Failing Curtain Strobes

I don't mean to plug a certain brand or product, but I've said before and I'll say again that I really like the strobes from Sure Electronics.  100% waterproof (heck, they were pretty much the only thing working last night during the big rainstorm we had here).

As I mentioned in a thread over on the D-Light forum, I have been quite happy with the strobes from Sure Electronics. I use these (and the UV ones) for my christmas show. (I also use the red ones in my Independence Day show.)  Since each strobe is made up of 8 LED's, there is no missing them when they all go off at once. If 8 LED's per strobe aren't enough for you, they have a 24 piece version.  You do need a DCx16 board to run them though.  

I stopped using the DarrylB strobes at Halloween this year.  I am sure the pure amount of rain we get up here had a lot to do with it, yet the link below shows a picture of just what I am talking about... kinda worthless now. That happened to several of my strobes.  A few others has the base rust so bad when I went to remove it from the socket, the whole thing fell apart.  I switched to strobes from CDI that are waterproof and didn't skip a beat, even with the horrid rain we had mid-late October. 

This strobe has been sitting in my garage since mid October, and yet it still hasn't drained out, no matter how it sits.  Kinda strange to me, really, cause if its not able to come out... how did it get there??

My Wasted Strobe


Edited by kedogn - 12 Dec 2009 at 9:47am

A couple years ago, I had pretty much the opposite numbers you have - 4 of 20 working.  I had found that the sockets that I bought (from ActionLighting?) weren't very reliable as far as making contact with the bulb.  So definitely start there if you're in that boat.  A user on PC had repaired some - here's what he told me in a PM:

_____Original Message_____
Date: 2007-11-20 22:33:28
Subject: Re: Fixing Strobes

I pretty much documented what I found with my bad ones. Typically it turned out to be the part that had the most corrosion! After that, it was pretty hit or miss.

Check both sides of the board for obvious signs of arcing, or a 'white powdery' look. Either indicates water problems. Clean it up, check for broken traces (jump them if they are), and replace the parts where the arc occurred.

Basically there are 2 circuits in there you have to worry about. The 'charging' circuit is what loads up the big cap. I test that side by plugging in the strobe, unplugging it, and then shorting across the terminals of the big cap. If I get a spark, it's working! Otherwise I work backward from there swapping parts out with another strobe.

The 'firing' circuit is what causes the tube to flash. I test this side by charging the strobe (plugging it in, then unplugging it), and then shorting across the 2 terminals of the neon lamp. If the strobe fires, replace the lamp - otherwise replace the 2 small (or sometimes 1 medium) caps and try again.

There are only a few components on the strobe, so it's easy to just swap parts until it works.

Something like this??... http://www.aaroncake.net/Circuits/strobe2.asp 

I have the same - But I only had one failure. I live in San Diego and the weather is a touch mild here. It might be weather related.

Slink