[pure-silver] Re: Beseler/cold light enlarger questions

Leaving aside for a moment your timers and the Resistrol (about which I know nothing but guess is a dimmer),

the condenser head simply has an incandescent globe (with a filament) so it just gets plugged into power. Any photographic timer should be ok.

the cold light head has two inputs: one is a heating element that goes part of the way to stabilizing the output from the head by keeping the unit warm between exposures. (The light output varies with temperature). The other cable is the lamp. Which is which? Plug one cable into the power. If the lamp turns on, that's the lamp cable. If it doesn't, it's the heater cable.

The condenser head should be fine with any timer. The cold light heads, as I understand it, impose a difficult load on some devices, and you might need a relay (contacter in USA?) to isolate the load from the timer. If the cold light head appears to work well plugged into the power directly, but flickers on the timer, then it's definitely not a good combination without the relay/contacter. The heater element is connected to the power for the whole session. Some people connect it so that it's off during exposures (using the safelight output of the timer) so that heat buildup is lessened during exposure, but I don't know if it makes much difference.

Can't help you with the Resistrol.  Maybe you don't need it.

The aristo web site might have some info. http://www.aristogrid.com/

Hope this helps
==================================
At 12:39 PM  2/09/2005, you wrote:

Hi,

I just bought a Beseler MCRX enlarger w/ both an
Aristo V54 cold light head and a condenser head. I've
never used either a cold light or a Beseler enlarger
before, and no manuals were included. I'm wondering if
I've set up everything correctly. I'm hoping someone
on the list uses a Beseler 4x5 enlarger or cold light
head who might be able to help me out?

My questions:

1. I set it up w/ the Gralab 450 digital timer that
came w/ it, and it seems to work alright, but the
light from the cold light head flickers a bit, rather
than being a stong constant light. Is that standard
for cold light head?

2. When I use my Beseler Audible Repeating timer w/
the cold light, times up through 8 seconds seem
accurate compared to my watch, but longer times are
slightly short by half a second or slightly more. In
addition, the metronome beeps on this timer are now
slower than 1 second. For example, if I set 14
seconds, the light will be on for 13.5 seconds or so,
but I only get 10 beeps. At 5 seconds, I get 4 beeps.
This problem w/ the metronome does not happen w/ the
Gralab timer, and it does not happen w/ either timer
when using the condenser head. Can one only use
certain timers w/ a cold light head?

I really like the Beseler timer, and would prefer to
use that one, but am afraid I might burn it out.

3. Am I setting up everything correctly?

The cold light head has 2 power cords coming out of
the light. One goes to the timer, the other goes into
the plug on the side of the Resistrol. The timer is
plugged into the outlet labelled "switch" on the front
of the motor, and the power cord from the motor goes
to the wall outlet.

The condenser head has only one power cord, so must be
set up differently. The way I figured out for that is
to plug the lamphouse into the Resistrol, plug the
motor power cord into the timer, and the timer into
the wall. Into the "switch" outlet on the motor, I
plug in a very short cord that ends with a toggle
on/off switch. (with this set-up I can only use the
motor when the timer is set to focus.

4. What's the purpose of the Resistrol adjustment, and
when should I change it?  (With the condenser head,
the needle registers a little over 90 volts. With the
cold light, it only moves slightly up to around 50.

Thanks.

John Meyers





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