Source Four and Revolution

A film question

usesafesets — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:24:50 GMT

On may of the motion picture projects that I have worked on recently I have seen an increase in S4 fixtures geing used in the Gaffer's arsenal. I am curious to know if ETC has ever looked into making a some options for the S4 (par and leko) that will make is more 'film' friendly. If shops chould get the fixture form the factory with a 1 1/8" (sinior) pin on it rather then a standard C-clam that would be a step in the right direction. The ability to get the fixtures with a longer tale made of SO (or similar cord set used on film heads) with a switch in-line, would be amaxing. And if there could be a set of scrims made for the fixtures tha would also be great. And possibly an insert fo the color frame slot that would provide better attachment of color with C-47's. Now that would be hot.

I know that all of these things can be piecemealed together, but if they were available form the company tha would be amazing for us gys and galls that use a lot of S4 for motion picture work.

Multi Pars

quandt — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:54:55 GMT

I'm about to use multiPAR strip lights for the first time on a cyc that is 30 feet high. I'm curious what experiences people have had trying to get as even a field from top to bottom.

Some questions: whats the optimum distance from the units to the cyc, is closer better or does distance help?

Beam angle, MFL, WFL, VWFL?

Any info appreciated.

Thanks

Stephen

The first thing I saw when I rolled into Cedar City Utah for the High School Shakespeare Competition....

jmcgregor — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:39:23 GMT

As I walked up the stairs to my hotel room, this is what I saw:

Recognizing a familiar shape, I went in for a closer look:

And now I know how to secure a source four to a hotel balcony railing:

Bungie cords to the rescue! Long live the Source 4!!!!!

What's in a name?

Pat Immel — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:59:51 GMT

Hello All,

I had a student ask me today why a Source 4 is called "Source 4". Can anybody help me with this at it is now driving me crazy!

Pat

Need help replacing reflector

johnlott — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:07:16 GMT

I have a reflector on a source 4 elipsoidal with a big ole crack in it and need to change it out. I however have not found any documentation to help with the process. I would greatly appreciate any help here.

Source 4 Par EA 575w or 750w

vtownpro — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:36:33 GMT

Are there two versions of the S4 Par EA? I have some with 750 on the rear cap and others blank.

Source 4 Maintenance Schedule.

rhdgs — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:55:02 GMT

So I work at an outdoor theater in southern california. I have come to the end of what I can deal with fixing our old fixtures and have gotten preliminary approval to purchase about 18 S4 next before the next summer season. With additional purchases being made in the future.

My question is this...

Since the lights will be outdoors from June - August each year. I talked to a friend who used to lone fixtures to another outdoor theater in the area and he said he would get 3 - 5 years before having to rebuild S4 Pars.

Should I advise a 4 year maintenance schedule? I read in the knowledge base that the shutters of a S4 ellipsoidal should be cleaned with steal wool and the shutter divider plates should be replaced when the shutters get sticky. Should this be on the same 4 year schedule or on an 8 year schedule? I know the exact environmental factors will play a role so I am just trying to get an idea of a maintenance schedule so I don't end up with the mess I have now (a pile of non working non maintained fixtures).

Also I have only performed basic maintenance on the S4, how much time (per ellipsoidal) should I budget for a basic rebuild (lamp base and shutter) and cleaning?

It may seem a bit anal but the theater has been doing shows for the past 85 years and the last time they purchased new lights was about 1985 and I would like this purchase to serve for at least the next 25 years.

Thanks for the help. And for making the best damn light.... well ever!

Problems with Revolution

Pedro Alves — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:00:22 GMT

We've got 10 ETC REVOLUTION and 2 are giving some problems now.

One it's with the scroller. It has 16 color gel plus the leader and trailer and now it began to not put the color that I choose to use. When I power on it do the all routine and at the end doesn't go to the beginning of the gel string ( normally on the power on all the Revolution goes to home attributes). The problem isn't with the scoller cause I change it to another Revolution and it works fine and the other scoller that was working well until that moment shows the same problem.

