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strobes


Jeffery m

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has any one used the led strobes from HLE was thinking about getting some the plan was to have them all on one channel but Im worried that I wont get the random effect/ 

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there strobes are 1-2 flashes per second and christmas light show has led strobes that are 3-4 flashes per second so if I combined the to would I get that effect

 

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Got mine from there at first but the 1-2 times a second are actually once a second.  got mine from christmas light emporium, 3-4 times a second way better.  

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i got them in a presale so about $4 each, but you will need about 10-20% more then you think for failures. I had about 50 out last year and had to replace 8 or 9 during the season.  most have many failures.

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Just a little friendly advice, keep away from the LED strobes and use the U shaped xenon strobes. LED strobes are not as bright and you will be disappointed with them. Also keep in mind that strobes are to be used intermittently and not constant as they will burn out quickly.

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christmas light show says they have led strobes that flash 3-4 times per sec. are just as bright as the zenon can anybody verify that

 

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the LED ones don't pop, they just flash light.... you will be disappointed in the LED ones.

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19 hours ago, ericm said:

i got them in a presale so about $4 each, but you will need about 10-20% more then you think for failures. I had about 50 out last year and had to replace 8 or 9 during the season.  most have many failures.

I've noticed the xenon failure rate varies from vendor to vendor and sometimes from season to season.  Currently, I'm using somewhere around 400 strobes and I lose about 10-12 each season.

 

18 hours ago, Mr. P said:

... Also keep in mind that strobes are to be used intermittently and not constant as they will burn out quickly.

From an esthetic perspective, I agree completely about using them intermittently.  But from a longevity perspective, I totally disagree.  I've loaned strobes for the past five or six years to a buddy who keeps them firing continuously all evening on Halloween and haven't lost one yet.  I've also lent a bunch out to a church down the block for their hot chocolate sale nights and those have also run continuously for 3-4 hours and none have failed.

 

17 hours ago, Jeffery m said:

christmas light show says they have led strobes that flash 3-4 times per sec. are just as bright as the zenon can anybody verify that

 

Yes.  I've got a half dozen of them and they're actually much brighter than xenon.

 

17 hours ago, Jeffery m said:

so how many of the zenon do u guys put on one channel

I've got as many as 35-40 xenon per channel with no problems.

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7 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

From an esthetic perspective, I agree completely about using them intermittently.  But from a longevity perspective, I totally disagree.  I've loaned strobes for the past five or six years to a buddy who keeps them firing continuously all evening on Halloween and haven't lost one yet.  I've also lent a bunch out to a church down the block for their hot chocolate sale nights and those have also run continuously for 3-4 hours and none have failed.

 

Where did you get yours from? The U shaped xenons I got from 3G were burning out 3-5 a night running for 3 hours for a Halloween show two years ago. I went through 21 strobes for a weeks show and have not used them since.

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54 minutes ago, Mr. P said:

Where did you get yours from? The U shaped xenons I got from 3G were burning out 3-5 a night running for 3 hours for a Halloween show two years ago. I went through 21 strobes for a weeks show and have not used them since.

3G?  I don't have a clue who/what that even is.  I hope they had a good warranty.

Over the years, I've bought strobes from a variety of sources.  (Which has resulted in a wide range of flash rates from 1 to 4 flashes per second.) CDI and CLS were among the early vendors I purchased from and I've still got most of those units in service.  Over the past 4-5 years I've bought almost exclusively from DIY LED Express.

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7 hours ago, George Simmons said:

Currently, I'm using somewhere around 400 strobes and I lose about 10-12 each season.

Yes.  I've got a half dozen of them and they're actually much brighter than xenon.

So George, just curious. How come you don't have more LED strobes if they're brighter and your losing a dozen a year of the xenon ones?

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20 hours ago, Santas Helper said:

So George, just curious. How come you don't have more LED strobes if they're brighter and your losing a dozen a year of the xenon ones?

Mostly because Darryl doesn't have "sales" on them (or if he does I've always missed them) and I have this thing about spending 8 bucks per strobe.  He sent me a couple of them free to demo and I felt obligated to buy a few because he's always treated me fairly.

Also, I don't particularly like the 3-4 per second flash rate.  I'm more of a 2-3 per second sort of guy.  Having a few faster ones is fine, but I don't want a yard full of them at that speed.

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I recommend using xenon strobes. I tried led in the past and I learned the hard way that they are not so great. Xenon gives you a "pop" effect where led just blinks. I always got my strobes from CreativeDisplays.com and I didn't really have any issues with them other than a few failed over time.

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IMO it depends on the effect you want, I will use nothing but Xenon strobes mostly for the "random" nature of them as well as the "pop".   Have used LED strobes as well but didn't like that they are "predictable".  When you use LED strobes it appears that they all come on at once and flash together at the same time for the first second or two before sorta getting random, don't like that.  Xenon remind me of the old flash bulbs and in my Christmas display I want that.

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2 hours ago, caniac said:

Xenon remind me of the old flash bulbs and in my Christmas display I want that.

I wonder what percentage of forum members have actually SEEN a flash bulb in action?

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2 minutes ago, George Simmons said:

I wonder what percentage of forum members have actually SEEN a flash bulb in action?

Me :)  I also used them . mostly the smaller ones with my Kodak Brownie

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