Flash Tube Repair

[Ronsc1985]

As I posted awhile back the flash module is really easy to disassemble with a heat gun and a utility knife.

I finally got around to replacing the xenon flash tube which was broken and is most likely the cause of most all flash module failures. The old flash tube and reflector assembly is easily unsoldered from the circuit board using a small fine tip solder iron.

The replacement xenon tube a XFTR-1015-2300 Reflector with Flashtube Item# XFTR-1015-2300, from Xenonflshtubes.com seems to be an exact replacement for the factory tube assembly. They cost 5.95 USD in quantities of one. The company is in Israel so there is a shipping charge. To the US it took about 10 days and the total cost for three tubes and shipping was 26.85.

I installed the repaired module in the GC2 and it seems to work perfectly. It picked up all shots from drives to putts correctly. This was not an extensive test since the hitting cage is in my garage where it is uncomfortably hot this time of year. When the weather cools off a bit I'll reinstall it and see how long it lasts.

Given the alternative of buying a new flash module for 150-500 dollars this seems to be an easy and inexpensive fix. Once you initially get the original failed module apart it takes about 5 minutes to make the switch. Once taken apart you can just snap the module casing back together with no need to reglue since the attachment screws will hold the assembly together.. That way you can just take it out of the GC2 unsnap it and replace the xenon tube rapidly.

In summary you will need a small low powered soldering iron with a fine tip, a wire stripper, as the wires attached to the replacement xenon tube assembly are rather long, rosin core solder, some rosin remover (I use carburetor cleaner). and some kind of easily removable adhesive (I used a dab of some 5 minute epoxy) to hold the flash tube reflector solidly in the circuit board. Unless this replacement tube lifespan is so short you have to replace it very often there would not seem to be any reason to not just repair one that bursts the flash tube and therefore quits working.

I don't plan in spending any time looking for a more robust bulb since this one is so easy to replace and comes as a sub assembly with wires and a reflector.

[Boo Radley]

Someone should start a repair business for these flashes...........I bet people would pay $50 to have their flash repaired......maybe??? alternative is $500.......I just repaired mine ( it is pretty simple) but haven't tested it yet........

[goatbarn]

I'll make a video installing it when I get mine in.

that said, I've literally never soldered anything, except for a door bell craft when I was about 8.

[Ronsc1985]

I'll make a video installing it when I get mine in.

that said, I've literally never soldered anything, except for a door bell craft when I was about 8.

Practice a little before attempting the repair. If you screw up the circuit board it's game over.

Soldering is easy. Just get the joint you are trying to solder heated with the iron before applying the solder. Use rosin core solder. The plumbing stuff is acid core which will eventually eat away at the circuit board lands. For this job get the smallest, lowest heat soldering iron you can find and you won't screw anything up.

[goatbarn]

Definitely going to have to Google all that stuff when they come in...lol. thanks.

[inorkuo]

hey Ronsc1985 or anyone else who might know, i think my trigger transformer blew last night and was hoping to find out the specs on it so i could try to replace it.

i received my order of the XFTR-1015-2300 xenon tube assemblies a few days ago. I swapped out the tube from a broken spare flash and it worked great for a couple of days. last night after hitting balls for a while, the gc2 stopped reading shots. i checked the flash and the tube had melted. i figured i got a dud in my pack of bulbs and soldered in a new one but no joy. i swapped in another flash and still nothing. at this point i figured it wasn't the bulb. i swapped in my original flash unit and the gc2 was reading shots again so it's got to be the transformer but i don't see any identifying marks on it. i've attached a pic of the board. should i try scraping off the green layer on the transformer?

[Ronsc1985]

hey Ronsc1985 or anyone else who might know, i think my trigger transformer blew last night and was hoping to find out the specs on it so i could try to replace it.

i received my order of the XFTR-1015-2300 xenon tube assemblies a few days ago. I swapped out the tube from a broken spare flash and it worked great for a couple of days. last night after hitting balls for a while, the gc2 stopped reading shots. i checked the flash and the tube had melted. i figured i got a dud in my pack of bulbs and soldered in a new one but no joy. i swapped in another flash and still nothing. at this point i figured it wasn't the bulb. i swapped in my original flash unit and the gc2 was reading shots again so it's got to be the transformer but i don't see any identifying marks on it. i've attached a pic of the board. should i try scraping off the green layer on the transformer?

