Power Issue with Rollei RDE Color 6x7 Enlarger

skysh4rk · May 7, 2017

Hi there,

I was out shooting with my Rolleiflex a couple of weeks ago when I was approached by a gentleman who said he used to own the same camera. We got to talking about darkroom printing and, to make a long story short, I ended up going home with a new-to-me Rollei RDE 6x7 Colour enlarger (which I think is made by LPL). Needless to say, I was very excited; I would finally be able to print at home rather than in the public darkroom in town.

The kit looks great and all of the negative carriers are there, but there seems to be an issue with the power transformer thing. Using a voltage checker, I can see that power is going into the transformer but nothing is coming out to feed the enlarger.

Any ideas about what I can do?

Can I swap the transformer? I see that someone in the UK is selling an LPL transformer/power supplier; would this work for me?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LPL-Color...654217?hash=item1c82bf3889:g:buIAAOSwVm5Y9mwS

Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

choiliefan · May 7, 2017

Having had a similar problem with an Omega B power supply I would clean the contacts in the power switch before taking more drastic action. Fixed mine with a spritz of tuner cleaner while toggling the switch. Brass contacts can develop a green waxy crud over time. The tuner cleaner or similar solvent may fix the problem.

btaylor · May 7, 2017

I had a similar problem with an Omega power supply, the connection at the power switch had melted. Replacing a melted wire and connector along with a new switch took care of it. Sweet looking enlarger BTW!

skysh4rk · May 7, 2017

choiliefan said:
Having had a similar problem with an Omega B power supply I would clean the contacts in the power switch before taking more drastic action. Fixed mine with a spritz of tuner cleaner while toggling the switch. Brass contacts can develop a green waxy crud over time. The tuner cleaner or similar solvent may fix the problem.

btaylor said:
I had a similar problem with an Omega power supply, the connection at the power switch had melted. Replacing a melted wire and connector along with a new switch took care of it. Sweet looking enlarger BTW!

Thanks to you both for your responses. I can't say that I'm very electrically inclined so I may need to seek some help if my issue requires replacement of wires/connectors/switches, although I should be able to manage cleaning the contacts.

Another APUG user has indicated to me that the issue could also stem from the lack of an enlarger timer, which is one thing that this kit did not come with. The enlargers that I use in the local public darkroom all have timers, but I wasn't aware that timers could be required to send power to the enlarger. Is this the case? I've just been running a power cable from the wall outlet to the RDE power supply/transformer to test if the enlarger worked before I looked to pick up a timer.

AgX · May 7, 2017

If there is no voltage at the power supply this is a failure of that supply, not of your darkroom set up.

In case the LPL supply is not a regulated one, you would be even better off with a 230V supply.
Whether that needs to be regulated is a matter of the stability of your mains. Whether it will be sufficient for the substitute supply to yield 12V AC or whether you actually need 12V DC depends on the circuit of your enlarger.

Malcolm Stewart · May 7, 2017

There should be a "Rating Plate" on your Rollei RDE Power Supply. What does it say? What symbols are close to the figures? That should tell you the input voltage range, whether the output is AC or DC, and what the voltage is. Is there a fuse? Has it blown? Good luck, it looks smart.

Jeff L · May 7, 2017

I have seen this enlarger branded Rollei, Nikor and LPL. Just FYI incase it helps for parts searches.

ic-racer · May 7, 2017

What is the knob on the front of the power supply? Where does the timer connect? Where, and under what conditions did you measure the output in AC to determine it was zero? Is there a fuse? Does the manual give any troubleshooting hints?

skysh4rk · May 8, 2017

AgX said:
If there is no voltage at the power supply this is a failure of that supply, not of your darkroom set up.

In case the LPL supply is not a regulated one, you would be even better off with a 230V supply.
Whether that needs to be regulated is a matter of the stability of your mains. Whether it will be sufficient for the substitute supply to yield 12V AC or whether you actually need 12V DC depends on the circuit of your enlarger.

