Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Lighting => Topic started by: jazzy on May 22, 2016, 07:16:27 pm

Title: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: jazzy on May 22, 2016, 07:16:27 pm

Is it possible to mix Broncolor flash tubes and lamp base rating, as long as I stay within the limit of either the tube or the lamp base (whichever lower)? For example 3200J tube into Pulso 2/F2 lamp base or 1600J tube into Pulso 4/F4 lamp base.

Does the Pulso G take either 1600J and 3200J tubes without limitation? I'm asking because I have some Pulso G but the connection is label 1600J specificially, so just want to make sure before I upgrade to 3200J tubes.

Thanks everyone.
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: gazwas on May 23, 2016, 06:13:19 am
bron lamp bases are exactly the same and only the tube rating differ. However, even flashing 3200j into a 1600j tube won't damage (blow) it, only shorten it's life if done regularly. 

When you buy new replacement bron flash tubes you also get two small rating stickers to replace the ones already on the head and cable plug if they differ.
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: calindustries on May 24, 2016, 07:12:30 am
Are there any benefits (other than price) to a 1600 tube?
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: gazwas on May 24, 2016, 07:34:23 am
Tubes are identical and only differ in power rating. All modern bron tubes (for pulso/unilite) have a star printed on the ceramic base dictating they are beefed up to withstand repeated multi high speed flashes of modern bron packs so worth considering if going after market. 
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: UlfKrentz on May 24, 2016, 07:55:35 am
Are there any benefits (other than price) to a 1600 tube?

No.
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: UlfKrentz on May 24, 2016, 08:05:38 am
bron lamp bases are exactly the same and only the tube rating differ. However, even flashing 3200j into a 1600j tube won't damage (blow) it, only shorten it's life if done regularly. 

When you buy new replacement bron flash tubes you also get two small rating stickers to replace the ones already on the head and cable plug if they differ.

While it usually won´t blow the tube straight away when it accidentally happens it will shorten lamp life significantly and should be avoided. The lamp base itself is indeed identical, the only difference is the coding resistor which used to limit max power to 1600J on some legacy packs. AFAIK none of the modern packs still read the value so it will be possible to overpower the 1600J tube, be warned.
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: jazzy on May 24, 2016, 05:15:34 pm
Hi Ulf, yes I'm aware of that.

So for all practical purposes, with modern pack, F2 and F4 are exactly the same? And I can plug a 3200J tube into F2 and use at full power without a problem yes?
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: UlfKrentz on May 24, 2016, 05:59:10 pm
Absolutely, yes.
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: jazzy on May 26, 2016, 11:48:47 am

Thanks Ulf and gazwas.

One more question, is the fan inside the Pulso 2/4 the same as Pulso F/G?

I have a Pulso F with a fan failure and thinking maybe I will try to replace with a fan from Pulso 2, is it a straight forward job to do?
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: UlfKrentz on May 26, 2016, 05:56:31 pm
Thanks Ulf and gazwas.

One more question, is the fan inside the Pulso 2/4 the same as Pulso F/G?

I have a Pulso F with a fan failure and thinking maybe I will try to replace with a fan from Pulso 2, is it a straight forward job to do?

Unfortunately the fans for Pulso F lamp bases are no longer available from broncolor. I don´t know if the Pulso fans are identical to Pulso F fans but would suspect so. Should be easy enough to take a look and check, though. The cables of the fan are not soldered (just a small connector) and two screws for the fan. The suggested procedure would be to replace the entire pcb, fan mount and fan. It is not much more expensive than the original fan and upgrades your head to the "G" model, which is multi voltage. HTH.

Cheers
Ulf
Title: Re: Broncolor lamp base rating
Post by: frfr on June 04, 2016, 09:39:21 am
I have replaced the broken fan of an F2 with another F2's fan, it was quite easy. As Ulf said, just a connector and 2 screws to take it off. I didn't change anything else than that and it was fine. The case of the lamp is easy to open (4 screws) but it is tricky to put it back together. Everything needs to clip together at the same time when you put back both parts together. Might take a while to do so but doable.