19/12/2016
Few days before Christmas holidays!
It's been six months since I got that desired model and until nowadays, I have finished 2 of 4. Now I am working on the third one.
It's been an exciting journey! The first 2 repairs were successsful and the lights are working properly.
Two of them will have and MSD / HSD 250 Watt lamp,
while the other two will be an ECO version with a Master Colour CDM 150 Watt lamp, 9000 hours of life.
The brightness is very satisfying in the ECO version too!
In the following sections I will write details about their restoration.
I never ever had so much work to do with old fixtures! I finished the repair of 4 fixtures after 11 months. The scanners were in very bad condition, which for once more, make me thought that maybe it was out of my abilities to bring back in a shiny new state. But patience and hard work brought impressive results! Of course, there are marks of their past, but this is something that I doesn't bother me.
The fixtures belonged in the first generation of Euroscan scanners, made in Greece, probably at the beginning of 90's, end of 80's. It was 1991 when I first saw that particular model, so I can only guess when exactly these scanners were being produced. The scanner features 5 colours and 5 gobos and I know at least, two versions, with different lamps. One with the classic HTI400 lamp, with the reflector and another with the ERV 36 Volt 340 Watt lamp.
Even though I was a kid when I was visiting the club in Antiparos, I remember clearly the massive light output that the HTI400 lamp offered and how vivid the colours were being reproduced. The scanners I recovered had the halogen lamp light source. The transformer was heavier than a metal halide lamp ballast! From the four lights I've made two versions: Two scanners with an MSD250 lamp and other two with CDM 150 lamp. Both versions are having high light output, due to large diameter aperture, lens and new reflectors.
I learned much more about electronics, while working with that model. The architecture is very simple and I was able with my basic knowledge to find and repair any malfunction. Micromotors with gearboxes are used for the wheels, shutter and the mirror. Trimmers from Bourns are used for position feedback and the classic TDA2030V transistor for controlling the motors speed and direction!
I replaced all the crucial parts, like capacitors, zener diodes, voltage regulators and the operational amplifiers, with 100% repair success!