Strobes overheat

[Massey28694]

Hey all, good morning! I finally got my Diversitronic DK2000 strobes running, but they are overheating and shutting down til they cool off. I believe I have intensity at 75% and speed at 65%. They’ll run from a minute to five minutes then they drop out. Any suggestions on which settings would be best to keep these big boys flashing? Note, these are plugged into standard electric and controlled via dmx. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[Amiers]

You hanging them or just have them on the floor.

You could put a fan next to them or if they are hanging. Grab a tritap and some phone charger bricks and some usb fans and cook it up in the air as well.

But

Realistically you drop the intensity 5% til it lasts as long as it’s needed. Changing your speed will result in slower strobe so if you are set on 65 then you gotta give on intensity.

 

[RonHebbard]

You hanging them or just have them on the floor.

You could put a fan next to them or if they are hanging. Grab a tritap and some phone charger bricks and some usb fans and cook it up in the air as well.

But

Realistically you drop the intensity 5% til it lasts as long as it’s needed. Changing your speed will result in slower strobe so if you are set on 65 then you gotta give on intensity.

@Massey28694 and @Amiers Could you / he not reduce your strobe's duration per flash to lessen its heating / lengthen your run time before raising its temperature to its tripping point?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[Amiers]

He “could” lower the rate but then the strobe is less strobey and more stepped flash.

 

[Massey28694]

Thanks guys. I’m here now and will experiment with the intensity and speed to see if that will do it. Don’t need them to run but for maybe a minute, but got to have them reliable.

 

[RonHebbard]

He “could” lower the rate but then the strobe is less strobey and more stepped flash.

@Amiers and @Massey28694 Lowering the rate is visibly undesirable. Lowering the intensity may be visibly undesirable as well.
Why not lower / shorten the duration of each flash, normally not too noticeable once you've dazzled your patrons, yet still reduces the heating of both your strobe's tube and its power supply??
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[Van]

you said "strobes" is it possible to alternate them which would increase your duty cycle?

 

[Massey28694]

Appreciate all the suggestions. I pulled back the intensity to 60 and they seem to be somewhat stable. Sure would be nice to bump up that intensity, as it is one sweet effect on our stage. @RonHebbard Ron, I’m not sure I can change the flash duration on these units and available instructions are sketchy. I do have eight of these, with only three installed, so I may throw up three more and cue them up to alternate. Thanks again guys.

 

[RonHebbard]

Appreciate all the suggestions. I pulled back the intensity to 60 and they seem to be somewhat stable. Sure would be nice to bump up that intensity, as it is one sweet effect on our stage. @RonHebbard Ron, I’m not sure I can change the flash duration on these units and available instructions are sketchy. I do have eight of these, with only three installed, so I may throw up three more and cue them up to alternate. Thanks again guys.

@Massey28694 Wasn't it you who had strobes controlled by three channels each: 1st. channel controlled rate. 2nd channel controlled intensity and 3rd channel controlled duration; duration in the sense of how long each flash lasted, NOT the length of your cue.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[Massey28694]

@RonHebbard Ron, I’ve seen official looking installation manuals that showed these were 2 channel and another that said 3. I set these up as 3 channel just in case. I put these on subs for testing but don’t see any noticeable difference when I change the 3rd channel level. Alternating the instruments sounds like a viable solution, so i’ll probably give it a shot. Hope I don’t start blowing my electric circuits.

 

[RonHebbard]

@RonHebbard Ron, I’ve seen official looking installation manuals that showed these were 2 channel and another that said 3. I set these up as 3 channel just in case. I put these on subs for testing but don’t see any noticeable difference when I change the 3rd channel level. Alternating the instruments sounds like a viable solution, so i’ll probably give it a shot. Hope I don’t start blowing my electric circuits.

@Massey28694 You're making my point: Changing rates and intensities are normally quite visible. Altering the duration of each individual flash often is barely discernible to your and your patron's eyes, especially after you've caught them off guard with your initial flashes. Shortening the duration of each flash should result in less heating of your strobes' tubes and their power supplies. I suspect I've flogged this sufficiently by now. Try lowering the duration channels; I doubt you'll notice any appreciable difference in your effect.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[derekleffew]

I pulled back the intensity to 60 and they seem to be somewhat stable. Sure would be nice to bump up that intensity, as it is one sweet effect on our stage. ... I do have eight of these, with only three installed, so I may throw up three more and cue them up to alternate. Thanks again guys.

Possible solution that also conveniently requires the least effort: Hang three more next to existing units and address them exactly the same. Done. Walk away.
So now instead of 60% you actually have 120% intensity! (That's how that works, right?)
.

 

[RonHebbard]

Possible solution that also conveniently requires the least effort: Hang three more next to existing units and address them exactly the same. Done. Walk away.
So now instead of 60% you actually have 120% intensity! (That's how that works, right?)
.

@derekleffew and @Massey28694 Do you think they'll flash in simultaneous pairs, randomly but oftener, or all six coordinated simultaneously???
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[derekleffew]

Do you think they'll flash in simultaneous pairs, randomly but oftener, or all six coordinated simultaneously

I have no way of knowing the existing cuing, nor what is desired. Thus I was offering a suggestion that didn't depend on any of that.

 

[Massey28694]

@RonHebbard @derekleffew We’re doing Gypsy and it’s the scene where marching children turn into adults with the strobes masking the change. Runs less than a minute, but would like to go for a nice wow factor! Thanks for the thoughts guys.

 

[derekleffew]

Used to do that gag with a flooded out followspot with lobsterscope.
.