Fiberstars RM6000 - not illuminating fiber

[td3201]

Hello,

Novice here trying to fix my pool lights. They are pretty old and acquired it with house purchase. Here's what works and what I've tried

1. Unit powers on
2. Light works
3. Color wheel turns
4. Cleaned inside of unit. Shop vac, cleaning solution on glass surfaces, etc.

I did not touch the ends of the fiber because it's my first time working with it. What else can I do here?

Thanks!

 

[jonpcar]

I used to have these...are you not getting any light out of the pool lenses? From your checklist, everything seems to be in working order. That being said, these don’t age well and there are could be a problem with the optic ends. The ends of my fiber optic cables did get blocked...on the pool side had some dead algae growth. On the light side my replacement high wattage bulb seemed to “brittleize” the optic cable and turned it brownish. I got rid of mine with the 2nd problem but those optic cables could be trimmed if you have that same issue, AND you have some slack.

Also, make sure the clamp that is holding the fiber optic cables directly facing into the light haven’t moved. That “spot light” should be directly pointing into the fiber optic cable...yours is a focused, spotlight right? Someone didn’t replace it with a standard lightbulb to pass a casual inspection?

I don’t think good replacement bulbs for these are made anymore...my original 400watt was down to a 275watt version as the only replacement I could find that worked and fit.

If you are looking to replace these fiber optic lights, the option I went with was sr smith leds...search for “kelo” or “treo” on these forums to get an idea what that entails. They aren’t plug and play for all cases, however...so do your research.

 

[td3201]

This is super helpful. I looked at the bulb. All I know is it is very bright and seems to illuminate the fiber strands. How does one go about trimming the cables? Thanks for the suggesting the LEDs. I bet replacing those would be fun.

 

[jonpcar]

Td, I never actually trimmed mine, I gave up on my system because it was too dim as it aged with all the problems. I imagine the best way to trim these would be to “snip” them with some kind of snippers. “Grind cutting” like a Dremel or grinder will probably melt the ends and introduce inefficiencies/blockage in the light transfer. I do not know what kind of snippers would work best.

But if your plan is to eventually replace these anyway (and they don’t work currently), then you can try just about any method and not be worse off. Maybe multiple tries if you have enough slack. I would visually inspect them though to see if you believe there is light blockage on the ends before attempting this.