Revolution lamp contacts

Hi,

 We've had some problems with the lamp contacts on our revolutions arcing.  We have 4 revolutions and in the past couple of years I've had to replace the lamp contacts 3 times.  I can't tell for sure whether the problem is in the contacts or the lamp itself.  It seems that arcing is occurring and heating the contact on the lamp side enough that the metal from the lamp fuses with the contact and eventually develops a gap where the metal on the lamp contact bends and goes into the porcelain.  We always make sure the lamp is seated fully and check that the springs are still applying pressure to the connections.

 Is anyone else having this problem?  Does it seem likely that we got a bad batch of lamps or is it more of a design problem?

Thanks,
Mat

Hi Matt,

we did have one rare occasion of a few bad lamps on the other side of the world from you, but never

really heard of any bad series of lamps in the US. Do you still have the old lamps that were causing the

arching? If so, it would be good to see those lamps to ETC Tech Services - Middleton for examination. Any

pictures?

The design of the lamp and socket has worked perfect for years now around the world, so I doubt anything

is wrong with the design. And as long as you are seating the lamp correctly and completely into the socket,

arching shouldn't be occuring.

If you send me your email via the message function on here, I can get you in contact with Tech Services in the US.

They will be able to assist you further.

 

Thanks for contacting us about your concerns, and we will be glad to work with you to get things running more

smoothly on your end.

 

Til then, have a Happy Easter!

Unfortunately we've thrown out the bad lamps already but if it happens again I'll be sure to send them off to ETC.

We've never had that issue.. Are your using the 575W lamps? If your sure it's nothing else like the power supply then it sounds like the problem has to be the lamps.. Is there any smoke or anything?

I'm having a similar issue with 3 Source Fours. We are not sure if it's due to bad bulbs, but we've had three fixtures (two purchased a year apart from one).

 In fact, I need a good source for parts (hint hint - any ideas in the Southern California?)

 The gold contacts (part #W330-01) on all are shot, and the ceramic bracket (part #W330-02) on two are no good.

We never really thought it could be due to a bad bulb, so we never kept them around.

No the Revolution lamps are 750watt. (QXL 750w/77v)  We don't use the longlife ones either.  If no one else is having the problem I could believe it's a bad batch of lamps since we're still going through the spares we purchased when we got the fixtures.  I'll just be waiting to see if it happens again so I can send one off to ETC.  In the meantime I've gotten much quicker at putting the lamp base assembly back together.