Omega D550 Enlarger - No Power

[arealitystudios]

Hello All

Does anyone out there know of a good resource for trouble shooting an Omega D550 enlarger?

I have one that appears to be in great shape. I bought it off of craigslist (two of them actually) and when I was looking at them they both powered on just fine. Somewhere between the sellers house and my house however, one of them decided to no longer turn on. I got them both for a song so its not a big deal if only one of them works, but still... I like the idea of two functioning enlargers in my basement. Given that there is no visible damage and they were treated with care during transport I can't help but feel it is something really simple.

I opened the non-functioning one up and all the wiring looks just fine. I did some basic trouble shooting like switching out the control boxes and the power cables with the functioning enlarger and none of that seemed to work.

Does anyone have any experience or resources they can point out?

Thank you for your help!!

 

[bernard_L]

switching out the control boxes and the power cables with the functioning enlarger

Having a working unit, and the possibility to exchange components with the faulty one, you are in a unique, privileged position to pinpoint the location of the fault, as long as you proceed in a logical fashion. But reading your post, with no details on the outcomes of component swapping, it's hard to help.

 

[ic-racer]

If you can obtain the service manual (one on ebay now) it will make it easier to detect the fault. My experience is the power supply (which resides in the head, not in the controller) is frequently at fault.

 

[choiliefan]

I bought an Omega with a color head several years ago. It wouldn't turn on so I sprayed a bit of tuner/contact cleaner into the main power switch. Brought everything back to life as the "brass" contacts inside the switch had oxidized from sitting unused in what I imagine was a humid environment. I've noticed sometimes in-line cord switches need an internal cleaning to operate properly as well. This may work in your case...

 

[Sirius Glass]

Check out:
http://www.classic-enlargers.com/
http://www.khbphotografix.com/

I hope these help.

 

[arealitystudios]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I really appreciate the help!!

So it turns out I am a complete idiot. The access panel at the very top of the enlarger head slid open and evidently the unit does not turn on when that panel isn't closed. Slide it shut and it switches right on no problem. Not a surprise it slid open during transport and set up in the new darkroom space.

I never even noticed it was there because the enlarger was mounted and raised above my eye level. Also, I was just fixated on it being something more complicated or an internal wiring problem.

Figures...

But hey, two working enlargers now so I'm a happy camper!!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Congratulations on solving your problem. Enjoy.