Star Tech Journal

STAR*TECH Journal
Cranes: BIG CHOICE Chaser Light
Bulb Mod - "Reduce Puff"
By
Frank 'The Crank' Seninsky
Alpha-Qrega Amusements & Sales
F.dison, New Jersey
For alroost a year now, I have been writing
about merchandising and redemption
equipnent for STAR*TOCH JOURNAL.
Redemption has been my hobby for alroost 20
years and I find it quite rewarding to be
known as "The Expert" in this particular
segment of our industry.
The Alpha--{)r[ega Amusements service
department is constantly making design
irnprovenents (both electrical and
mechanical} to the equipnent operated on
our route (and sell and repair for our
friends across the country}. Reducing
service calls and cutting down on our
parts costs is always a priority.
We have come up with an inexpensive
rrodification to save operators of all BIG
OOICE cranes a lot of rooney. Although I
still feel that the BIG CHOICE crane is
the best of all the cranes on the market,
the cost of replacing the "chaser light
bulbs" is a problem that needed to be
addressed and solved.
These chaser bulbs (there are
approximately 50 on a triple crane} are
very expensive, with each bulb costing
between $3 and $4. It has been~
experience that an average of 3-4 of these
bulbs bum out each week on each crane!
Many tines operators don't get a chance to
replace the burned out bulbs until roost of
the bulbs are out. The chaser bulbs are a
very i.rrportant attraction of the crane,
and revenues can be substantially
increased by keeping roost (or all} of the
chaser lights 'a flashin'.
The problem with these bulbs is they were
designed in Europe to operate at 50 cycles
per second and in the USA they are
operating at our higher frequency of 60
cycles. What you have is what I call
"premature uncontrolled filanent fatigue"
May 1987
(BJ
or "PUFF"!
make matters worse, the bulbs are wired
in 'series pairs'. This means that when
one bulb fails, the other bulb that is
wired in series with it, will also not
light. Note that this second bulb is still
a good bulb, but many operators are making
the mistake of replacing the 2nd series
pair bulbs needlessly. All this has becone
very profitable for the manufacturers and
sellers (guess who?} of this particular
bulb.
To
To change the cabinet wiring harnesses so
bulb pairs won't be in series involves
just too much work and expense. It is also
not possible to replace the bulbs with a
sane size socket 60 cycle bulb, because
'nobody makes them'. Sore energetic
operators have resorted to changing the
entire chaser light system; lazy operators
just let the bulbs burn out. Cperators are
caught in a 'planned obsolescence cycle' A
and nust continue spending large arrounts •
of rooney replacing these failed bulbs.
Jimmy, our senior engineer, has been
working on a simple plug-in board to act
as a special line conditioner which
reduces the bulb's filanent frequency and
prolongs the life of these pesty bulbs
substantially. The project has just been
completed and tested and it works! We can
now design these line conditioners for
alroost any machine in our industry. The
one for the BIG OOICE cranes is now in
production.
Figure 1 shows how our "Olaser Light Line
Conditioner" (cr..rc} Board can be plugged
into the existing "Big Choice" Lamp Chaser
Board (I.CB}. The I.CB AC plug (the pin end}
is lifted off Pins 1 & 2 of the Lamp
Chaser Board and pushed onto Pins A & B of
the new CLLC Board.
One new wire goes from Pin 1 of the CLLC
to Pin 1 of the I.CB. Another new wire goes.
from Pin 2 of the CLLC to Pin 2 of the
I.CB. The CLLC Board screws into the
cabinet wall above the I.CB. The
installation takes less than 3 minutes and
is done on location, of course.