenses gratis.
We only had 12 of the 2204's and cracked the rear lenses in all of them at least once.
I kept asking
Strand if I should lamp them down to 750's,
Strand kept saying the entire series were designed for FEL's.
Eventually
Strand tired of supplying free lenses, we lamped the 2204's down to 750's and quit cracking lenses.
In my two plus years we probably cracked the rear
lens in two or three of the 2209's.
I don't recall ever having to replace a
lens in the 2212's, 2216's or our 2112's.
2112's, referred to as 'single
lens 6 x 12's' were the longest of the series almost as narrow as other manufacturer's 6 x 22's.
Our initial 2,000 series inventory upon opening:
- 12 - 2204
- 50 - 2209
- 50 - 2212
- 70 - 2216 Standard fixtures in our 1st
FOH + near and mid
FOH boom positions.
- 48 - 2112 Standard fixtures in our 2nd
FOH + furthest
FOH boom positions.
- 230 in total.
For their day they weren't bad fixtures.
They shared a few mechanical problems in common across the series but ran for pretty much 20 years before being sold off and replaced with S4's. Many of the original 230 are still in our area in various
amateur theatre venues.
As with any similar fixtures, be sure lamps are fully seated in sockets to minimize arcing and burning.
Maintenance is not a dirty word.
Toodleoo!
Ron