extra lamp caps no matter the
fixture is always a good idea. Got a few lamp caps sitting in the garage for fixtures I don't even own any longer. But this is a really good idea - find a problem in changing a lamp,
call for the new cap if not just swap out both lamp can cap automatically and inspect on the
ground. At very least one extra
lamp cap on
hand means the difference between a working
fixture and one that no longer works.
Economics... yep, it does kill me at times to see some stuff or even have to trash a perfectly good example of lamp that should be warranty and
return simply because someone screwed up the lamp history or didn't take a minute to fill in the tag on the box denoting who what why. This much less in being the lamp buyer, and knowing the day rate of an average tech person doing the math - really kills me the cost of lamps over labor. Just had a rental lamp come back from a ISU rental specifically to the
point of renting instead of owning. They didn't bother to fill in the tag and thus another, urr as he says in lamp cost down the hole the owner of the lamp/
fixture eats. One can be sure however that TD at my alm. will get an E-Mail and the person that rented the gear to them will be CC'd that either they fill out the lamp tags on lamps they change or it should be required that one of our people is hired to operate the gear rented as part of the cost if they wish to rent from us. Just lost money on the rental not due to a bad lamp - such things happen, due to them not filling out an easily seen lamp tag with a few lines of info about the change to fill in. Short of this on a lamp that could have been sent back, this rental just lost money. At very least, their next
fixture rental should be expected to be a
bit more steep in price thus at times how much renting such fixtures cost if not such fixtures requiring shop staff to babysit the gear added to the cost. Those that don't at times also don't care for their gear and it possibly won't work for the production.
Just talking tonight with a designer that's been around the
block a few years. He mentioned how another company does their lamps, they have a bucket of new / good lamps, and a bucket of brown ones. For good stuff they install the good lamps, for other stuff such as rentals especially, its' the brown ones. Might explain why when we rent gear from other places we tend to get brown lamps if not fixtures in need of service - given I'm told fixtures get turned on inside the
road case .. yep it works but not as we do for all productions ours or a rental bench focused against the other fixtures on the show and color matched. Bucket of blue and a bucket of brown, kills me no lamp
tracking done one lamp as good as another.... might explain why many lamp companies don't do individual serial numbers on their lamps any longer. As if the day rate of skilled labor for one lamp were a dime a dozen in lamp cost. Really kind of an insult beyond the "
hand made" aspect of the lamps - on axis lamp twists to them and all, no serial number means disposable like the labor using them.
On the other
hand, I did get a lamp changed by "Local #2" tonight. Thoroughly impressed me, they must be holding classes in reading and writing because while written in Sharpee that bled all over the label in making it hard to read, they did fill out all lines of the tag. Boy, that Local 2 person (who names their kid Local 2 anyway, as written on the "changed by"
line?) for the first time ever that I can remember took the time to do such a thing and helped fill out a different lamp tag for a lamp which will be returned and that lamp's cost will be refunded in having a manufacturing problem before 2/3 of it's expexted lamp life was achieved.
These two lamps returned, or one of them returned, one in the trash. I normally average 10%
return, 10% try again in a different
fixture and 80% recycle and it's all very much about the lamp history and an average of five minutes time on each lamp in noting its problems, history and cause of failure on the computer that currently has about 14,000 individual lamps in its
tracking. I'll worry about the micro cracks and pinch bleeds, you fill out the tag and describe why this
fixture became suspect. Takes an average of five minutes per lamp in
tracking and inspecting it on the computer than installing its replacement also into the computer now assigned to the lighting
fixture. This as opposed to a minute or so to do the date, who, reason, lamp hours,
fixture serial number and lamp serial number. From that info and what I can figure out in examining the lamp I can do a valid claim for
return of the lamp if it qualifies or be able to
track lamp type/brand problems in switching to other brands following a trend of problems with a brand.
This is a 55gal. drum and this is one years worth of bad moving light and other arc source lamps with another drum on the way and around 1,000 more from last year to inspect. A few xenon follow spot,
strobe and Big Light lamps, a few Sportslighter lamps, a few shop lamps but mostly around 1,000
Mac 2K lamps, 500 or so
Mac 700 lamps and lots of other lamps including the new to the market "Fast Fit" lamp types. This is really expensive to recycle also - about as much as a new mid-range moving light. I expect say 10% or much more of these lamps could have been sent back to the manufacturer for evaluation and possible refund due to lamp flaw if only the lamp history were sufficient and not in question such as said to be installed
in one fixture, yet removed from another
fixture. Another 5 to 10% of them probably came out of fixtures with bad lamp sockets thus destroying the lamp before the expected lamp life or even as above with the warranty lamps, at least 2/3 of that.
Back to the
point is that 5 to10% of lamps or so above and in this drum that came from fixtures with bad lamp sockets. AT very least for half or more of these 10% lamps there is no excuse for given at times in
tracking the lamp serial number to
fixture assignments thus lamp history, I can tell how many lamps are installed in any
fixture and even beyond lamp inspection of a overheated lamp
base, how many times for any
fixture this next perfectly good lamp into a bad
socket has happened in a row. Each of these lamps have a serial number or I write if not even engrave one into the lamp in making it individual. That's for moving light lamps, go another drum for
fluorescent lamps and a third for
halogen/
incandescent lamps. This given most
halogen lamps are both less commonly used on shows and when they go bad they are thrown out. Still the
halogen lamp drum is about 3/4's full - granted quite a few
PAR 64 and other
PAR lamps in it. Moving light lamps I can
track and
track down the fixtures with bad lamp bases, on
halogen /
conventional type fixtures it's all about the inspection and hopefully about the shop prep of them.