Happy Jack Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Hi all, Recently picked up 2 Prospots that came out of a nightclub and we are having a few issues with them. One of the units displays an error message which, with reference to the manual, seems to point out there is a problem with the tilt drive IC / encoder. When running through 'demo' mode, the pulleys themselves seems to struggle with the load upon it and splutter away. We've yet to have to chance to run the unit up with our desk, or order any parts as we were sent a bit of a curve ball... It was actually suggested that the problem actually lies with the EEPROM. We swapped the drive IC's round, and the same error message came up, so that idea certainly has a strong case. Could it be that the motor that has failed. We'll get to the root eventually, but I imagine any moving light tech could come in guide us in the right direction. It would be nice to hear if any else has had similar problems with these units, as solid as they appear. I'd also be grateful if someone could explain what fundamental electronic components are normally found on the main logic board for most 'pro' moving heads if they have a few minutes to spare. What they are, and how they operate / communicate together to give the desired affect i.e. rotating prism. Give a Mac 250 as an example... A very common light with many with you, ML technicians or not. The basics are there, but looking at the guts of a Geni Spinmaster and then this... well its a slightly different animal. :D If any of you have had any success in modding these units to function with the same rotating gobo wheel found the iSpots, I'd like to know how you did it! Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Why do you need to fit an iSpot wheel to these, please? If the tilt is spluttering, it's either the motor magnetism gone weak (check by substitution), the drive belt has missing or worn teeth, (or slack), the tilt encoder dirty (clean it), the drive circuit (IC or ancilliary components) or any connections including the loom from the base through the yoke and up to the head. You'll have to plod through. I've had some chip capacitors go leaky on Coemar stepper drives before now, and motor magnetism goes weak if the fixture is allowed to overheat. Its unlikely to be an Eprom fault, the code is checked by the bootstrap ROM at power up and will show a factory error code if it's corrupt. Go to DFSE and press enter>yes>enter to reload the EEPROM. The pan and tilt drives are contained on the main pcb in the base, the other motor drives are under a cover on the arm pcb. If they've done sterling work in a nightclub then its probably a combination of several of these faults, nightclubs tend to grind even the best moving heads into the ground and these particular models (and the iSpot) run very warm at the best of times. The fan seems to just hoover-up dirt and above the lamp is a louvre-vent affair that directs the airflow onto the reflector and then to the rest of the head. This louvre affair blocks very easily and then the temperature rises! Examine the head clamshells..if they're warped, this thing has been too hot!! http://www.mylpr.com/images/ProSpot150LX.jpg I've probably got the service manual for these, PM me with a suitable email if you need it. Luckily, my familiarity with these range of Italian fixtures has not yet bred contempt, I look upon them more as needing a good hug from time to time...they are certainly stunning when they're behaving themselves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted May 6, 2009 Author Share Posted May 6, 2009 I was hoping you'd come in on this Kevin. You have a wealth of knowledge, so I appreciate you taking the time out and sharing some of it. With regards to the iSpot wheel, it's curiosity more than anything. Looking at the parts list for both the iSpot and Prospot, the two units almost seem to be identical. What tweaked this curiosity even further was the fact that channels 8 and 9 IIRC on the Prospot have no function, a void which was intentionally left (perhaps) as Coemar developed the iSpot, began rolling that out and ceased production of the Prospot. I don't doubt there may be other smaller improvements but on first glance it just looks like a rebranded version of the Prospot, albeit with a rotating gobo wheel... It looks very easy to achieve. In reality I'm not entirely sure if and how that might happen, but it would be nice to be able to give our Prospots rotating gobo functionality if possible. I've had no return from Burple UK, or Coemar on this... They have neither confirmed or denied this 'mod'. A service manual, if you can send that across, would be fantastic. It's nice to hear your views on this, so thanks again for sharing. I'll PM you my email. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 OK its in the mail. I would hazard a guess that its not worth pursuing trying to upgrade the one to the other. As well as the hardware issues, you'll also have to update the firmware (contained in the MPU and non-flashable). By the time you've bought the additional motor, changed the looms, installed the new gobo wheel, the gobo holders and modified the pcbs, you'd probably be very skint! :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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