Help with Studio Color 575 - Lite T Out Err

[timfros1]

My school owns 4 Studio Color 575's we bought from a rental house a little under a year ago. We bought them used and as is. The rental house said they did a refurb on them before transferring possession to us. Only a few weeks after we purchased them I had one unit go out with a LITE TOUT ERR message. We left it alone for a bit as I thought it was a faulty lamp. In November, we had another one go out with the same error. Now, I had one more go out. Since the first one, we invested $500 in replacement lamps.

Two of the units we sent out for repair, which we were told it was a bad ballast and would cost us $1700 to repair two units. (We paid $2k for 4).

The most recent unit to go down, I still can hear the lamp trying to strike, but alas, it won't. The only thing I didn't try is resetting the lamp hours. I didn't think that would prevent a lamp from striking....

I want to make sure that it's not me or my students that are doing anything wrong....or if there is any advice or options you can all think of.

Thanks

 

[Wood4321]

If the ballast is clicking (the finned side of the top box) , then listen to both arm covers when it is trying to strike. you should also hear clicking from that location.

If you don't have clicking there, then you could try replacing the ignitor card. (inside the arm cover)
The ignitors are much cheaper than the ballasts.

As for the ballasts, it sounds like someone sold you a new ballast for the one that was bad. Those ballasts are usually available used from lightparts, or better yet, repairable..

I would give lightparts a call the next time you run into a studio 575 issue. They are very helpful.