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View Full Version : Acme Winner Cooling Fan phenomenum



jx305
08-05-2007, 12:09 PM
Hello all!, I was wondering if anyone with said fixture encounted their cooling fan die on them? I didnt notice untill I had the CONE GOBO with UV Colour on for only a few seconds and had the colour blister up on me into a pinkish splat in the middle with only some uv left around the edge!!!! you can imagine how my heart fell into a pit of depression after spending my many simoleons on the unit and being on a low budget, I wasnt sending it back (as I ordered online) so I replaced the fan with a cool red led PC fan. No easy task - the unit had to be physically stripped down to the boards, metal frame everywhere, boards unplugged, wires, motors, wheels etc.. But since replacing the fan im now a little wary about how long i leave the unit left switched on for. What id like to know as i cant find the relevent info is--

1) Is this a common fault (fan dieing) ?
2) Is there a duty cycle for a Winner (how long can it be left on for) ?
3) Is the colour wheel replaceable with a similar one?
4) assuming the wheel had same sized colour discs and same number could i get a salvaged one from a similar scanner?
5) Are the colours dichroic (as stated on the manufacturers site) or simply colured glass? I only ask this cause I thought dichroic filters were fade resistant???
6) again on colour, should my uv purple have blistered in this way, will any of the other colours suffer the same fate if left on with cone or other shapes? is there a limit to how long colour+gobo should be left on for? I avoid it now at all costs and mainly stick to fully open gobo with no colour as im scared stiff of killing the other colours. I tested the cone and uv under duress by just simply leaving them in that state for about 10 minutes. the colour didnt get any worse so do you think iv solved the cooling problem or should i find a better cooling solution to a pc fan?
very sorry for so many questions i swear this wont happen again if these get answered. I will concentrate on helping others if i feel i can. Im so new to dmx scanners and never gave it a second thought as you never see a MAC 500 blister up on TV and there left in dark blues with gobos for hours on tv!!

DMX Will
08-05-2007, 03:42 PM
I think you'll find the reason the colour "blistered" is because due to the lack of cooling, the glass (that makes the colour) burnt up. UV is a specialist colour, if a colour and because of its properties, it's obviously easier to burn out.

The Winners can be left on all night to be honest, personally wouldn't expect anymore than 4 hours at a time, but if your looking into DMX you could easily work in a switch off for 5 minutes every hour or so.

You don't see a Mac burn out because it uses higher quality componments than your average Acme fixture.

jx305
16-05-2007, 02:43 PM
Cheers matey, you have saved my bacon once again :D Truth be known I got really paranoid about cooling and wired up some old pc fans to an old cordless telephone transformer running at 10v, stuck some magnetic stips on them and now cool my njd sword at both ends, and the mini bar from the back. Interestingly the NJD brochure says the sword is fan cooled, yet mine didn't contain ANY fans whatsoever, so i was either fleeced or they wrongly printed the info. That bugger gets quite hot with its 200ish Watt bulbs but with the fans magneticly stuck to its inlet fins on either side stays quite touchable. Beauty is I can leave the fans on after the units are off to give the bulbs time to cool off before moving, and also smoke is pulled towards the fans and blows it from the front where the beams emit! kinda cool :) Again thanks for reply, your a genious :)


I think you'll find the reason the colour "blistered" is because due to the lack of cooling, the glass (that makes the colour) burnt up. UV is a specialist colour, if a colour and because of its properties, it's obviously easier to burn out.

The Winners can be left on all night to be honest, personally wouldn't expect anymore than 4 hours at a time, but if your looking into DMX you could easily work in a switch off for 5 minutes every hour or so.

You don't see a Mac burn out because it uses higher quality componments than your average Acme fixture.