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Repairing my LTM Pepper 420W


Matthias Claflin

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So here we go...

Last summer I started picking up some tungsten fixtures on ebay. The first one I got was an LTM Pepper 420W. I quickly realized I wanted more power and picked up a Mole 407, Mole 2581, Lee-Colortran 1k Fresnel, and finally a Lowel Omni. Everything has served me well except the LTM. So basically it started acting up shortly after I bought it. The connection to the GY9.5 socket was obviously wearing thin and in an effort to fix it, the connection broke off. So I bought a new GY9.5 socket already wired and rated up to 525W (if I'm not mistaken). So I went into the LTM and stripped the wires, soldered them together, applied heat shrink and re-secured the wires. I also used a brand new 420W GY9.5 bulb from impact. Turned it on and this happened:

 

 

It seems like there is some issue with the constant stream of power. I'm not sure what to do next except to replace the cable- is this the right next step? What can I do to ensure a continuous flow?

 

TL;DR I replaced the GY9.5 socket, stripped and re-wired the unit, and for some reason when I move the bulb from spot to flood the light flickers on and off. Any ideas what to do next?

Edited by Matthias Claflin
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the first thing I thought of---did you just replace the socket leads to the cable inside the fixture, or did you cut the cable off OUTside of the fixture and start fresh?

Small fresnels, primarily the ones with smaller guage silicon cable, are notorious for having a wire break inside the insulation just at the strain-relief outside of the rear of the fixture.

I'd lay money that is where the problem is.

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Seconded. I have a 150W ceramic ellipsoidal/profile which has that exact fault right now, shorting the live to earth, and takes out breakers.

 

Also, I'm not sure I would want to rely on a solder joint or heatshrink inside something like that.

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Well my wife is going to hate hearing that. I had never soldered before so I bought the soldering iron and solder for this specific task. I also spent all last night practicing it and then finally soldering the wire when I thought I was adequate to get a good connection... Oh well.

That said, what is a crimp splice? Is this it?



Also I cut about 1/2 inch off the cable running into the unit. How much would you recommend cutting? Should I take an inch or so? The cable did have a strain relief outside, perhaps cut off everything that was previously in the strain relief?

Thanks for the advice!
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My guess is that the break is where the wire bends when racking back and forth. There are some black marks on the wire- these could be burning where the broken wire has arced. You may be able to find it by just pulling on the loose end, but I'd take it back to the strain relief as you suggest.

That is a crimp connector. You're obviously handy enough to do the soldering so it shouldn't be a problem.

Edited by Mark Dunn
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yep, that's what I meant (a crimped butt-splice)

And, I would cut about an inch away from the strain relief outside of the fixture. (get rid of everything inside the strain relief), then start fresh.

 

Of the cable piece that you have removed to get rid of, remove the outer jacket from the cable and pull the 2 ends of the individual wires (most likely the hot) I bet you will find where the wire broke.

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  • 5 months later...

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