You should be able to measure the resistance of the transformer primary and secondary winding with a multi-meter. . If you don't get an open the transformer is probably O.K. unless it has a internal short. I don't remember which pins are which. One obvious transformer lead is the one connected to the flash tube with the white wire. As to part number I don't know since I never looked into that since my transformers were O.K.

[inorkuo]

on the other site someone that seems to know what they are talking about recommends this as a replacement http://www.xenonflashtubes.com/tc-2504.html

however he also mentions that it is not compatible with the existing pcb. i don't know enough about elctronics but maybe a hack/workaround is possible? the existing trigger transformer has 3 leads and this one has 4. any ideas on how you would go about installing the one with 4 leads?

[inorkuo]

i tested the transformer. i'm not sure which leads are what so lets call them 1, 2, and 3 with 1 and 2 connected to the pcb and 3 to the flash tube. i get 55 ohms between 1 and 3 and the same between 2 and 3. i have continuity between 1 and 2 but not between 1 and 3 or 2 and 3. does this mean i have an open and the transformer is bad?

i found this trigger transformer with 3 leads that has the same input voltage, output voltage and capacitor rating as the recommended one i linked above with 4 leads. any ideas?

http://www.xenonflashtubes.com/tc-36.html

[FaultyClubs]

》》 "existing trigger transformer has 3 leads and this one has 4. any ideas on how you would go about installing the one with 4 leads?"

I haven't looked at any of this stuff so can't really help but this part seems easy. A 3 or 4 lead is the same except the 3 lead has internally joined together the two common leads. You make the 4 lead version into a 3 lead by connecting the common of each input and output together (that's pins 1 and 2 in the 4 lead schematic you linked).

EDIT: To test find this common lead and then make sure there's a connection from it to each of the other two leads. From the 3 lead schematic you linked one set will have 122 milli-ohms and the other 22 ohms. Infinite resistance on either set means it's blown. Actually, infinite resistance between any of the three leads means it's blown.

[inorkuo]

thanks FaultyClubs. i don't get infinite resistance between any of the 3 leads but there is nothing else on the pcb besides some wires and the connector that plugs it into the gc2. i'll try soldering on a third bulb tonight.

[Ronsc1985]

i tested the transformer. i'm not sure which leads are what so lets call them 1, 2, and 3 with 1 and 2 connected to the pcb and 3 to the flash tube. i get 55 ohms between 1 and 3 and the same between 2 and 3. i have continuity between 1 and 2 but not between 1 and 3 or 2 and 3. does this mean i have an open and the transformer is bad?

i found this trigger transformer with 3 leads that has the same input voltage, output voltage and capacitor rating as the recommended one i linked above with 4 leads. any ideas?
http://www.xenonflashtubes.com/tc-36.html

Your explanation is confusing.You say you have 55 ohms between 1 and 3 but you then say there is no continuity between 1 and 3. Both things cannot be true at the same time. Aside from that with a common terminal i.e both primary and secondary share a common terminal, probably the ground, you should be able to measure something besides an open between any two terminals.

[FaultyClubs]

Yikes! Lol

There's no capacitor. The meter only beeps if the resistance is below a certain value. The value threshold typically depends on the range setting. Whatever you are measuring is higher than the beep threshold value is all.

Put your meter on its lowest resistance range setting (tell us what it is) and tell us the readings between each terminal. 1-2, 2-3, and 1-3. Also tell us the reading when you just hold the meter probes together.

[inorkuo]

haha yea... i definitely don't have the knowledge to be messing with this stuff but it's never stopped me before.

i just read the multimeter manual and the threshold for beeping is 70 ohms and not adjustable.

i set it to 200 ohms and here's what i get
1 and 2 - 0.3 ohms
2 and 3 - 55.3 ohms
1 and 3 - 55.5 ohms
when i hold the probes together - 0.2 ohms

So if the beeping threshold is 70, it should beep for 55 but it doesn't.

[FaultyClubs]

Those readings look ok to me.

They say that 2 is your common pin. 1-2 is the input. 2-3 is the output. 3 would be the one connecting to the tube.

