Xenon Flashing Beacons - Just stopped working?

[steviec_lj]

Well, its time to drag these out again what with hedge cutting needing to be done, so I thought I'd test them before fitting them back on the roof of the tractor.

Strangely, neither of the beacons work. They did before being removed.

They're both Vision Alert 511.0D0.

Now, it could be that they both require new tubes, but both at the same time??

Anyone know anything about testing these kinds of things? Generally, I just plug it in to check whether it works, but is there a more in-depth way?

 

[wookie]

Going for the obvious first....

Does anything else work in the socket your plugging into ?
Does the socket only work with the ignition on ?
Battery charged up ?
Broken wire ?
Blown fuse ?

 

[Forestryengineeringservic]

Could be the strobe pack that has packed up. Not uncommon for them to break on strobe light bars.

 

[500e]

http://lightbarwarehouse.co.uk/collections/flashing-beacons/Rotating-Beacons

 

[steviec_lj]

Going for the obvious first....

Does anything else work in the socket your plugging into ?
Does the socket only work with the ignition on ?
Battery charged up ?
Broken wire ?
Blown fuse ?

A couple of other beacons work in all sockets, so ruled out any internal wiring faults.
Socket works with ignition on, but as above.
Battery is fully charged, and in good condition.
No broken wires, I've buzzed the end outs and get continuity. Also get a resistance reading with the lamp in its socket.
No blown fuses, the beacons won't work in any of the vehicles.

I'd love to replace them, but also loathed to as they weren't cheap when originally purchased. I'd expected more than four years out of them to be honest.

I've contacted ESG/ECCO about the units, as they look to have been manufactured in 2008, but we purchased them new just after Christmas 2010 so they seem to have sat on a shelf for at least 18 months in their life.

 

[zx9]

I have not got a clue about strobe beacons but I assume they are like photographic flash guns in that a capacitor is charged from the 12 / 24V supply and discharged across a xenon tube !? When some of my older flash guns have not been used for a while it takes ages for the capacitor to charge enough to allow the gun to fire, just wondering if the old beacons are suffering from old capacitors.

 

[Wedg1e]

We used to fit xenon strobes on radiation warning systems; it was found that the operators would leave the system in standby even when the building was empty. The strobes had something like 1,000,000 flash lifespan; it's surprising how quickly you get through a million flashes when you're doing one every 2 seconds (about 23 days).
We tend to avoid them now as it's difficult to current-sense them (the driver circuit still takes power even when the strobe isn't flashing) and opto-sensing individual lamps is a royal pain in the parts.

 

[steviec_lj]

Finally got around to doing something with these after coming across a brand new and boxed item at a boot fair.

Turns out, all I need are some new xenon tubes. Job is running smoothly once again, until I go on holiday next week that is..