LPL 4550XL Lamp Issues

adelorenzo · Jan 28, 2020

Ok this thread is getting me super curious so here is what I have figured out. Again I'm not an expert here so please chime in.

The four prong plug has a ground, a common neutral and two hots
With no load I get 120 VAC on both hots from the power supply socket and also this is what I read in the bulb socket
With the fan and light running I read 120 VAC on the fan and 60 VAC on the lamp
There is no transformer (that I can see) in the unit so they must be reducing voltage using resistors or diodes there are about a half dozen each of those.
There are two large doughnut resistors labeled 50K719M I wonder if those are being used to halve the voltage? If so then why are they running an 82V lamp at 60V, my understanding is that you don't want to do this it is bad for the bulb. More likely explanation is I don't understand this correctly.
There is also a relay switch, a few transistors and capacitors on the board.
Everything fits onto a 2.5 x 3 inch PCB so there isn't a huge amount of parts or complexity
This seems like the kind of thing you could get made relatively easily and cheaply in this day and age.

I have a few pictures but the upload limits are so small here I can't post them at an usable size.

calebarchie · Jan 28, 2020

Well that escalated quickly - enjoy the new head! Pics would be great.

NortheastPhotographic · Jan 28, 2020

calebarchie said:
Well that escalated quickly - enjoy the new head! Pics would be great.

I'll do a rundown of the new system when it arrives.

NortheastPhotographic · Jan 29, 2020

Got it all installed. It is indeed pretty plug and play. Swapping from the cold light to the dichro controller is a bit awkward because it's over scuzzies. I think I need to build a console for the 2 units plus my timer, which will hide the cables a bit better. Right now it's a bit of a mess.

Gotta do some E6 right now, but I'll update with pics etc in a little while. I'll start re-calibrating my Analyser Pro tomorrow.

dkonigs · Jan 29, 2020

I don't think I saw this enlarger model listed on the Heiland LED website. Does it match up with one of the other models they do list, or was this something you had to specifically request?

Its probably going to be a long time before I actually need an alternative lamp option for my (similar) enlarger, but its always good to have options. I'm also curious how it compares in terms of color and contrast filtration. (Especially since color filtration is usually selected in terms of the knobs on a dichroic head, so I'm wondering if they made any effort to have the LED controller adjustments match up to a similar scale.)

NortheastPhotographic · Jan 29, 2020

dkonigs said:
I don't think I saw this enlarger model listed on the Heiland LED website. Does it match up with one of the other models they do list, or was this something you had to specifically request?

Its probably going to be a long time before I actually need an alternative lamp option for my (similar) enlarger, but its always good to have options. I'm also curious how it compares in terms of color and contrast filtration. (Especially since color filtration is usually selected in terms of the knobs on a dichroic head, so I'm wondering if they made any effort to have the LED controller adjustments match up to a similar scale.)

It's under "Jobo" on their site. I guess LPLs were marketed under that name in the EU?

It's a full RGB unit so you have total control over those colors. According to their instructions it is, unlike CMY controls, additive. Want more magenta, subtract green. I haven't tried it yet. I'll probably lose my damn mind.

NortheastPhotographic · Jan 29, 2020

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vPzs1wqeUKY89JAG6

I have some photos up of the various parts. The install was simple. You just take the mixing box out, and drop in the LED panel in it's place. It also comes with a cap to the enlarger that seals off the light and allows the cable to exit the head.

The controller boxes are connected via scuzzy type. A bit of a PITA if you're like me and likely to be swapping between the cold light and color controllers.

The cold light is very straightforward. You have grades 00-5, plus an 'electric' aperture if you will. I will likely standardize around 1 brightness setting so as not to introduce too many variables.

Now the color controller is where it gets interesting. CMY controls that I'm used to? Nope. RGB numbers that go from 0-400. It actually takes forever to cycle from one end to the other. 0 appears to just be fully off. 400, the opposite. The instructions has a handy guide for how to think about balancing color, but it also says that the points should go from 0-200, so something must have changed.

I'm used to the standard never touch cyan, start at a 'certain combination' according to the box. This is all new to me. I think it's going to take a while to get used to.

The other note is that the lamp/fan housing and module slot have basically no purpose now. However the enlarger looks a little funny with it removed. I might try to find a 'white light' module so I can sell my VCCE and Dichro sets.

Any questions?!

dkonigs · Jan 29, 2020

This makes me think that there should be some way to actually "calibrate" the light output of these things against a standard. Maybe go back to a typical halogen/dichroic setup and take a lot of measurements (with the right equipment), then figure out how to match that output on this thing, and finally reprogram the firmware so it behaves similarly. (Of course that's not necessarily something easy to do as an end-user of proprietary hardware.)

Also, from looking at those photos, the connector you hold up looks like a small/medium width D-sub connector similar in size to the 15-pin ones used by old PC joysticks. It doesn't look at all like a SCSI connector (which I think you meant by saying "scuzzy").