I doubt your trigger coil is bad given those readings. But I haven't looked into this at all, haven't even taken one apart. Tretee has done a lot of work so maybe see what he thinks.

I'm assuming Ronsc will give his thoughts in this thread when he gets a chance.

[inorkuo]

on the other forum, tretee replaced his bad trigger transformer with this one http://www.xenonflashtubes.com/tc-2504.html and as FaultyClubs noted, he shorted 1 and 2 together. he says it's working but doesn't know how long it will last.

[Ronsc1985]

haha yea... i definitely don't have the knowledge to be messing with this stuff but it's never stopped me before.

i just read the multimeter manual and the threshold for beeping is 70 ohms and not adjustable.

i set it to 200 ohms and here's what i get
1 and 2 - 0.3 ohms
2 and 3 - 55.3 ohms
1 and 3 - 55.5 ohms
when i hold the probes together - 0.2 ohms

So if the beeping threshold is 70, it should beep for 55 but it doesn't.

It looks like you have a 55 ohm secondary and a very low resistance primary. That is about right for this type of transformer where you are trying to make a kilovolt output from a 5 volt or so input. It's hard to tell if the primary has an internal short which is causing the input current to jump windings since measuring very low resistances is difficult if not impossible with a low end meter. The best you can do is put in another tube and see what happens. The only thing that concerns me is you reported you melted a tube on the last try. When mine broke it didn't melt, just cracked the glass envelope. It would seem the drive electronics in the box are O.K. since your other flash unit works.

Unfortunately sometimes fixing this kind of thing is a real PITA, As I used to teach my junior engineers, there is usually only one way things work properly and a million things that may cause malfunctions.

[inorkuo]

I've seen others post pictures of burnt out tubes and mine was definitely melted and on top of that it only lasted for 3 days or roughly 600 shots. I was thinking the transformer failing might have caused the melting. Do you see a problem with using the transformer tretee is using? also where would the leads go? In the schematic here http://www.xenonflashtubes.com/tc-2504.html lead 4 goes to the tube and 1 and 2 get jumped but I don't know which spot on the pcb gets 1+2 and which gets 3.

[Ronsc1985]

I've seen others post pictures of burnt out tubes and mine was definitely melted and on top of that it only lasted for 3 days or roughly 600 shots. I was thinking the transformer failing might have caused the melting. Do you see a problem with using the transformer tretee is using? also where would the leads go? In the schematic here http://www.xenonflashtubes.com/tc-2504.html lead 4 goes to the tube and 1 and 2 get jumped but I don't know which spot on the pcb gets 1+2 and which gets 3.

As I read it he never actually used this transformer. You can probably use it but it has a different form factor so it won't just fit in the same pcb holes. I have no idea which leads go where except for the hv output.

If you had a known good transformer you could decide by the relative lead to lead resistance. I don't have one apart but you could take your one working module partially apart to make the measurements although that is a risky preposition if you can't get the module apart without cracking anything. In my case it was easy to break the plastic parts loose by applying a little heat and separating the sides with a sharp utility knife. . .

[inorkuo]

I tried a 3rd bulb and still no flash so I went ahead and ordered a few transformers. Also, I took apart my working flash module and the resistance reads 62.8 and 62.9 so a little higher than the broken one. I will report back with my results when I receive the replacement transformers. Thanks to Ronsc1985 and FaultyClubs for the help.

[soccerdude]

Ok, so I want to thank you guys for all the work you've done and information you've provided on how to swap out the flash tube on the gc2 flash module. I don't post very often, but I find this site to be invaluable.

I bought a new GC2 here in Canada last year. It came with 2 flash modules, one in the unit and one spare - which I think is standard (revision I even though the CB says revision D). The first one lasted only 3 months. But I think that part of the reason was that the GC2 was hit a few times on bounce back – because the tube was in pieces when I opened up the flash module. I think I've resolved bounce back issue now.

Anyways, I'm on my second flash module now, and so I thought I’d try to follow the instructions here to see if I could get the replacement flash tube assembly (XFTR-1015-2300) to work.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to work. I thought I did a decent job soldering it all together, but alas, the GC2 would not read any shots.

I then discovered that there was a blue plastic film over the flash tube, but even after removing it, it would not work.

