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Old 2nd April 2012, 10:50 AM
Neil Smith Neil Smith is offline
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Default Laborator 1200 Multigrade Controller Question

Im hoping some of the more technically minded people here might be able to help with a question regarding the Multigrade 500 controller for my Durst 1200.

I have mentioned here in the past that I was having damp problems with my darkroom. During the course of the problems my controller for the Durst seemed to succumb to the damp and the electronics started to do weird things, like changing the settings itself and eventually continually changing whilst making a beeping noise. I dried it out but it would work for up to an hour before it did it again, so I assumed it was dead (It did this for months).

Because of the problems in the darkroom I moved all the equipment into the house for safe keeping. I decided to check out the Durst and the Multigrade 500 system in particular with a view to selling it in the future. On testing the system it seems to work perfectly and no matter what I do, leaving it heat up ( which in the past is when it seemed to go wrong) changing the settings frequently. The Multigrade controller seems to work perfectly?

My question. Is there a chance that the power supply to my shed/ darkroom might have caused the problem? The power was supplied by a 50m extension cable plugged into a socket in the house, via an RCD. Inside the shed the power sockets where fixed as they would be in a house (twin and earth cable) but where then plugged into the extension drum via a 3pin plug.

Am I correct in thinking that the Durst 500s power supply did not need a stabilised transformer or could this be the problem.

It did seem to work fine when it was first used in the darkroom, and it only started playing up when I had the damp problems.

Neil
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Old 2nd April 2012, 09:15 PM
mpirie mpirie is offline
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Neil,

As far as I know, the Multigrade power supply does not need it's own stabilised supply. All the PSU is is a large transformer capable of running 2x300w lamps at 24v as well as the controller unit/probe etc.

I suspect your problem may be caused by the damp affecting the micro switches and membrane surfaces of the controller causing corrosion. A change in temperature may also contribute if you have a dry solder joint for example.

Although I haven't done it myself, I'm sure the controller will come apart sufficiently for you to check for corrosion and to allow the contacts/switches to be cleaned or for dry solder joints to be identified.

Mike
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Old 2nd April 2012, 09:53 PM
Neil Smith Neil Smith is offline
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Thanks for the input I will check for any corrosion or other problem.

I checked the booklet after posting and it did state that if your power supply was not reliable, Durst recommends a stabalised transformer.

I run the enlarger all day without any problem with the controller so fingers crossed it seems fine, but I will check further to be sure.

Neil
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Old 3rd April 2012, 10:34 AM
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RH Designs RH Designs is offline
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The Ilford 500S includes a stabiliser. You can not substitute any other transformer for it, there's a considerable amount of electronics in there which interface to the controller and provide variable power levels to the lamps (like a big dimmer switch). It's some time since I saw the internals of the controller but iirc there are some plug-in chips in there. They would probably benefit from re-seating in their sockets as they often cause trouble if there's any damp or condensation about.

As you've got an Ilford Multigrade 500 system, any references to lamps, power supplies, transformers etc in the Durst handbook are most probably irrelevant because the Ilford system replaces all of that stuff.
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Old 3rd April 2012, 10:41 AM
Neil Smith Neil Smith is offline
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The references to the system I read were for the Multigrade 500 system not any other I think. I'm on the train but I will check when I get home tomorrow.

Neil
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