Ans Mertens Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Hi all I am new on this forum, working with 16mm since a few years. So far I've been working with a Bolex, but I recently got my hands on an Eclair ACL (I). Although the battery doesn't work, I could test the motor. It turns, but it gets hot rather quickly (I gave it 12V, the motor asked for 4A (or +?) and the orange light stayed on. Any tips? And does someone knows a service place in Europe? I think the camera hasn't been used for a while and in any case needs a check-up. I also need a Jaeger-XLR replacement as well as an alternative (lightweight) battery system through an XLR connection. Curious to hear your thoughts, Best Ans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heikki Repo Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Either there is something wrong with the motor or the camera movement. If you turn the inching knob in the motor, does it turn effortlessly? Unfortunately I have no knowledge of a service place in Europe. I have been sending mine to Super16inc. Bernie is probably the best expert there is for Eclairs. I myself have replaced the Jaeger connector with a XLR connector in my ACL 1.5. It might be the connector got broken, can't remember - but I haven't regretted making the modification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ans Mertens Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 Hi Heikki, Thanks for the fast reply. I did try the inching knob it turns really smooth en silent... so rather a motor thing? I saw Bernie's name passing by several times... but feel a bit hesitant in shipping overseas... Ans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heikki Repo Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 (edited) Yeah, I know the feeling! When I sent mine I bought a big box, got some foam and made sure the camera was really well padded from every direction. I didn't send the magazines, only the motor and the body. Your ACL should be smaller than mine, so packaging it well is easier. Regarding the inching knob, the mirror moves and the shutter turns? If you load some test film and mark it with a pen, it moves? Does the motor problem occur when no magazine with film is connected to the body? And if you have a mag with film, it is 200ft mag, not 400 ft? Anyway, you could start by sending email to Bernie and describe the issue. He'll tell you how serious it is. Edited March 10, 2021 by Heikki Repo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ans Mertens Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 Exactly... that feeling :-). To answer your question; the mirror and shutter turn indeed. I didn't test with film yet, also the motor test I performed was without magazine. I guess I'll start with contacting Bernie indeed... A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heikki Repo Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 Good luck! These are nice cameras, but the first version small motors aren't exactly known for reliability... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ans Mertens Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 (edited) Mmm, I'll have to keep an eye on eBay maybe. Although I've heard the other motors or becoming rare... Anyhow, l do hope to shoot with this little beast. Edited March 10, 2021 by Ans Mertens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregg MacPherson Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 1 hour ago, Ans Mertens said: ...Although the battery doesn't work, I could test the motor. It turns, but it gets hot rather quickly (I gave it 12V, the motor asked for 4A (or +?) and the orange light stayed on.... A couple of questions... - Which motor is this, the small 24/25 fps one, or the factory multispeed motor, or a converted multispeed motor? - Was 12V the measured V? Measured before test or during test? - What do you mean that the battery doesn't work. Some thoughts.... Conventional wisdom was to never run the motors with the orange out-of-sync light on. The small motors could easily get overloaded and burn out. An ACL I loaded with film should draw less than 1A at 24fps. The small motor should only be run with 200' mags or English 400" mags. Like Heikki said, the feel of the inching knob should be very low friction. I would ensure you had a good power supply first. A freshly charged NiCad original battery would have about 14V fully charged, but even down to 12V a healthy battery will spin the camera at 24fps, with the orange light coming on just for a fraction of a second. Don't do any more testing with the orange light staying on. You might damage your motor. If fiddling with batteries, be careful with polarity, ACL I doesn't have fuse protection if you reverse polarity. I would be very surprised if there are not still some ACL experts in Europe. I was always saying that to Heikki, but he could never find them...? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Shannon Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 The orange sync light staying on definitely leads me to believe the motor needs some degree of work, I can also vouch for Bernie as he fully CLA’ed my ACL 1. Jaeger connectors are a pain but get in contact with Jean Louis Seguin on this forum, he just made two new jaeger to xlr cables for my ACL not more than three months ago or so. Good luck, it’s a fun little camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ans Mertens Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 Hi Gregg Thanks for your detailed answer... I'll try to answer as precise as possible. The motor I have is the small 25fps motor. 12V the was measured V during the test (with a regular power supplier system, I did check the poles carefully when connecting. And as I said, the test was without film or magazines. Battery: I got a battery with it, but it needs to be recelled. I only tested for maybe 20 sec, since the orange light was on I stopped. Best, Ans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heikki Repo Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 We really need to send someone to States to learn from Bernie and then start a shop here in Europe ? Just today I learned that the Camera Rescue (a Finnish company) is starting a three year long school for becoming a (still) film photography camera mechanic. Eight people are starting there this April. I guess there's going to be a real need for something like that but on the motion picture camera side, with many of the techs nearing retirement... https://camerarescue.org/school2021/ Oh, but now I know: You could ask http://www.elokuvakonepaja.com if there is still some know how around regarding a camera like Eclair ACL. They mostly service their Arriflex film cameras nowadays, but when I originally bought my ACL ten years ago I asked them if they could service it, as they apparently had back in the 90s when it was owned by its previous owner. When I asked, their answer was that it isn't cost effective but they didn't say no... I never took that route though, as I was quite young and broke back then ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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