Malcolm Stewart said:
There should be a "Rating Plate" on your Rollei RDE Power Supply. What does it say? What symbols are close to the figures? That should tell you the input voltage range, whether the output is AC or DC, and what the voltage is. Is there a fuse? Has it blown? Good luck, it looks smart.

Jeff L said:
I have seen this enlarger branded Rollei, Nikor and LPL. Just FYI incase it helps for parts searches.

ic-racer said:
What is the knob on the front of the power supply? Where does the timer connect? Where, and under what conditions did you measure the output in AC to determine it was zero? Is there a fuse? Does the manual give any troubleshooting hints?

Wow, thanks for all of the advice. There is quite a bit to think about.

I am away for a couple of days, so I don't have the enlarger in front of me, but from memory there is a power switch and then a wheel for selecting the power input (e.g., 120V, 230V, 240V) on the front.

I had used a non-contact voltage tester tool to check for voltage. It went red for the power cable into the power supply unit, it was even red when I put the tester up to the power switch on the front, but it did not light up where the cable runs out to the enlarger head.

When I have the enlarger back in front of me again I will check about the fuse inside and also the Rating Plate to determine the voltage, AC/DC, etc. and report back.

Fingers crossed that I can get this thing going!

skysh4rk · May 12, 2017

To update here, I had a friend who is more experienced in electrical matters and with some better equipment take a look at the enlarger and power supply. He says that the power supply/transformer looks to be working fine, but there appears to be an issue with the cable that runs out from the power supply to the enlarger. I'm going to see if I can replace this cable to get things going.

ic-racer · May 27, 2017

Did you get this working?

Arklatexian · May 28, 2017

choiliefan said:
Having had a similar problem with an Omega B power supply I would clean the contacts in the power switch before taking more drastic action. Fixed mine with a spritz of tuner cleaner while toggling the switch. Brass contacts can develop a green waxy crud over time. The tuner cleaner or similar solvent may fix the problem.

+1

AgX · May 29, 2017

choiliefan said:
Brass contacts can develop a green waxy crud over time.

I never experienced such at electrical installations. Such wax-like crud though can be found were copper or brass were fixed to leather.

Maybe they form in corrosive atmosphere when there is grease at the contact, though that actually would migrate over the contact and protect it. Maybe the grease itselve was corrosive.

skysh4rk · May 29, 2017

ic-racer said:
Did you get this working?

My friend was going to try to replace the cable for me, but he's been busy over the past week. I'm hoping that he'll be able to get to it this week. I'll report back with news once I know anything more.

skysh4rk · Jan 4, 2018

ic-racer said:
Did you get this working?

oldtimermetoo said:
+1

Sorry, I've only just logged into the forum for the first time since June last year, so never got a chance to update. If anyone is still interested, there was good news in this case. It was a very simple fix, as all that was required was a new bulb and the enlarger sprang back to life. I haven't actually gotten to properly use it yet, as we've been doing quite a bit of travelling recently, but hoping to make more use of it over the coming months.

voceumana · Jan 5, 2018

If you used a non-contact tester, then any open circuit on the output would say that there is no current flowing--even if the power supply is working correctly, and the cable is working correctly; for example, if the bulb were missing or burned out. So your new bulb makes sense to get it working.

skysh4rk · Jan 5, 2018

voceumana said:
If you used a non-contact tester, then any open circuit on the output would say that there is no current flowing--even if the power supply is working correctly, and the cable is working correctly; for example, if the bulb were missing or burned out. So your new bulb makes sense to get it working.

Yeah, I didn't realise that the tester would report no current if the bulb were burned out. Glad to find out that this was the case though.

voceumana · Jan 5, 2018

No bulb=nocircuit=no flow. Like a switch in the off position.

Power Issue with Rollei RDE Color 6x7 Enlarger

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