575W & 750W Source 4
- Thread startermalex
- Start date
Welll, got in an arguement on Facebook, and this came up:
I said this:
"Yes you could just buy new TP22H sockets and rewire the existing caps but you'd either have to drill a hole for the third pin or pull the third pin out of the base. But drilling a pin hole probably voids the UL listing of the assembly, and removing the third pin creates the possibility of a 750 watt lamp ending up in a 575 watt cap."
And got this in reply:
"Noah, that really is not safe. The 750w lamp heads have extra finns on them for dissipating heat. By putting a 750base in a 575 unit heat you risk a fire as they are not designed to handle the extra heat. This was the response give by an ETC installation startup rep, when the question was posed to him by a venue we were doing an upgrade in."
And here all this time I thought it was due to wire gauge or older TP22H sockets not being able to handle the higher heat of a 750.
I said this:
"Yes you could just buy new TP22H sockets and rewire the existing caps but you'd either have to drill a hole for the third pin or pull the third pin out of the base. But drilling a pin hole probably voids the UL listing of the assembly, and removing the third pin creates the possibility of a 750 watt lamp ending up in a 575 watt cap."
And got this in reply:
"Noah, that really is not safe. The 750w lamp heads have extra finns on them for dissipating heat. By putting a 750base in a 575 unit heat you risk a fire as they are not designed to handle the extra heat. This was the response give by an ETC installation startup rep, when the question was posed to him by a venue we were doing an upgrade in."
And here all this time I thought it was due to wire gauge or older TP22H sockets not being able to handle the higher heat of a 750.
Last edited:
techieman33
Well-Known Member
One should know better than to attempt to talk tech on FB, or any other general purpose social media.
I know, I know.
But its so much more active than CB. And sometimes you get seasoned elders who aren't here on CB.
What I'm a season'd elder as with many of us... Can remember when the s-4 came out (got a letter about the S-4 during Golf War when it was presented at USITT, and limited to only ten we could get due to production line once back in college.) And years Later dealing with the lamp cap conversion problem at work doing the conversions. It was only wiring 18ga. that was the difference, and no other problems other than the pin which should not be removed but was often before the upgrade and later resale off of all that grade of light. Hole was easy enough.
fB, almost joined... got really far in doing so - someday perhaps. Constantly get emails telling me who is on that I can already directly contact by email. Must have trolled all my e-mail accounts. For me joining in would be more to catch up with old friends than for technical information. Though I got a lot of emails telling me of a lot of people in the industry that have joined who I respect a lot. Percentage of them that would know and answer your question properly though if not "friend" is as per your advice limited.
fB, almost joined... got really far in doing so - someday perhaps. Constantly get emails telling me who is on that I can already directly contact by email. Must have trolled all my e-mail accounts. For me joining in would be more to catch up with old friends than for technical information. Though I got a lot of emails telling me of a lot of people in the industry that have joined who I respect a lot. Percentage of them that would know and answer your question properly though if not "friend" is as per your advice limited.
DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
The FB Eos Programmers Group is about the fastest and best way to get answered about any question with programming issues on that family of consoles. A lot of very smart programmers with a lot of time on the desks hang out there. Better then the ETC forum in many ways as more people pay attention on FB, seemingly.
The Stagecraft and Entertainment Rigging Forum is another high quality group.
Since I've never been a part of the lamp buying/installing aspect of fixtures, I have a question.
We have many Source 4's in our auditorium on 2 tree stands, house right and house left up in our balcony. They alternate between 26º and 50º. Also 5 Source 4's (not sure what kind) above audience tucked away in a cove, though no catwalks.
We have 1 that is burnt out, and will be getting a new set of lamps as well as extra's since all in all, we have about 15 around the hall. All are rated for 750w, and use the HPL lamps.
My question is this, looking at the spec sheet, it looks like I can either get the HPL 750/115 which is rated for 300 hours, and the HPL 750/115x which is rated for 1500 hours. Since both are the same price, what's the difference? Wouldn't you want to go with the lamp that's going to last you 5 times as long?
We have many Source 4's in our auditorium on 2 tree stands, house right and house left up in our balcony. They alternate between 26º and 50º. Also 5 Source 4's (not sure what kind) above audience tucked away in a cove, though no catwalks.
We have 1 that is burnt out, and will be getting a new set of lamps as well as extra's since all in all, we have about 15 around the hall. All are rated for 750w, and use the HPL lamps.
My question is this, looking at the spec sheet, it looks like I can either get the HPL 750/115 which is rated for 300 hours, and the HPL 750/115x which is rated for 1500 hours. Since both are the same price, what's the difference? Wouldn't you want to go with the lamp that's going to last you 5 times as long?
techieman33
Well-Known Member
It's a choice that depends on the venue and how you use it. Are the lights hard to access, do you struggle to get money for purchases of things like lamps? Do you find yourself never running your lights over 75% or 80%? If so then a longlife lamp might be for you. If you have easy access to change lamps, and find yourself running your lights at full, then the 300 hour lamp is probably what you want. You'll also want to make sure that the lamps are all the same. The last thing you want is some areas in one wash being noticeably brighter than others.
DELO72
Well-Known Member
The trade-off is the one that last 5x as long (115X) also is a lot dimmer, which is how it achieves the longer life. So if you don't mind a lower color temp and lower output, than maybe that's the best bet. What I personally prefer is keeping the short-life high output lamps as the lamp of choice, and simply profiling the dimmers down (at the rack or on the board) to Full @ 97% (or 98%, or 95%-- whatever floats your boat). Which will give you a longer life. The reason I promote this is you then have the ability to use them at full brightness, or at longer life. Your choice depending on the need of the show or facility. If you get the longer life lamp to start with, you can't over-power it to get the brighter output, (Unless you are like Spinal Tap and have dimmers that go to 11) so you have created an arbitrary limit for yourself. Always give yourself more options.
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