VL2500 Ballasts...

[Mike808]

So the company that I work for has 26 VL2500 spots. Twenty-four were manufactured late in 2006 and 2 in early 2008. So far I have replaced/repaired 15 ballasts, some within the first 4 months of their life. That was all well and good for the first year while they were under warranty but now it is $250 plus freight (to/from Hawaii!) every time this happens. I am just wondering if anyone else may have encountered similar issues.

I am not particularly open to the fact we have been doing something wrong to make them exhibit this behavior... However I could be horribly wrong. They get bounced around in shipping containers put on almost every show so they get some abuse. But this is a moving light that is supposed to be able to withstand the life of a road whore. This post is out of frustration mostly. Its not my money being spent to fix them but it is probably the most pain in the ass repair you can do on one of these fixtures.

Any input is appreciated....

 

[LuxMax]

VL2500s are typically pretty robust, especially the lamp electronics. I have 8 VL2500s from 2008 with 4000+ hrs on them and I've only had color wheel sesnor problems and a few bad pan belts.
What repairs have you made to the ballasts to get them working agin?

 

[theatre4jc]

Never had any bad ballasts on 2500s but did just have one on a 3500. Aside from having my MCBs failing I've had no real issues, a belt here and there, but nothing big.

 

[Mike808]

Max, I haven't performed the ballast repair myself beyond removing the bad and reinstalling a repaired unit. I leave the repairs up to the ballast manufacture who does it through Varilite for $250. Those ballasts are sealed and I wouldn't recommend trying to work on them yourself without some pretty advanced electrical expertise... Which I am lacking.

 

[LuxMax]

Could it be the higher relative humidity and/or rapid temp changes (from hot truck to air conditioned venue, for example)?

 

[LampieTheClown]

Can you describe the failure?
Does it happen on cold start, or after warm-up?
Is it violent or gradual?
Have any of the 2500s required more than one fix, or is it one per light, then they are OK?

Just knowing that the ballast failed, without knowing what "failed" means in this instance, or what is done to repair it, doesn't give much to go on. Is it a Vari-lite ballast or is it made by the vendor who fixes it?

 

[rsmentele]

I have also run into the ballast problem.

We bought our 2500's in '05 and after a few months of use we had two go out within a month of each other, luckily still in the warrenty period... Now, about five years later, I just had another one go out unexplainably... Not sure why either.

I have also had a couple color mixing sensors go out. But other than that nothing terrible...

 

[Boardrepairs]

Hi all, I am new on here, but I used to work for VL in London. I now have a business fixing VL and other electronic ballasts. I noticed that your lights were manufactured just before the new type caged ballasts came in. The type that you should have is the older type open top with a small rider card. If the ones that you have are from the batch that I think they are the you will have a component on them called a DC-DC converter. This is a black box type part with a label on the top next to the 24v input pins. If yours says Kiec on it then you need to get it changed as these are known to fail. They had a bad batch in the factory. I always change these out even if they are still working. There are also some other modifications to do that will make them much more reliable, but this would explain the high number of issues. VL will now try to make you buy an upgrade to the new type ballast, but my personal opinion is don't do it. The older type are much easier to fix, and cheaper.

 

[Luc B]

So the company that I work for has 26 VL2500 spots. Twenty-four were manufactured late in 2006 and 2 in early 2008. So far I have replaced/repaired 15 ballasts, some within the first 4 months of their life. That was all well and good for the first year while they were under warranty but now it is $250 plus freight (to/from Hawaii!) every time this happens. I am just wondering if anyone else may have encountered similar issues.

I am not particularly open to the fact we have been doing something wrong to make them exhibit this behavior... However I could be horribly wrong. They get bounced around in shipping containers put on almost every show so they get some abuse. But this is a moving light that is supposed to be able to withstand the life of a road whore. This post is out of frustration mostly. Its not my money being spent to fix them but it is probably the most pain in the ass repair you can do on one of these fixtures.

Any input is appreciated....

Hello Mike,
I am pro repair man in Belgium for ex given this ballast types, old (open) and new(from2006 of) closed types. Vl2500,3000,3500 and HES systems 575,,,and pro audio gear. The closed types are very weak when overvoltage has occured , very difficult repair but possible to repair by whom they examined he internal circuitery. (no schematics were given , even at the distributor!) , so out of warranty, send them to me (overseas transport?) in case of. Sometimes they are fallen out by a bad component during the fabrication (in China). Only for specialists in this matery.
Regards, Luc
Beta repair (Belgium)