Trouble with Chauvet

Liama138

Liama138

Member
So, I need opinions.
Last Winter, I bought 6 https://www.chauvetdj.com/products/intimidator-wash-zoom-350-irc/.
We hung them in our smaller space, they worked fine. There haven't been many events in there since they went in the air (maybe 10), so they haven't really gotten much use.
Fast forward to May and one of them stops zooming all the way, but it's intermittent (until it isn't), then another one just stops turning on at all. I replaced the iec cable that runs to the one that won't power up to no avail.
I contact Barbizon and they tell me to contact Chauvet who tells me to do a factory reset. I do, the problem persists and I send them in for repairs.
In the meantime I looked online and found some less than glowing reviews that basically point to major quality control issues.
So, they showed back up last week and I plugged them in on the ground and run them for an hour and then repeat the next day. Everything works fine except home is off on one of them.
I put them back up today and the one won't zoom. *rage*
So, I decide to make it work since I have a show on Thursday and I'll contact Chauvet on Friday.
Then the other one loses power. *double rage*

I'm really at a loss at this point. I typed a few emails to the guy at Chauvet who was facilitating my repairs, but I deleted them all until a later date when I've calmed down (and/or had a beer).
Has anyone else had any experience with these particular instruments?
Or Chauvet's repairs department?
Is it worth it to send them back again (and hope that they actually fix it this time because shipping isn't cheap)?
Should I request replacements?
Or, should I just chalk it up to "I bought a lemon" and try to return them for a refund before the year is up?

help.
 
What is your RMA number for these fixtures?
 
There is much to be desired about their DJ product line. That being said do you have clean power to the fixtures and have you had major storms since they went up. Fixutres don't just die after being up for 6 months unless you bought them second hand and they have been road hard.

They are discontinued so I would think returning them would be out of the question and unless you are married to keeping them operational. I would cut your losses and try to move them before the rest follow suit.
 
Amiers said:
There is much to be desired about their DJ product line. That being said do you have clean power to the fixtures and have you had major storms since they went up. Fixutres don't just die after being up for 6 months unless you bought them second hand and they have been road hard.

They are discontinued so I would think returning them would be out of the question and unless you are married to keeping them operational. I would cut your losses and try to move them before the rest follow suit.
Click to expand...

I had my doubts about it being their DJ line, but they're exactly what I needed in that space, so we figured, if we left them up and didn't touch them, maybe they'd last. I had our maintenance guy test the outlet, and he said everything looks fine. No major storms while they were plugged in, and the one that lost power is on the end of a chain of 3. And I bought them new through Barbizon.
 
Liama138,

According to our system, that RMA is for the Intimidator Wash Zoom 450 IRC - not the 350. The 450 replaced the 350 some time ago and continues to be a popular product in the industry. With that said, you should not be experiencing issues upon receiving your repaired item, and knowing the components inside are shared across multiple other fixtures, I think something else might be going on [specifically for the loss of power]. We use the same IEC socket in every single Intimidator model so kindly check your power cord, fuse, breaker panel, etc. If you are using the power linking feature, please also check that the previous fixture isn't losing power as well.

As it pertains to the bad zoom, our technician confirmed that unit with serial #08010983-0616220712 was re-calibrated, oiled and tested prior to shipping back. Would you like for us to repair this unit again [I will cover shipping both directions] or would you like to have this unit replaced?
 
Brentgi said:
Asking the obvious questions here...

Are you positive that it's not a DMX issue?
Click to expand...

Yes, I have all 6 in the dmx chain and these are the only two that are acting up and it's consistent to each of the bad fixtures.
The zoom issue was clearly mechanical. When I pulled it down to reset, you could hear it straining. It has three points that the lens zooms from, and only one of them was moving, but it can only go so far with the other two being frozen.
The other one has no power,but the dmx is passing through it to the rest without a problem.
 
Allan said:
Liama138,

According to our system, that RMA is for the Intimidator Wash Zoom 450 IRC - not the 350. The 450 replaced the 350 some time ago and continues to be a popular product in the industry. With that said, you should not be experiencing issues upon receiving your repaired item, and knowing the components inside are shared across multiple other fixtures, I think something else might be going on [specifically for the loss of power]. We use the same IEC socket in every single Intimidator model so kindly check your power cord, fuse, breaker panel, etc. If you are using the power linking feature, please also check that the previous fixture isn't losing power as well.

