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MINI STROBER PROBLEMS IN DISARMING CHRISTMAS


barbosaa

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Hi.

We are disarming christmas light and find some problems

we have 50 mini strobers and above 85% of then have water rain inside



see the pictures.

we recomend the manufacturer try to right this problem to the future

see images





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DSC00901.JPG

DSC00903.JPG


Attached files 169940=9766-lor_64_lightgray_blue.gif

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I do not use the strobes, but I think I have read threads that advise that a small hole should be drilled

in them to release moisture. Might want to do a search for a thread on this issue.

Good Luck



Harbs

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Yep. Just drill or melt (heated nail) weep holes in them. Depending on how the strobes are positioned, have the hole facing down.

If your strobes face up, be careful that you don't hit the pcb in the base.

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iresq wrote:

Yep. Just drill or melt (heated nail) weep holes in them. Depending on how the strobes are positioned, have the hole facing down.

If your strobes face up, be careful that you don't hit the pcb in the base.

Hmmm, I am wondering how water gets into these strobes in the first place. I think I have the same type of strobe, and I did not notice in water in them after several rainy nights. Maybe it is because my strobes are facing down.
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There are some of these out there that were built before they started putting sealant between the lens and the base, as well as on the screws. However, even the newest ones I have do not seal the Edison base to the body. The plastic base extends down into the Edison base, and is fluted so that it is a press on friction fit. No sealant is in there from the factory, and I don't think it seals at all.

I'm trying to make sure that all of mine that go out into the yard get a thin bead of silicone added between the plastic base and the metal Edison base. So far, no moisture problems here.

I do confirm though that the manufacturer has had documentation about using a soldering iron to melt weep holes into the lowest point on the body as installed, to prevent water build up, and electrical damage to the strobes.

- Kevin

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I had a little bit of moisture in mine. I got them last year and they are all sealed. My main problem with them is I had 10 out of 30 fail on me.

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redsea300 wrote:

I had a little bit of moisture in mine. I got them last year and they are all sealed. My main problem with them is I had 10 out of 30 fail on me.

Don, really? 1/3 of them failing? Did they just quit. I don't know if you noticed mine when you were here recently, but wonodering if we have the same brand. I have not seen even the slightest bit of moisture in mine, and when I put them away last weekend, all 15 were working fine. I wonder what's going on with that. I got mine at ChristmasLightShow.com
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barbosaa wrote:

Hi.

We are disarming christmas light and find some problems

we have 50 mini strobers and above 85% of then have water rain inside



see the pictures.

we recomend the manufacturer try to right this problem to the future

see images





Hello Barbosaa,


We state on our website that our strobes are inside strobes that Christmas people use for outdoors and end send a tip sheet with each order on what to do and how to prepare them for outdoors.

What you have is condensation and you get that from the strobes seting out in the sun light. We recomend that you put two weep holes in the end facing down. This lets air in and out to keep it dry. I have had some not do this and not have a problem even if they are in a more humid area.

Some parts of the country have dryer air then other parts. Our strobes can put held under water without filling up, but you can't keep condensation out without drilling or burning hole in one side.
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I had one of mine fill with water like that. They were actuall horizontal with the earth.

I also had several that actually came apart and one that the base came off of.:)

I have been packing things up and haven't had time to address these problems directly.

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Richard Hamilton wrote:

redsea300 wrote:
I had a little bit of moisture in mine. I got them last year and they are all sealed. My main problem with them is I had 10 out of 30 fail on me.

Don, really? 1/3 of them failing? Did they just quit. I don't know if you noticed mine when you were here recently, but wonodering if we have the same brand. I have not seen even the slightest bit of moisture in mine, and when I put them away last weekend, all 15 were working fine. I wonder what's going on with that. I got mine at ChristmasLightShow.com HI Richard. Yes I had 10 go bad. I also got mine at christmaslightshow.com. I tested all before packing them away for the year. I left the 10 bad ones out and will try to fix and test. I need 150 for next year and I think I am switching brands
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Richard Hamilton wrote:

Don, really? 1/3 of them failing? Did they just quit. I don't know if you noticed mine when you were here recently, but wonodering if we have the same brand. I have not seen even the slightest bit of moisture in mine, and when I put them away last weekend, all 15 were working fine. I wonder what's going on with that. I got mine at ChristmasLightShow.com





One other thing that can be a problem, is if you mix them with other lights and dim of fade them. Strobe lights are for on and off. Dimming/fading can damage them.

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darrylb wrote:

One other thing that can be a problem, is if you mix them with other lights and dim of fade them. Strobe lights are for on and off. Dimming/fading can damage them.

Yup, good point Darryl. I think Don knows this, and his failures are due to another reason. I always make sure my strobes are the last thing I connect and I recheck the channels before connecting them to make sure I did not accidentally fade or reduce brightness on those strobe channels.
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Yes all strobes were vented. I still got a little bit of condensation inside(not enough to worry about.) I also have no programming on the strobes circuits with any effect other the on/off. I had 3 channels with strobes on them. Each channels only had 10 on each, and no other lights on that channel strobes only. i am going to open them and look at them probably this coming weekend and see whats up. I will update everyone.If I remember i will take pictures as I do it.

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Her are the pictures i took. Everything looked good inside. I am sending all 10 to my DAD in Lost Wages. He is a video repair tech., He has been doing repairs his whole career. He said it would be easy to repair they are very simple. When I get the info on what went wrong I will post again.

5.jpg
Notice 2 vent wholes(all strobes where pointed up, this is a bottom view)

4.jpg
Very little condensation.

3.jpg

2.jpg

strobes.jpg
No condensation damage to the PC board

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Above the CE8 label, (towards the flash tube) there is the one angled trace, with a single lead, and then above that is a cluster of three leads on one trace, including one leg of the strobe..

From the photo, it looks like the two traces are connected? Is that solder, or trace, or something that has built up on the board? On mine, those are clearly two separate traces, with no connection...

- Kevin

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I opened two more. They have jumpers going to different places. Opened 4 all different. I don't get it. I will open all 10 and post after. Ok I went and opened all 10 there are three different configure on the board see pictures also notice on the other side of board there is 2 different cap configure next to the big cap. one has 2 400v 6.8uf and the other is 1 400v 6.8uf and16v 470uf I don't know wht these are different.

smallIMG_0002.jpg

smallIMG_0001.jpg

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I have 50 and only one failure this season. This is the second year they have been outside in a rainy south Mississippi winter.
I will check some bases and see how they look.
Mine are vented per Darryl's directions.
I AM trying some of the Christmaslightshow LED strobes this year.
Rusty

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redsea300 wrote:

I had a little bit of moisture in mine. I got them last year and they are all sealed. My main problem with them is I had 10 out of 30 fail on me.


If I remember correctly there were several people on PlanetChristmas this year that thought they had bad strobes. But a lot of them ended up being a problem with the strobe not being able to be screwed into the C9 socket far enough. Some people sanded the top of the C9 socket down to resolve the issue.

It’s worth a try.
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redsea300 wrote:

I opened two more. They have jumpers going to different places. Opened 4 all different. I don't get it. I will open all 10 and post after. Ok I went and opened all 10 there are three different configure on the board

Electrically they are the same.
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