NortheastPhotographic · Jan 29, 2020

dkonigs said:
This makes me think that there should be some way to actually "calibrate" the light output of these things against a standard. Maybe go back to a typical halogen/dichroic setup and take a lot of measurements (with the right equipment), then figure out how to match that output on this thing, and finally reprogram the firmware so it behaves similarly. (Of course that's not necessarily something easy to do as an end-user of proprietary hardware.)

Also, from looking at those photos, the connector you hold up looks like a small/medium width D-sub connector similar in size to the 15-pin ones used by old PC joysticks. It doesn't look at all like a SCSI connector (which I think you meant by saying "scuzzy").

As for the color correction, I'm just considering it a learning curve. Once I begin thinking 'the way of the Heiland' I think it'll come somewhat naturally. At least as naturally as RA4 printing is.

You are right of course, they are not really SCSI or as I call them scuzzies. I just see those screws on each side and that's where my mind goes.

calebarchie · Jan 30, 2020

NortheastPhotographic said:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vPzs1wqeUKY89JAG6

I have some photos up of the various parts. The install was simple. You just take the mixing box out, and drop in the LED panel in it's place. It also comes with a cap to the enlarger that seals off the light and allows the cable to exit the head.

The controller boxes are connected via scuzzy type. A bit of a PITA if you're like me and likely to be swapping between the cold light and color controllers.

The cold light is very straightforward. You have grades 00-5, plus an 'electric' aperture if you will. I will likely standardize around 1 brightness setting so as not to introduce too many variables.

Now the color controller is where it gets interesting. CMY controls that I'm used to? Nope. RGB numbers that go from 0-400. It actually takes forever to cycle from one end to the other. 0 appears to just be fully off. 400, the opposite. The instructions has a handy guide for how to think about balancing color, but it also says that the points should go from 0-200, so something must have changed.

I'm used to the standard never touch cyan, start at a 'certain combination' according to the box. This is all new to me. I think it's going to take a while to get used to.

The other note is that the lamp/fan housing and module slot have basically no purpose now. However the enlarger looks a little funny with it removed. I might try to find a 'white light' module so I can sell my VCCE and Dichro sets.

Any questions?!

Would you mind unscrewing that front panel and showing us the goodies inside?

koraks · Jan 30, 2020

NortheastPhotographic said:
Once I begin thinking 'the way of the Heiland' I think it'll come somewhat naturally.

I think it will. Not having used the Heiland but having built my own RGB color head, it's just a matter of getting a feel for it throughout the course of a few printing sessions. You'll figure out soon enough how much adjustment a negative needs. Attempts to match the settings on a device like this with a dichroic head are in my opinion unnecessarily complicated and only worthwhile if device to device matching is for some reason essential. If you only use one enlarger or can live with a different approach to filtering across two enlargers, I'd just leave it as is.

I'm surprised they didn't implement a solution to quickly cycle through the entire 400 scale quickly. It's one thing I implemented in my control box from the very start...
Does the control computer store its last used settings or does it revert to a default setting at startup?

NortheastPhotographic · Jan 30, 2020

calebarchie said:
Would you mind unscrewing that front panel and showing us the goodies inside?

Here is a photo of the enlarger from the top showing the new plate plus the LED cable coming out. Note that the VCCE module and lamp housing which you can still see is now superfluous.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/iiZH8rSbpTquJWXs9

And here is the interior of the enlarger. This is where the mixing box would sit, but you can see in it's place the LED panel is there. Really simple. You don't even screw it down, it just rests inside on the same platform.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eSUTbhBq3VVxNF4f7

koraks said:
I'm surprised they didn't implement a solution to quickly cycle through the entire 400 scale quickly. It's one thing I implemented in my control box from the very start...
Does the control computer store its last used settings or does it revert to a default setting at startup?

I believe it stores it's last used settings. Though I haven't sat there and power cycled it, I just remember it not defaulting to 400, 400, 400.

Luis-F-S · Jan 30, 2020

NortheastPhotographic said:
Any questions?!

Yup how hot does the light source gets after sitting on the negative for say 10 minutes?

NortheastPhotographic · Jan 30, 2020

Luis-F-S said:
Yup how hot does the light source gets after sitting on the negative for say 10 minutes?

I don’t really have the tools to measure that. And I’m I don’t think I want to leave it on for extended periods like that. Even though there is in theory nothing wrong with doing so.

calebarchie · Jan 30, 2020

NortheastPhotographic said:
Here is a photo of the enlarger from the top showing the new plate plus the LED cable coming out. Note that the VCCE module and lamp housing which you can still see is now superfluous.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/iiZH8rSbpTquJWXs9

And here is the interior of the enlarger. This is where the mixing box would sit, but you can see in it's place the LED panel is there. Really simple. You don't even screw it down, it just rests inside on the same platform.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eSUTbhBq3VVxNF4f7

Ahh sorry, I meant the LED module itself so I can see the components and design used behind the diffuser sheet.

NortheastPhotographic · Jan 30, 2020

calebarchie said:
Ahh sorry, I meant the LED module itself so I can see the components and design used behind the diffuser sheet.

Forgive me but I am a bit hesitant to deconstruct my unit. Thought I believe if you go to the Heiland site you can see an approximation of what you're looking for.

LPL 4550XL Lamp Issues

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