Eclair NPR won't start

Dharmik Edula · August 20

Hi everyone,

I was trying to get familiar with changing the shutter angle for my Eclair NPR. In the process, I wanted to run the camera, when it was making a weird noise, I accidentally turned the knob on the left which changes the shutter and the camera turned off suddenly which was dumb of me to do that as I know that there is a problem. Since then, the camera is not functioning. It uses a perfectone motor.

So I detached the camera body from the motor to see whether the source of the problem is from the camera or the motor and its definitely from the motor as it wouldn't work. I checked the fuse like in the pictures and I am not sure whether its the fuse. I use a Vlok battery of 14.4v, I know that the required is 12V, I bought the camera on ebay months ago and the seller said its okay to use the vlok 14.4v and it was running fine. I tested the camera last week and the battery with the camera was running fine. So I doubt whether its the battery.

I am not sure why the motor wouldn't run, Is it the fuse, do I need to replace it? Is it the battery, should I use it with a 12V battery. I don't have access to it,I'd have to buy it which will take a while. Is the motor damaged? How can I know? What is the solution?

I live in london so other than Les Bosher I do not know anyone who deals with Eclair NPR. Please guide me. I have a music video coming in a week and I need to fix it before.

Please see the pictures. Thank you.

Regards,

Dharmik

IMG_2839_optimized_500.heic IMG_2838_optimized_500.heic

Aapo Lettinen · August 20

So the motor is not running by itself when detached from the camera? If you manually rotate the axle to different angle and try again does it start then? If having power off you will rotate the axle by hand what kind of sound you hear?

Fuses can go bad without it showing clearly so you should replace with new fuse and try again even if the old fuse seems intact.

It is possible that your battery does not give any output, they have internal fuses and circuits which can cut the power in certain situations. Get a multimeter and see if you get proper voltage from the xlr cable end.

Did you hear any noises from the motor itself when it stopped working? Was there any smell or smoke etc?

If it is not the fuse or battery then I would try to get a replacement motor asap because repair can take longer than a week. Or replacement camera which can use the same lenses if no npr motor available to borrow

Aapo Lettinen · August 20

12v lead battery goes to about 13.8v fully charged.

14.8v li ion battery like vlock goes to about 17v fully charged.

That voltage difference can be a lot to some motors but not knowing how the perfectone stands it.

Typically overvoltage causes overheating but would suspect overcurrent by motor stalling is the issue here. Changing the shutter angle and the mirror locking partially left engaged when starting the motor causing motor overload would probably be what happened I think. If it is not the fuse or battery then one would follow the current path from the battery to the motor drive

Dharmik Edula · August 20

Hi Aapo,

Yes, the motor is not running by itself when detached. I can hear like a very tight turn of the axle while I am adjusting the shutter.

The weird noise was from the camera, it did not come from the motor. It was the axle getting stuck and rotating. I am not sure what shutter angle I changed it to. so When I turned it on. It was like as if it was getting stuck and rotating and then it shut off completely. no smell nor smoke.

I'll try to replace the fuse and try buy a mutltimeter. I am not sure where I can get a new motor now. Its rear for Eclair NPRs.

Yes, " Changing the shutter angle and the mirror locking partially left engaged when starting the motor causing motor overload would probably be what happened I think" This would be probably the best decription to what happened while I was running the camera. So I would have to replace the motor?

Thank you for responding. Appreicate it.