Zone VI 4x5 VC head problem

[MarkL]

I did something to my Zone VI VC head so that now, whenever the power is on, the green light is lit and cannot be turned off unless I switch the controller to focus mode. In focus mode, only the blue light is on. When in either expose or focus mode, rotating the green and blue intensity knobs does nothing.

The head worked perfectly before I messed with it. I opened up the head, intending to temporarily remove the acrylic diffuser so that I could alter the flange which supports it. But inside it looked like a can of worms so I sealed it back up, leaving everything intact. When I replaced the head on the enlarger and plugged everything back in, I didn’t realize that the manual specifies that the power cord be the LAST thing plugged in, which is not what I did at first.

So, I assume I caused a problem by plugging the power cord into the head’s timer input before plugging anything else in, although I don’t see why that would cause a problem. I opened the head back up and do not see any wire that came loose or anything looking out of place.

Does anyone know if this is repairable, and if so, whether anyone is still around who could advise me? I hate to just trash it but it’s useless as it is.

Thanks!

 

[voceumana]

Contact Richard Ritter: http://www.lg4mat.net/

He did a lot of the work at Zone VI and probably knows about these things.

 

[bdial]

+1 on contacting Richard.

 

[MarkL]

Richard says he left Zone VI before they started selling the VC heads. Does anyone happen to know anyone with knowledge of the electronics of the head?!!

 

[Peter Schrager]

What you did will not cause the problem.wish I could help but I dumped mine years ago...not sure how large you print but my minolta 6x7 enlarger with colorhead...is one to look for

 

[Richard T Ritter]

I would open the head back up and look for a broken wire.

 

[MarkL]

Problem solved. I noticed that the grey wire which runs to the controller was twisted. You can see in the pic here that I had all the cords zip tied. It must be that when I hooked the wires back up, that wire got twisted enough that the connection inside the head got affected. Zip tie removed and all works. Whew!