Technical Question,,,,connecting two 110v lights in Series ???

[jeff wood]

This may seem a crazy question,,

But anyone know if you can connect two 110v discharge lighting effects in Series, and then just connect to the mains ?

The lights in question are Martin EFX700's , US Models, 110v.

Now I know it probably would be fine if they were halogens,, but being discharge it makes it more complicated.

I suppose theres only really one to find out though :eek:

[DJ Jules]

I suppose theres only really one to find out though :eek:

Err. Don't do it? I'd do it with just pure Halogen lamps with a fixed current draw and resistance, but any kind of lighting with electronic control (i.e. any kind of intelligent lighting fixture) will vary the amount of power it's drawing compared to the other fixture it's in series with, which will vary the voltage being presented to the lights.

In short, if the lamp turned off in one fixture, it'd find itself being presented with almost the full 240v. Game over for that fixture...

Just buy the step down transformers (or sell them to an american :D )

Julian

[jeff wood]

Thanks Jules..

I have got step down transformers,, just thought I'd ask about Series.

[Jiggles]

The wiring for it also will be dangerous no doubt too.

[Excalibur]

This may seem a crazy question,,

But anyone know if you can connect two 110v discharge lighting effects in Series, and then just connect to the mains ?

The lights in question are Martin EFX700's , US Models, 110v.

Now I know it probably would be fine if they were halogens,, but being discharge it makes it more complicated.

I suppose theres only really one to find out though :eek:

I'd guess ( guess mind ) that it would be easier to change the internal transformers , or possibly there's even a 240v input unused on them? It wouldn't be unknown.

[Get Me A DJ]

I'd guess ( guess mind ) that it would be easier to change the internal transformers , or possibly there's even a 240v input unused on them? It wouldn't be unknown.

Very messy, and you need to know what your doing.

The easiest (and possibly the cheapest) is to buy a 110v transformer pack (the yellow cased ones used on sites) and plug the effects into there.
I know it's a pain in the a**e carrying it around but it's the safest.
Your health and safety is more important than a lighting effect.

Kev

[jeff wood]

Cheers everyone,,

Its no big deal, ive already got some decent transformers,

And its not possible to convert these, because the main pcb is different,, and the mains voltages goes in and out of the pcb, something to do with striking the lamp.



http://i.ebayimg.com/07/!BvVcVtQCWk~$(KGrHqQOKigEwPnbKQpVBMEJfW7oew~~_35.J PG

[Excalibur]

Very messy, and you need to know what your doing.
No arguments there. I still see no reason why it isn't theoretically possible to replace these with 240v units with the same output voltage though.


The easiest (and possibly the cheapest) is to buy a 110v transformer pack (the yellow cased ones used on sites) and plug the effects into there.
I know it's a pain in the a**e carrying it around but it's the safest.
Your health and safety is more important than a lighting effect.

Kev
Mine's red. :p :D :D :D :D :D :D

[jeff wood]

That one ive got is better really than a site transformer as its a torroidal, so smaller and lighter, its 2kva, so powerful enough

[Get Me A DJ]

No arguments there. I still see no reason why it isn't theoretically possible to replace these with 240v units with the same output voltage though.

Mine's red. :p :D :D :D :D :D :D

OK show off :p :D

[DJ Jules]

Cheers everyone,,

Its no big deal, ive already got some decent transformers,

And its not possible to convert these, because the main pcb is different,, and the mains voltages goes in and out of the pcb, something to do with striking the lamp.


Interesting... usually the wiring/transformer for the lamp is separate to the control, but obviously varies from make to make. What you typically see on them is that the transformer has two primary windings which you connect in parallel for 120v operation or in series for 240v - but it does depend on the manufacturer, the transformer, etc etc - and it isn't always easy to see where the wires are either. If the unit uses a switch mode power supply (which I wouldn't expect to see with a discharge lamp) then it could actually be auto-ranging (i.e. work quite happily from any voltage from 110-240v) but they'd usually print that on the unit if it was the case.

Unfortunately looking at the Martin spec's (http://martin.com/spec/compositespec.asp?pp=1&popspec=1&extratext=on&bullets=on&photo=on&region=US&lang=0&product=maniaefx600) it looks like they make a EU unit and a US unit with different transformers (UK unit is 14.5Kg and US is 16.5Kg)

Julian

[jeff wood]

Yes its a bit odd,,,

To be honest, I bought these as they were a good deal, worked out at £370 each. And I noticed the weight difference, and I assumed that Martin must simply added a step up transformer to the US models, and thats where the extra weight came in.

So I thought it would just be a simple case of removing and bypassing that transformer,

However,,its not as simple as that, yes there is an extra step up transformer which explains the weight, but, strangely the main pcb is different, and the wiring is a bit different,,

Ive compared one of these and a UK EFX600, so I could see the differences clearly.

I suppose I could take a gamble on one and bypass the step down transformer.

And also there is another transformer for the low voltage side, and that can be configured to 220v (its got two 110v primarys )


What I'd be concerned about is that the PCB currently has 110v in parts of it,,so are there components on it that might get upset if they saw 220v?

[Get Me A DJ]

Yes its a bit odd,,,

To be honest, I bought these as they were a good deal, worked out at £370 each. And I noticed the weight difference, and I assumed that Martin must simply added a step up transformer to the US models, and thats where the extra weight came in.

So I thought it would just be a simple case of removing and bypassing that transformer,

However,,its not as simple as that, yes there is an extra step up transformer which explains the weight, but, strangely the main pcb is different, and the wiring is a bit different,,

Ive compared one of these and a UK EFX600, so I could see the differences clearly.

I suppose I could take a gamble on one and bypass the step down transformer.

And also there is another transformer for the low voltage side, and that can be configured to 220v (its got two 110v primarys )


What I'd be concerned about is that the PCB currently has 110v in parts of it,,so are there components on it that might get upset if they saw 220v?

My opinion Jeff is to leave well alone if your unsure of the layout of the unit.
If something was to go wrong with the rewire, your life is more important than a lighting effect trust me ;)