Coollights HMI 575W

S

singlo

New member
hi,
I am very interested in Coollight HMI 575W but their web site hasn't been updated for months and months. I wonder if the product will come into reality in the end?


Even the chinese ripped-off copy of Arri 575W sold on ebay is substantially much more expensive than the Coldllights' offering. I will have no confidence in buying chinese copy in case the HMI ballast goes wrong and there will be zero option for repair or replacement.

I own half a dozen of Arri, Mole-Richardson fresenels and Dedolights already, but a HMI or ceramic discharge fresnel which can runs on daylight MSC lamp is always in my wish list....realistically I cannot afford an Arri 575W HMI in my lifetime.
 
Everything we've put on the website eventually comes into reality and we do have some models of various kinds of 575w out there already with various testers and what I would call "friends of Cool Lights" (i.e. people that have taken an extraordinary interest in what we're doing, keep in touch with me privately, are discrete and are good with new products and whatever quirks there may be in the 1st generation).

We have a long list of things we want to accomplish and unfortunately this isn't at the top of the list at the moment as far as rolling it out other than from special order or test status. There are products with a far greater demand than this and we have to work on the ones that have the greatest demand first.

We do have several 575w only units out in test now and we also have some more expensive ones out there too that use our 575/1200w ballast as well which are not in test as its a proven model. My releasing any of these lower cost 575-only ballast version candidates we have is a matter of time, making me comfortable with their reliability factor and overall stability.

Its just a question of time and capital to make it happen in larger quantity and large quantity is the only way to keep it profitable for me and economical for you.
 
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Richard,

I noticed on your website that the 575 sport par is supposed to be ready Oct 1. How is that coming along? Which lights will be out next?
 
Good to hear your pre-production HMI testing is still alive and kicking. I am definitely interested in both your low cost and more expensive HMI.


Put it this way, an Arri 575W HMI plus ballast costs $5080.

This chinese ripped-off 575W costs $2600:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/steven-studio-china

But i doubt if anyone will be prepare to gamble $2600 on a product that there will be no after sale service or a year warranty...or a technical support person to speak to...High voltage electronic components of ignitor or ballast can crap out in an unpredictable manner if they are not designed and made in high standard.

If your ballast and ignitor are proven to be reliable, there will be no shortage of interest from people like me who can only day dream about HMI.


BTW I am also interested in your CD 150W fresnel, just keep us informed if you
sort out your issues.
 
Bucknfl said:
Richard,

I noticed on your website that the 575 sport par is supposed to be ready Oct 1. How is that coming along? Which lights will be out next?
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Its stalled right now since we got so heavily into LEDs based on popular demand. Budget and time all taken up by that project. The ballast options just need a bit more time too to mature so we can make that model the best it can be. I think the 575/1200 ballast, while super reliable, is a bit too big for a really portable rig so its best to get a good, small and lightweight 575-only ballast that will work well in either a par or fresnel 575 model. We will do it eventually and it will be great once we do.
 
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singlo said:
Good to hear your pre-production HMI testing is still alive and kicking. I am definitely interested in both your low cost and more expensive HMI.


Put it this way, an Arri 575W HMI plus ballast costs $5080.

This chinese ripped-off 575W costs $2600:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/steven-studio-china

But i doubt if anyone will be prepare to gamble $2600 on a product that there will be no after sale service or a year warranty...or a technical support person to speak to...High voltage electronic components of ignitor or ballast can crap out in an unpredictable manner if they are not designed and made in high standard.
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Exactly. That's why we haven't sold HMI's overseas much. They are far more likely to have an issue than a fluorescent unit. I just don't know how to service them well today long distance like that. If something goes wrong on a flo, its so easy to send a replacement whatever and customer can swap it out pretty easily. Anyway, Cool Lights HMI overseas will have to wait until we can get service agents or a presence in various parts of the world. For now, we can handle the domestic USA area pretty well though and service is covered.


singlo said:
If your ballast and ignitor are proven to be reliable, there will be no shortage of interest from people like me who can only day dream about HMI.
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I think they'll be about as reliable as anyone's. If its hot start, they're under a lot of stress and they will eventually need service of one kind or another no matter who's model it is. The cold start models hopefully will prove to be even more reliable.

singlo said:
BTW I am also interested in your CD 150W fresnel, just keep us informed if you
sort out your issues.
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We have the CDM 150 in stock and its working fine. No issues on that model.
 
HMI! HMI! HMI!

Are the ballast that difficult to replace/repair? It is something that if you provided a schematic an electronics shop could repair it?
 
yes it is. It consists of high voltage electronic components that should only be serviced by the HMI specialist repair technician.

Here in London, even the HMI repair technician would refuse to service any HMI light not made by Arri. They would not touch Desisti or any other maker's HMIs
 
pmark23 said:
HMI! HMI! HMI!

Are the ballast that difficult to replace/repair? It is something that if you provided a schematic an electronics shop could repair it?
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What you need is hopefully someone experienced with HMI ballasts but in any case you at least need someone versed in power electronics. That's a dying art. Seems we are producing less and less people that can work on analog electronics like that. With fluorescent ballasts, the failure rate is so low and they are in the price range we can just toss them if they go bad and replace them easily. The 575/1200 electronic ballast though is in our cost range that its hard to see it as a throw away item so there does have to be the skill set available to repair that.
 
almost everyone I know in this business gets their HMIs repaired by Gilbert Navarro at Galaxy Repair in Palmdale CA.
He's fixed HMIs for me for as little as 45 bucks. He even put on back together for me for just a couple hundred that the rental house was going to charge me 3 grand in replacement cost for when it got run over. Gilbert is the man!!
 
Definitely sounds like someone I should know too. We have one person now but in the future I can visualize a whole network of people especially in the larger cities.
 
Cool Lights said:
Its stalled right now since we got so heavily into LEDs based on popular demand. Budget and time all taken up by that project. The ballast options just need a bit more time too to mature so we can make that model the best it can be. I think the 575/1200 ballast, while super reliable, is a bit too big for a really portable rig so its best to get a good, small and lightweight 575-only ballast that will work well in either a par or fresnel 575 model. We will do it eventually and it will be great once we do.
Click to expand...

Does this mean the 575 sport par light is ready, and your just working out the details on the small 575 ballast? It's a real nice looking light.
 
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No, I'm going to redo it because if you want to use it in a lantern configuration, the yoke needs to be attached to the back part--not the reflector area. I'm fairly convinced that people will want that feature.

How can you mount it to a stand with a softbox on it if you remove the aluminum reflector dome and you have no yoke then. While I also love the design and attractiveness of it, that one thing hurts its chances for success so that is one major thing holding me up is that will be a big change.
 
Cool Lights said:
No, I'm going to redo it because if you want to use it in a lantern configuration, the yoke needs to be attached to the back part--not the reflector area. I'm fairly convinced that people will want that feature.

How can you mount it to a stand with a softbox on it if you remove the aluminum reflector dome and you have no yoke then. While I also love the design and attractiveness of it, that one thing hurts its chances for success so that is one major thing holding me up is that will be a big change.
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Your absolutely right, I didn't see that design flaw. Jokers are designed to be easy to take the reflector off and use a chimera and they seem to be the gold standard. Good luck on making the 575, 800, and 1200 par.
 
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