As it pertains to the bad zoom, our technician confirmed that unit with serial #08010983-0616220712 was re-calibrated, oiled and tested prior to shipping back. Can you send a video of the problem you are experiencing so I can try to help further?
Click to expand...

It is the 450, I hit the wrong button when I was searching for the link.

They are power linked, and the previous two fixtures are fine. I swapped IECs and checked the fuse and the problem persisted. The housing for the fuse seemed to be poorly seated and I noted that on the description of the problem that I sent with the fixture when I returned it.

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Have you terminated the line? I get some weird things randomly showing up even after months of no issues sometimes and terminating sometimes will fix them. Also, do the units stay powered on?

Personally, I'm a fan of whatever works rather than being a brand loyalist, that being said Chauvet and Blizzard tend to be the first companies I go to. If those Chauvets keep giving you trouble check out Blizzard, they also come with a 2-year warrany, and they are in a similar price bracket. I would suggest something in the stiletto series.

You need your lights to work, maybe send them back one more time if you can get them to pay for shipping since the issue is the same as the issue you already paid the shipping for. But it's not worth the effort nor the continued cost of shipping to continue dealing with a broken product.
 
As it pertains to the bad zoom, our technician confirmed that unit with serial #08010983-0616220712 was re-calibrated, oiled and tested prior to shipping back. Would you like for us to repair this unit again [I will cover shipping both directions] or would you like to have this unit replaced?
 
Would you like for us to repair this unit again [I will cover shipping both directions] or would you like to have this unit replaced?
 
One the one that will not power up. Pull the fuse holder out and reseat it. There are some of those fuse holders that just don't seat right, not on that specific fixture, but I have seen it before. Sometimes you just push on it and wiggle your finger, and it will re-connect.
 
I have had very good luck with Chauvet service getting back to me for as long as I've been dealing with them, which has been about 4 years. However, you have *got* to communicate with them. I was a lead moving light tech in a rental house with about 500 moving lights from many manufacturers, and I received about as good service from Chauvet as I did others. With Philips buying out V*L and Harman buying out Martin the service level at both of those companies went down the tubes. With any manufacturer though, the most important thing though was to talk to them. Get someone on the phone, and if they don't give you the right answer, get someone else on the phone.

One thing that I want to clear up is that people expect that the higher level manufacturers have all good products and don't have issues like this. I'm not going to throw out specifics but I can tell you 110% that I've had much bigger problems - from QC to just continual massive issues across entire batches of fixtures - with top level manufacturers. Even how they're constructed. For instance, the lamp sensor wire on one particularly popular fixture was pulled too closely in a loop thru ferrite donut and when it pulled out of its connector the lamp wouldn't turn on and it threw an error. You had to open up the base and clip the zip tie at the ferrite donut and get more wire thru on the lamp sensor wire. Massive PITA, especially across a large number of units. Or another fixture from one manufacturer that required three or four fairly large parts swap-outs because they didn't finish engineering the darn thing before they released it. And that still didn't fix many of the problems.
 
Allan said:
As it pertains to the bad zoom, our technician confirmed that unit with serial #08010983-0616220712 was re-calibrated, oiled and tested prior to shipping back. Would you like for us to repair this unit again [I will cover shipping both directions] or would you like to have this unit replaced?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I was out of the office last week and didn't see the replies.

Given that the other 4 units work perfectly, and I've already sent these units in once, I'd feel more comfortable with replacements. I just want this done, you know.
Your statement above says you'd cover shipping and replacement for one, but would you replace the other as well? I could probably fiddle with the fuse and get it working again, but I wouldn't feel confident in that fix and given that these hang in a place where only 2 people in the building are tall enough to safely reach them with a 12' ladder (and I'm not one of them). So, fiddling with them on a regular basis isn't really an option. Like I said, I just want this done.
Thanks.
 
@Liama138 Chauvet / @Allan is should respond fairly quickly, BUT, Chauvet is in Florida, right in the path of Irma at the moment. Just FYI.
 
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