Station Lights

I remember when I went in 2000 MF had station lights flashing up and down the roof making it very spacelike. Does MF still have these? They were like neon lights. Heres a picture I see lights there but do they still flash across the station roof?

There are neon lights over the track ("toaster coaster!") and the automated luminaires with MF logo gobos in them. They're both still there, though the luminaires were almost too dim to see last time I was there.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
7/27: Subdivision Cam becomes party cam at the year's hottest Ohio luau!

Jeff said:
("toaster coaster!")

Thats exactly what they look like! lol

Yeah, they might need to get a new bulb for those Technobeams

Why? The lamps either work or they don't. There is no in between. Either the lens if filthy (my guess), they've been purposely dimmed or they've got another bad rubber seal issue as they did with the units that light the lift.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
7/27: Subdivision Cam becomes party cam at the year's hottest Ohio luau!

I wondered about the lights when I was there last. I saw the machines were still both hanging in the station, and when I looked closely I could see the projection being cast on the small disc of the projector. Not on the station wall though...

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*- CP Fan -*
Welcome to...Millennium Force...

No, becuase I AM a DJ for Summertime 1 and I HAVE smart lights, (although not made by technobeam) the haligon bulb inside the fixture can just be dim. Believe me, it has happened to me.

that small disc on the projector so to speak is a mirror that seems rather dirty, might be a part of it i think?

Jeff said:
Why? The lamps either work or they don't. There is no in between. Either the lens if filthy (my guess), they've been purposely dimmed or they've got another bad rubber seal issue as they did with the units that light the lift.

That exactly what I thought when I notices how dim the Gobos were. (except the rubber seal issue)

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I fool so feelish...

I should clarify that the seals in the housings for the lift fixtures didn't cure right, so the heat caused them to vaporize. The vapor then coated the lenses and caused them to appear less bright.

On second thought, I doubt that's the problem with the interior lights because those don't have weather-proof housings, therefore no seals.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

Those don't have HMI lamps do they? HMIs tend to dim over time (halogen incandescent lamps do not). This is an application where the lamps are lit all day long; and an HMI has a much longer service life than a halogen (2000 hrs. vs. 30 hrs).

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Technobeams use Phillips MSD250-2 lamps... whatever they are. I do know that looking around they're about $150 each.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

Actually $179.99 for the single bulb. Here is the bulb. Also, they may just have it dimmed for some stupid reason. I would think that they would want it to be the center of attention, (besides the saftey instructions) :). But i guess not.

Anyways, rode it on Tuesday, the lights seemed to be bright enough.

If you pay that much, you're buying it from the wrong place.

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Jeff (who has bought more than his share of lamps for schools and community theater groups)
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

Yup, that's an arc-type light, Jeff. Not a whole lot of information about it on Philips Lighting's web site but it does indicate that it is a short-arc lamp with an expected life of about 2,000 hours. The way those lights work, there is a high-voltage DC arc across a very small gap. It puts out a lot of light at a point source. The electrodes literally vaporize under the arc, but the inert gas in the lamp "encourages" the material to redeposit on the electrodes. Trouble is, eventually it will redeposit on the glass instead, and ultimately the lamp gets progressively darker until it has to be replaced.

At work I have a couple of overhead projectors and a bunch of data projectors that have lamps that work like this.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Look at the mirrors on the lights in the station. They're incredibly crusty. Looks like they might have been cleaned since the ride first opened. But I'm not sure they have. My guess is that's why they're not doing too hot...

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- John

I looked closely the past couple days at these lights. If you look at the mirror it is very bright. A mirror is to reflect light, not absorb it. When I first rode MF in 2000 I remember these mirrors as perfectly clean. Looks like it may be a combination of several factors:

Possible broken seal

Dirty...absolutely filthy lenses and mirrors

End of the life for these projector lamps

CP .... please maintain what you have! Don't let it go like you did with Disaster Transport. This is an easy fix. If we notice and speak up, how many others are not??