Colored Strobes...

[jimswinder]

Was thinking about using some Red, Green, Blue strobes this year and was wondering if anyone here had used them and what you think of them?

Are the colors distinguishable?
Are they bright and easily seen?

Any other thoughts about them?

[cenote]

Can you supply a link? Never seen them.

[jimswinder]

cenote wrote:

Can you supply a link? Never seen them.

CDI has them listed in their pre-order sales info, second page...






Attached files

[George Simmons]

The colors are pretty good. Problem is that those are the same LED strobes that have the issue with all firing in unison for the first 8 seconds or so. Check the other threads about LED strobes.

[jimswinder]

George Simmons wrote:

The colors are pretty good. Problem is that those are the same LED strobes that have the issue with all firing in unison for the first 8 seconds or so. Check the other threads about LED strobes.

I know it may be a waste of channels...but because of that I was going to put each strobe on a separate channel.

[Kevin N]

It was posted somewhere a "fix" for this...they just turn the channel for the led strobes on at approx. 20% intensity for a few seconds before you actually want the to fire. This apparently "precharges" them so they don't fire in unison. I believe it was said that you couldn't tell that they were on at 20%...so all should be well (or as well as can be expected).

Maybe someone else will chime in with the link and/or more specifics.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

[beeiilll]

Kevin N wrote:

It was posted somewhere a "fix" for this...they just turn the channel for the led strobes on at approx. 20% intensity for a few seconds before you actually want the to fire. This apparently "precharges" them so they don't fire in unison. I believe it was said that you couldn't tell that they were on at 20%...so all should be well (or as well as can be expected).

Maybe someone else will chime in with the link and/or more specifics.

Hope this helps.

Kevin

Try this thread for some info on them.

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum25/19694.html

I bought 80 of the colored LED strobes from CDI last year but due to some problems and too many things going on I only got 15 of them put out. I used them in my mega tree along with my regular white strobes that I got. They worked great for me.

They don't have the brightness of the regular strobes but then again they are LED. People still thought that they looked fine and were a nice addition to the white strobes.

I have a couple of strings of 10 each sitting here that I have been playing with to see about the problem with all the strobes firing in unison rather than random. I have found that if I "precharge" them for approx. 1/2 a second at an intensity of 16% before I fire them they will be much more random. Although some will still flash together for a couple of seconds then they will randomize.

So far it works fine for me. I am going to have them around the display next year to accent different parts so they are going to be on approx. 8 different channels to help offset the timing problems as well.

[Kevin N]

Thanks for the additional info and link, beeiilll...I knew it was around somewhere.

[George Simmons]

Jim,

That's my plan for this year also - devote more channels to the strobes so I can offset their firing by a few hundredths of a second so they don't fire in unison. Seems like a waste to have to do that though, not to mention a sequencing hassle. If someone would invent a colored lens cover for the Xenon models we'd be all set. I tried the pre-charging route and the problem for me is that the dim glow is too visible while they're precharging, even at 16%. The strobes are too close to the street for that glow to be lost in the general clutter, especially when they're going to be used in the house tree that's superimposed on the face.

[beeiilll]

George Simmons wrote:

Jim,

That's my plan for this year also - devote more channels to the strobes so I can offset their firing by a few hundredths of a second so they don't fire in unison. Seems like a waste to have to do that though, not to mention a sequencing hassle. If someone would invent a colored lens cover for the Xenon models we'd be all set. I tried the pre-charging route and the problem for me is that the dim glow is too visible while they're precharging, even at 16%. The strobes are too close to the street for that glow to be lost in the general clutter, especially when they're going to be used in the house tree that's superimposed on the face.

Hi George,

Try dropping the precharge down to a setting that does not give you that "glow" from them and see how it works.

I did get the glow problem when I was playing with them at 18% and dropped it back to 16% to stop that problem. I still got pretty good random flashing with the 16 % precharge on them. Maybe try to go with 14% or so and see if they still glow for you. I would also say that you should not try and precharge for much over 3/4 of a second or they can sometimes start to flash.

Just a thought.

Bill

[EricFromKansas]

I was having the same problem with CDI strobes all firing together. I then read about the 20% power warmup. After making the fix - 20% power for 5 seconds then full power, the strobes were firing at random from the start. You can't see the strobes at 20% power unless you're a few inches from them. I was using 30 strobes for 6 weeks this year with no failures, so the fix doesn't seem to hurt them.

Eric

[jimswinder]

EricFromKansas wrote:

I then read about the 20% power warmup.
Eric

I take it that these don't act like camera strobes where you could charge them (warm them up at 16%) at the beginning of the sequence, then back off the intensity (and they stayed "warmed up") until they are needed and then they would fire when your sequence applied full intensity?

Or do they need to be "warmed up" (at a low %) right before they are fired by the sequence?

[George Simmons]

They need to be "warmed up" each time you want to fire them. Even shutting them off for a second or two puts you right back at the beginning with all of them blinking at the same time again.

[gmac]

George Simmons wrote:

Jim,

That's my plan for this year also - devote more channels to the strobes so I can offset their firing by a few hundredths of a second so they don't fire in unison. Seems like a waste to have to do that though, not to mention a sequencing hassle. If someone would invent a colored lens cover for the Xenon models we'd be all set. I tried the pre-charging route and the problem for me is that the dim glow is too visible while they're precharging, even at 16%. The strobes are too close to the street for that glow to be lost in the general clutter, especially when they're going to be used in the house tree that's superimposed on the face.

This will be my first year using xenon strobes........But coming from the photographic industry, my thought was to use a colored photographic flash gel that photographers use to color there backgrounds, I planed to wrap it around the strobe and hold it on with a rubber band or clear tape. Gels can be purchased in any color, some of the vendors are B&H Photo or Calumet just to name s few.

Gene