Is there a way to do maintenance on the place were the scroller cartridge goes on??? maybe the problem it's over there.

The other Revolution it has personality. During the show it starts to do something like the reset but only to the intensity, focus and frost. It's bad cause it has sometimes the most important Revolution and we saw the lents going back and ear the IMF closing and openning and after this it goes to the pallete that it's on at that moment.

Can someone tell me if happens to anybody and how it's solve???

The biggest problem it's that they don't do this everytime. I can't say that it's because of that thing that both of this problems happers cause sometimes they work normally and suddenly it starts the problem. Never at the same time but sometime it looks that way. They are on to diffent bars and connect at 220v on diffent places.

Pedro Alves

Availible for ETC Source 4 14 degree?

asyzg — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:32:33 GMT

Dear All

Does anyone knows about when source 4 14 degree due out of market for Euro country?

Regards

Yang

Arcing base on Revolutions

khillstrom — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:31:56 GMT

I have recently been dealing with a really annoying arcing issue between my lamp base and my fixture bases in my revolutions.

In the last month I have gone through half a dozen new fixture bases, and the problem continues.

I am perpelexed as to the cause of this, havent really changed anything in the programming or the rig that could attribute to this problem. Anyone ever had this issue caused by a bad run of lamps?

I have a dozen revolutions in the rig, but I am having this issue with only 3 of the fixtures.

S4 H.I.D. recall

specialty equipment — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:14:44 GMT

I understand there is an ETC recall related to failing H.I.D. Source fours. Anyone had sucess in claiming a recall? How long is a ballast expected to last anyway? It seems crazy that you have to buy the entire "burner assembly" which is almost as expensive as a new instrument. Anyone else had problems with their H.I.D. units?

Source 4 temperatures

SBC — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:54:40 GMT

What is the surface temperature of a Source 4 ellipsoidal and PAR? Assuming a 750W lamp is used.

Revolution Burnt wiring harness leading to lamp

Bob Pierce — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:25:41 GMT

We were troubleshooting a lamp problem on one of our SourceFour Revolutions last night, and we found that it was related to a completely burnt off wire in the wiring harness right near the plugs that join the two portions of the harness near the module bays.

We had almost the exact same problem with our other revolution about 6 month ago - except that time the wires seemd to burn out in such a way that they arcked and sent sparks flying out the front of the fixture.

Has anyone else had problems with the Wiring harness in these fixtures? I believe these units are about 4 years old. They were demo units that we purchased from a dealer last summer. I'm hoping this may be a design flaw that has been fixed in recent verions and that there might be some upgraded parts we could install.

I really like these light - when they work. They are VERY nice. But the repairs are now getting frustrating, and I'm not sure how often these wiring harnesses are going to burn out like this. I've lost most of my confidence in them.

I'll try and post some pictures of the burnt wire soon so you can see what I'm talking about.

rental houses that have the revolution

lane@nike — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:03:48 GMT

i have the need to rent 8 revolutions for a week or so coming up next month, does anyone know who is carrying them in there rental stock??

i would also like to rent a couple ion consoles too but cant find a rental house the stocks them either.

Triming a S4

clayton.rodney — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:24:26 GMT

Hey,

So a few months ago I had a TD for a dance show through and he showed me a way to basically "reset" the trim on the S4 without having to mess around while the lamp is on. Of course I was tired and now when I am getting ready to do some lamp TLC (students can really mess up the trims and if I have to go through and trim ever lamp live it's going to take a long long time). I was wondering if anyone else knows of the "trick".

Thanks.

Multiplexing to Source 4 Jrs.???

John — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:28:14 GMT

We have source 4 jr's and was wondering if it's possible to multiplex them and if so, how?

Thank you

S4 Rev as followspot?

kirkfitz — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:16:05 GMT

I have any idea, and was wondering if anyone has some insight.

