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Old 27th April 2011, 02:26 PM
PavelDerka PavelDerka is offline
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Default Ilford 500H & Analyzer issues solved.

I thought I would start another thread but this is a response to Vicki's thread about issues with our new Analyzer 500.

We had marvelous results for two to five prints and then always a print or two that made no sense. Working without the F stop feature with the old Ilford control pad always worked but I would hate to now live without F-stop timing to the degree that I would sell the 500 if it were not for the Analyzer500.

So you can imagine that were were really disapointed at the prospects that perhaps the Analyzer may not work out for us. I mean the enlarger worked before and then as soon as we got the Analyzer it seemed to become flaky - not a great thing for our confidence.

What I did not think of was that a day or so before we retired the old control pad that I replaced a bulb. Then in the first day of use with the new Analyzer we got weird results and then on top of that another bulb blew. Hmmmmm. Then great results the next day until the end of the day, when it all went haywire again. Heck ... if it were not for a fridge that still had beer in it - I'd call it one of the worst days ever!

We use the probe in darkness and then toggle a nearby switch to turn our very bright LED safelights on to be able to work easier.
Yesterday I just didn't have the energy to reach over and flick that switch on ... (depression is better in darkness any ways) and noticed that on the third print (the first two were great) that the second bulb, the hard dark magenta did not come on. A bad bulb again, I thought. Nope. An enlarger which had a contact on the right hand side which was unreliable! I checked the trash that I still had not taken out (see ... it isn't procrastination us men do ... it is science!) and now took a closer look at the burned out bulbs. They were not burned out.

So, who would have though but all this frustration was due to a flaky contact. Nothing was burning out the bulbs as I thought the analyzer may have been doing. Nothing wrong with the metering as I thought may have been the case. The analyzer was/is perfect.

I bent the pin in the next bulb and slid it in with more care and now after a few prints no sign of the gremlins so I hope that it IS just the bulb contact. I imagine that it could also be inside of the transformer ... I hope not. Is there anything inside that transformer that would be likely to cause intermittent behavior like ours?

Everything seems great now and the Analyzer is what I believed it would be - a completely transformative approach to printing with the 500. How do people print without F-stop printing?

So I thought that I would put this issue up just in case someone else one day is baffled in the same way. Something to add to the normal trouble-shooting.

I feel like I have wrongly accused my Analyzer 500 of infidelity. To make up for it I plan to toast it with several beers tonight. Does anyone know if the analyzer is beer proof? Things can happen in a dark room when beer is involved ... I hear.

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Old 27th April 2011, 03:26 PM
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RH Designs RH Designs is offline
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Glad to hear it's sorted Pavel. The lamp connectors used with halogen lamps often start to corrode after several years use and it's worth cleaning the pins on the lamps from time to time. I had a similar issue with an old Meopta enlarger. New connectors should be available, I believe they are a standard part.

Failure in the 500S power supply is usually complete I think, rather than intermittent. I don't know whether that makes you feel any better or not .

As for beer, well, I haven't tested that on any of our products (I've tested plenty on me, mind!) but one customer did spill a glass of wine into his Analyser. After a switch replacement and a good clean it was back to normal .
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Old 27th April 2011, 03:37 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Pavel, Glad you have got the gremlins sorted, you will soonwonder, if you do not already, how you ever managed without the analyser/pro,
Richard
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