jrock_at_rons Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I'm adding strobes to my display this year. While I am doing my sequencing in the editor... can I use any/all the effects?... or are strobes a straight-up boolean proposition? I figured I'd ask quick before I get to deep. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOR Staff Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 It's binary. 100% On or 100% Off only. Sure, you can twinkle or fade a strobe channel, but you'll damage the strobe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 For zenon strobes, commonly called "Curtain Strobes" best to that when you run them, keep the run time down to say no more than a minute and then leave them off for a good minute or more to allow them to cool down. I'm no expert on them, just thought to allow them a better lifetime. Someone who knows the internals could better advise but turning them on and off in quick periods of time, might be bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrock_at_rons Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 Thanks Mike. That was my thinking going in but I figured I'd take the time to ask quick anyways. dgrant, The longest I run the strobes (so far) is maybe 10 seconds at a time. I'm sure once the wife and kids see them though I'll have to find ways to involve them a bit more though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOR Staff Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 There is no problem running Xenon curtain strobes for hours at a time. But it is correct that you want to minimize the amount of FAST on/off transitions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I ran xenon strobes for four hours at a time last year. My biggest issue was keeping water out of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Thank You Mr P, as I really don't know other than I do know that they must be allowed to cool down. I've run mine for min of maybe 10 seconds and as long as a minute but then wait for several minutes just in case before running them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryl Lambert Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I've bought curtain stobes from 4 different vendors & one of them had in there write up that they were not for continous use. 1 minute max per cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. P Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 (edited) I guess it will come down to the quality of the strobe that you get. As I stated, I ran them on my house every night, four hours a night for three weeks. I lost a few but when I went to replace them it was because they were full of water. Let me clarify the water thing. I mounted them horizontal on the roof line. Once I noticed two drain holes on the bottom where water was getting in I mounted them vertically and never had another issue. Edited July 14, 2015 by Mr. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitusCarnathan Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I only ever run them for a few seconds at a time. A good trick to get them to be more random from startup go back .40 seconds before you want it to be on and have that channel set to on for .20 seconds then off for .20 seconds then back on as long as you need them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) Been using strobes that screw into a standard 110VAC bulb socket that I bought at a Spirit Halloween store eons ago, I have a couple that are possibly well over 10+ years old, I have run them steady in a porch light fixture, covered with 1/2 Jack-O'-Lanterns I cut down for the purpose. They are still going strong, and I ran them constantly from 6pm until 11pm 7 days a week, that's 5 hours continuous run time per night! Never had one go bad, burn out or overheat yet, at least the ones I have seem to have been built pretty sturdy and the electronics has held up very well in them. Edited July 15, 2015 by Orville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Interesting as I had two fail just last season. Wonder if they are just made cheaper these days. Mine are only a couple of years old now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega Arch Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 It's binary. 100% On or 100% Off only. Sure, you can twinkle or fade a strobe channel, but you'll damage the strobe I'm pretty OCD when it comes to sequencing. So I'm 100% sure my strobe channels are full on &/or full off. But, to be 110% sure don't blow up my strobes, I changed the HU setting for the controller strobe channels to on/off. Then got my test light out and hooked it up to the controller to watch it come full on at 50.1% and completely off at 49.9%. Can't be too cautious.I wasn't always OCD about sequencing, but George taught the classes I took - BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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