Automated Fixtures VL1000 shutter issue, please help!

[Sean Tait]

I couldn't find this anywhere online, so I figured I'd ask here. One of the VL1000s we are running is having an issue I have never encountered before.

When the fixture first lamps on, all shutters work beautifully (as beautiful as a VL1000 can run). After the lamp has been on for roughly five minutes or so, the shutter in the assembly closest to the lamp housing begins to be jumpy then refuses to open up at all.

Steps taken to repair:
-We swapped out entire shutter assembly from a parts fixture (no whole spare fixtures to swap). Problem persisted.
-We swapped out the thin layer between individual shutters that acts as a sort of slick buffer. Problem persisted.
-All motors are confirmed working.

Any insight at all would be more than appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[RonHebbard]

I couldn't find this anywhere online, so I figured I'd ask here. One of the VL1000s we are running is having an issue I have never encountered before.

When the fixture first lamps on, all shutters work beautifully (as beautiful as a VL1000 can run). After the lamp has been on for roughly five minutes or so, the shutter in the assembly closest to the lamp housing begins to be jumpy then refuses to open up at all.

Steps taken to repair:
-We swapped out entire shutter assembly from a parts fixture (no whole spare fixtures to swap). Problem persisted.
-We swapped out the thin layer between individual shutters that acts as a sort of slick buffer. Problem persisted.
-All motors are confirmed working.

Any insight at all would be more than appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Hello Sean;

I've never been inside a VL1000 in my life but as you've proven two complete shutter assemblies exhibit identical behavior it stands to reason your problem is further back in the controls. Are the control electronics modular? If so, can you identify the electronics that control the motor in question and swap the module for one from your parts fixture?

Are there any internal connectors that may be flexing as they warm leading to less than perfect contact?
Sometimes, during operation, you can gently prod items; connectors, parts, socketed IC's, etcetera, with a non-conductive item in an attempt to identify the problem area. Another alternative is a heat-shrink gun on fan-only to blow cooler air on specific locations to see if momentarily reducing the temperature can lead you in the right direction.
Tracking intermittents can be frustrating, bet you know that already.

Sorry to be less than zero help.

Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[jxgriffi]

I couldn't find this anywhere online, so I figured I'd ask here. One of the VL1000s we are running is having an issue I have never encountered before.

When the fixture first lamps on, all shutters work beautifully (as beautiful as a VL1000 can run). After the lamp has been on for roughly five minutes or so, the shutter in the assembly closest to the lamp housing begins to be jumpy then refuses to open up at all.

Steps taken to repair:
-We swapped out entire shutter assembly from a parts fixture (no whole spare fixtures to swap). Problem persisted.
-We swapped out the thin layer between individual shutters that acts as a sort of slick buffer. Problem persisted.
-All motors are confirmed working.

Any insight at all would be more than appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

You didn't mention if they are AS units or DS units. I'm going to assume AS as you said "lamp has been on…"

Depending on the age of the VL1000, you probably need to re-seat the driver chips. As you have already gone through the first steps with the shutter assembly itself, I'm leaning towards the driver chips. The older VL1000's did not have soldered driver chips and occasionally, you need to take the heatsink off and re-seat them. They changed the design in the new 1000's and 1100's to go to a soldered chip. This is something I now do on a normal PM schedule.

Open the arm with the LCD display.
Remove the main PCB
Flip it over and you will see a large heat sink held in by 6 screws
Remove the screws and pry off the heat sink. This will probably end up removing quite a few driver chips on the PCB.
Re-seat all the driver chips (CAREFULLY aligning the chips…yeah, made that mistake once)
Go through AGAIN and make sure all the chips are seated fully. Sometimes, I just go ahead and pull them all one at a time and re-seat them
Reassemble the heatsink and PCB.

If you have soldered chips, I'm not sure and might need a call to VL tech support.

J

 

[MikeJ]

If you want to poke things while the fixture is on, order Chinese food; chopsticks work well for this.

 

[LightingGuy89]

What console are you using? As I agree it is most likely a gear issue, don't rule out faulty programming. Did you accidentally program a "home" preset that is sending this signal to the light? I had somebody program a fixture global reset command into a cue one-time and it tracked through my whole show. Couldn't for the life of me figure out why the same fixture kept re-homing every 45 seconds.

 

[JD]

Could be something as simple as bench focus. If the lamp/reflector is producing a hot spot there could be a mechanical warp taking place that is causing a bind. You changed out the shutters so look at the set you pulled for any sign of heating. Here's something to try- Strike up the lamp and run the unit for 10 minutes with the shutter open. (as well as all the other gates; color, gobo, etc.) Do you still have the shutter problem? Yes = electronics, No = heat/mechanical.

 

[PeteEngel]

This isn't a specific repair suggestion, but it sounds like whatever is the issue it is heat related. Someone mentioned the driver card. That is a good place to start. A trace or wire may be partially broken and the issue shows up when it heats up... Good Luck.