The Rev has smooth Pan / Tilt and the whole thing can be controlled from the console. Will there be any problems if I disconnect the pan and tilt motors and use it as a followspot? I've done this with Mac 2k's and attached a handle to to the back. Am I crazy for wanting to try this? Also note they will still be in a hanging position, and not set up like a normal followspot.

Kirk

Old Revolution, New Scroller

Jeff Mabray — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:33:29 GMT

Can an Old revolution be upgraded with a new scroller kit?

Just wasn't sure and was curious....

Revolution color scroller fan

Mat — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:56:21 GMT

Can someone tell me how the fan for the color scroller is controlled? We have the original style scrollers and are using a Congo for control. I can't seem to get the fans to turn on. The Congo profile says that the 14th DMX channel controls the fan, the manual says this is reserved and the Obsession II profile calls it color function. I haven't had a chance to check yet but I'm pretty sure the fans on the revolutions being controlled by the Obsession are working.

Thanks,
Mat

S4 Junior

RuiSenos — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:35:53 GMT

are you thinking about building a new source four junior projector with 15º - 30º lenses, because the S4 Zoom very large for the small rooms

thanks

Rui Senos

Older S4 has problems when in focus with a 36 degree

LMOCallaghan — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:23:38 GMT

I just started out at a new company and I've noticed that the older S4 fixtures are bleeding when you shutter the beam at a hard edge. It looks like the shadow of the tabs holding the lens inside the tube is showing up outside of the shutter cut. I also can't seem to get them to a nice uniform hard edge. I've gotten some of the fixtures to actually focus on all four tabs which seems wierd to me. Anything I can do to remedy this? I've tried using differect version of lens tubes and they all give me the bleed.

Thanks!

Liam

s4 elepisoidial issues

lane@nike — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:05:40 GMT

has anyone had problems with the hub, index casting part number 7060A3011? i have found that over time the threads of the casting will fuse in the threads of the hex nut that goes on it. this makes it imposible to properly adjust the lamp. has anyone at the factory noticed this?

my solution to this issue is to use a lubricant on the threads to keep them from fusing together. at first we used a high temp silicone, this didn't work very well and didn't solve the problem. next i tryed bosch point grese (bosch part number 5700 002 005) this is a product designed to stay put in distributors where if it got hot and ran it would short out the ignition system and stall the engine. i applyed this to fixtures a year ago and haven't had to drill out the casting on any that were treated. the grese does not run even with a 750 hpl pointed straight down for days at full. if the factory has a better fix, i will try it but for now i am treating my s4's like my porsche distributor.

Bench Focus Help

ldsfx — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:18:05 GMT

On a recent show, I was using one of my favorite colors, L200. It is a fairly saturate color, with 30% transmission rate. I have benched all of my Source 4's to the best of my ability (the field appears very even), yet after about 15 seconds of inserting the color to a 36 Deg. Source 4, the gel burns through in a semi-circle pattern on the top half of the cut. I immedately pulled the color and played with the bench focus knobs, but this problem persisted even after trying a new frame of color in a different orientation. I have never had a problem like this before with other saturate colors and other instruments at a different venue.

Are there procedures rcommended by ETC for benching a Source 4 across a wider field range? Or is there something wrong with my lens tube?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Revolution problems

Micke — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:45:42 GMT

Hi.

One of our Revolutions is acting a bit strange, it freezes everything but Pan and Tilt...is there anyone with an idea?? It´s getting a bit silly...

/Micke

Backatheatre/Gothenburg City Theatre

s4 rev a wybron scroller problem

HOB-A — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:25:59 GMT

Hello ETC..long time listener, first time caller here..

i have 5 s4 revolutions rev A with wybron. one of them only scrolls thru about half the gel string. the same fixture does this on a different wybron gel string as well...

these are in a club a i work at load primarily with high end fixtures, and we got these a few months ago, this problem started about a month later..

any help?

much appreciated.!