A Warning to all BarnBurner owners with the diffuser lens.

[lasercrazy]

I just had my clear diffuser lens start melting on me after about 30 minutes of use. I was cleaning up my room when I smelled burnt plastic, I immediately started looking all over for the source on it. I went to move my BB and noticed the lens was starting to bubble and melt, I quickly shut it off and pulled off the lens to cool. The temperature inside my room at the time was 69. I'll have pics up soon.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Oh man! Thank you very much for this information. It may be that Dan did not test them being left on this long. I wonder if it started melting at 15 or 20 mins....or closer to 30 mins....just so we know.

Let's see what Dan has to say here.

 

[Ra]

Yep!! Its toast!!

Now you have to update your signature: HID: XeRay 75watt BarnBurner WITHOUT DIFFUSER !!!

Ra.

 

[karlthev]

Hmmm, glad you posted and I saw this!


Karl

 

[seery]

This really is a big concern and makes me wonder.

If something like this is allowed into production or pass post-production
testing, how well have all the other "less obvious" but "more important"
components really been tested???

Please keep us posted and thanks for the post.

 

[lasercrazy]

Oh man! Thank you very much for this information. It may be that Dan did not test them being left on this long. I wonder if it started melting at 15 or 20 mins....or closer to 30 mins....just so we know.

Let's see what Dan has to say here.

I honestly don't know when it started melting, from the looks of it though probably about 5-10 minutes earlier. Thank god I got to it before it melted onto the lens, that would have really sucked then.

Yep!! Its toast!!

Now you have to update your signature: HID: XeRay 75watt BarnBurner WITHOUT DIFFUSER !!!

Ra.

Thanks for the support Ra, I feel so much better now. :lolsign:

This really is a big concern and makes me wonder.

If something like this is allowed into production or pass post-production
testing, how well have all the other "less obvious" but "more important"
components really been tested???

Please keep us posted and thanks for the post.

My BarnBurner has seen ALOT of use and still performs flawlessly so I'm not at all worried about it failing anytime soon. (knock on wood ) The diffuser on the other hand has only been used a few times and it's already toast so ymmv. I figured it's better to warn everybody so this won't happen to anyone else.

 

[LuxLuthor]

I would expect that Dan would either replace or refund this since he tested and said it was fine. Seery, I don't agree that this portends anything about underlying XeRay products, since they have been out so long now. FYI, I have used all of my colored lens for several minutes (no more than 3 mins) without any problem.

 

[XeRay]

I just had my clear diffuser lens start melting on me after about 30 minutes of use. I was cleaning up my room when I smelled burnt plastic, I immediately started looking all over for the source on it. I went to move my BB and noticed the lens was starting to bubble and melt, I quickly shut it off and pulled off the lens to cool. The temperature inside my room at the time was 69. I'll have pics up soon.

We tested using a non focused position on the head, since you are looking for diffusion when using the diffuser/filter. Warning do not use the filter in the max throw position. We will replace the filter that was melted by lazercrazy. We should have said not to use the filter in a focused head position. Sorry. This is only a problem for the 75 watt Barn Burner. The 50 watt units will not have this potential problem. BTW the XeRay 75 watt BB is NOT a "production" unit.

Dan

 

[Flashanator]

Wow, I thought the diffusser lens was glass. So why isnt it? And BTW the BB should be a production unit, you know what I'm saying

 

[LuxLuthor]

Dan, just so we are all clear on the proper use. Did you test for extended run time with the head twisted totally in the non-focused direction, (and with the BB), so you know that way there is no risk of deformity? I'm trying to make sure that we all know if this happens to anyone's clear diffuser--it means for sure that they had it focussed down to some degree.

This caught me off guard because when I twist out the reflector (clockwise when looking at back of light), that center dark spot is so ugly, I would not have thought to ever use the light in that position....but indeed, when fully extended, the central "hexagram" pattern caused from the diffuser (that looked kind of bizarre) smooths out the way you would want a diffuser to work.

I'm sure it would have been hard to get a practical way to attach the glass diffuser, let alone extra expense of trying to get this pattern or frosted in adequate heat resistant non/discoloring multi-colored glass. The plastic diffusers work fine as long as we know this focus out requirement. I love my colored diffusers.

.

 

[XeRay]

Dan, just so we are all clear on the proper use. Did you test for extended run time with the head twisted totally in the non-focused direction, (and with the BB), so you know that way there is no risk of deformity? I'm trying to make sure that we all know if this happens to anyone's clear diffuser--it means for sure that they had it focussed down to some degree.

This caught me off guard because when I twist out the reflector (clockwise when looking at back of light), that center dark spot is so ugly, I would not have thought to ever use the light in that position....but indeed, when fully extended, the central "hexagram" pattern caused from the diffuser (that looked kind of bizarre) smooths out the way you would want a diffuser

You don't need to go all the way to the donut, just before the donut forms is good enough. I cannot say we ran it more than 30 minutes. It was not getting any hotter (temp stabilized).

 

[lasercrazy]

Thanks Dan. :thumbsup: I never thought to unfocus it with the lens on since I always have it set to max throw. Lesson learned I guess.

We tested using a non focused position on the head, since you are looking for diffusion when using the diffuser/filter. Warning do not use the filter in the max throw position. We will replace the filter that was melted by lazercrazy. We should have said not to use the filter in a focused head position. Sorry. This is only a problem for the 75 watt Barn Burner. The 50 watt units will not have this potential problem. BTW the XeRay 75 watt BB is NOT a "production" unit.

Dan