If I had to guess at a problem, I would guess that it was the white wire that was causing me the problem. The soldering of the black and red wires to the CB looked really good. But the white wire doesn’t seem to have a nice silver place to solder onto. As you can see from my picture there is lots of red gunk (that is the scientific term J) at the point where the white wire was connected to. Anyone know what that red gunk is? All I did was try to solder the white wire right on top of the red gunk, and I got it to stick ok, but I can imagine the connection wasn’t the best. Thoughts?

If I had to do it again, I think I would leave the 3 wires connected to the flash module, and cut/strip all 3 wires, and then solder the new flash tube assembly wires onto the wires that I just cut/stripped. Would that work? Would that be the better way to go? If I were to do that, could I use some sort of connectors instead of solder to connect the wires from the flash module to the wires on the flash tube assembly? That would make it easier to connect/disconnect each time a tube died. I can imagine the connection might not be as good though. Thoughts?

One difference between the flash tube assembly that was in the flash module, and even the picture from the web site I bought it from, was that the white wire was pointing in the same direction as the red wire, whereas the ones I got have the white wire pointing in the same direction as the black wire. Could this mean that I have the wrong flash tube assembly?
Anyways, thanks again for sharing your expertise. And thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to offer.

[Ironstrokes]

Ok, so I want to thank you guys for all the work you've done and information you've provided on how to swap out the flash tube on the gc2 flash module. I don't post very often, but I find this site to be invaluable.

I bought a new GC2 here in Canada last year. It came with 2 flash modules, one in the unit and one spare - which I think is standard (revision I even though the CB says revision D). The first one lasted only 3 months. But I think that part of the reason was that the GC2 was hit a few times on bounce back – because the tube was in pieces when I opened up the flash module. I think I've resolved bounce back issue now.

Anyways, I'm on my second flash module now, and so I thought I’d try to follow the instructions here to see if I could get the replacement flash tube assembly (XFTR-1015-2300) to work.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to work. I thought I did a decent job soldering it all together, but alas, the GC2 would not read any shots.

I then discovered that there was a blue plastic film over the flash tube, but even after removing it, it would not work.

If I had to guess at a problem, I would guess that it was the white wire that was causing me the problem. The soldering of the black and red wires to the CB looked really good. But the white wire doesn’t seem to have a nice silver place to solder onto. As you can see from my picture there is lots of red gunk (that is the scientific term J) at the point where the white wire was connected to. Anyone know what that red gunk is? All I did was try to solder the white wire right on top of the red gunk, and I got it to stick ok, but I can imagine the connection wasn’t the best. Thoughts?

If I had to do it again, I think I would leave the 3 wires connected to the flash module, and cut/strip all 3 wires, and then solder the new flash tube assembly wires onto the wires that I just cut/stripped. Would that work? Would that be the better way to go? If I were to do that, could I use some sort of connectors instead of solder to connect the wires from the flash module to the wires on the flash tube assembly? That would make it easier to connect/disconnect each time a tube died. I can imagine the connection might not be as good though. Thoughts?

One difference between the flash tube assembly that was in the flash module, and even the picture from the web site I bought it from, was that the white wire was pointing in the same direction as the red wire, whereas the ones I got have the white wire pointing in the same direction as the black wire. Could this mean that I have the wrong flash tube assembly?
Anyways, thanks again for sharing your expertise. And thanks in advance for any advice you may be able to offer.

Ahhhhh soccerdude.....youll forever be remembered at the starter of the Skytrak and The Golf Club thread that I and many many others checked like 10 times a day, everyday for like a year. Thought you were just a legend that passed through just to ask an innocent question and then disappeared into the horizon......I know youve posted plenty after that but thats the way I prefer to see you as, so im sticking with my story haha

As for this post, I wish I had some answers to your question as I see myself trying this sometime down the line as well. Hoping someone out there finds the key and is able to make it happen. It doesnt look like it would be that hard to duplicate but only minimal success at best Ive read around the internet on people trying it. Does foresight make their own flash tubes themselves or something, they are doing something magically in that little flash box it seems. It must be one or two little things everyone is missing on just being able to copy it exactly to make a fully functioning/long last one themselves.

[soccerdude]

Ironstrokes, you cracked me up Yes, the Skytrak and TGC thread got a lot of hits back in the day. It was fun to watch.