Strobe failure

[Cadstat]

My strobe flashes several times and then nothing. I switch it off and then on and then it flashes several times and then nothing. I assume there is a shielded power pack somewhere far away from the radios. Where would I look for the unit on a 6A? Was there a recommended install location?

[erich weaver]

Look behind the baggage bulkhead
erich

[Dave Watson]

This recently happened to me (Whelen system). One of my bulbs was bad. The system would stop after the initial few flashes and one of the bulbs would continue to glow. Replaced the bad bulb and the system works fine.

[Mel]

If it is a Whelen system with one power supply, it's probably behind the baggage bulkhead as Erich said.
If it is Aeroflash, the individual power supplies are usually in the wingtip.

[Cadstat]

Thanks Mel, It is a whelen.

[Walt]

From the Whelen Manual

XENON FLASH TUBE PROCEDURES
1. A xenon flash tube can be very photosensitive. One will flash normally
when exposed to an external light source, but may become
hard to fire when subjected to darkness.
2. They will become hard firing with age, or when exposed to a very
high temperature. A hard firing tube will sometimes operate with
the engine running, but will fail when operated on a low battery.
3. They can develop a leak through eggshelling of the glass, or a leak
can develop around the seal of the wire to the glass. This is caused
by hot and cold cycling of normal operating of the system.
4. They can go into self-ionization (continuously glow a light blue),
thus rendering the entire system non-operational until flash tube is
replaced. This most likely occurs when the input voltage is highest.
This can be checked by turning the system off. When turning the
system back on, it generally will operate normally for a few flashes
before going back into self-ionization.

ANY OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED CONDITIONS ARE REASONS FOR
REPLACEMENT OF THE XENON FLASH TUBE.
NOTE: Installing one new flash tube in any multi-head strobe light
system, will sometimes cause the remaining old flash tube to misfire
or skip. This signifies that the old flash tube is nearing the end of it?s
service life. However, to check the questionable flash tube, install it in
a system and apply a reduced voltage, approximately 20 percent, to the
input to the power supply. If the flash tube will operate at this reduced
level, it still has a great deal of service life in it.

[billnaz]

I recently had the same symptoms with my strobes. After changing power supply it was still inop. Turned out to be a bad ground connection. Might want to check that first. It's an easy fix.

[Cadstat]

Again Thanks to one and all. What an amazing wealth on info. I'm heading to the hanger after work to trouble shoot.

[s24789]

Check the wire connections to the pins on the moles connectors. Don't ask me how I know to look there.

[RV-4]

Hi All

''wire connections to the pins on the moles connectors ''.....

Exactly the problem I got...My strobes ( Whelen ) had worked flawlessly ever since I owned the a/c then suddenly stopped working for no reason..I checked everything and couldn't find the cause so I bought at a very good price a complete Whelen strobe kit from someone here on VAF...

Once I opened up the floor to look at the power supply closely, I found the power and ground wire of the power connector with the insulation eated away near the molex ( Recently had a mice problem in the aircraft ) and also found a dead mouse right behind the power supply ( probably bit into the wire when power was on ) so I fixed that and all the other Molex connectors and they have work ever since...

Now I have a spare kit for when it stop working again...or have another mice attack..


Bruno