H.U.G. the Official HR500 User Group > HR500 performance modifications
Hello Otto,
How is it going down under? I think you have a good idea, I do not think there would be any problem with the main vent fans, as long as they are rated roughly the same for power consumption (you don't want to overload the power supply), but on the lamp fan it may be a little more tricky. The lamp fan is variable speed, if the lamp temp goes up it spins faster. The scanner has a circuit in it that monitors the amperage draw of the lamp fan, if the load is too high it triggers an airflow error and shuts down the scanner. This is a safety system so that if the fan fails or if it gets packed up with dust (thus reducing the airflow) it will shut down the lamp to prevent a meltdown of the very expensive Spectralon Block or possible damage to your film. So, any replacement fan would need to be pretty close in several specs in order to work properly, but I would guess that it should be able to be done. If you are able to do some testing and are able to find a successful replacement, please post it here for all to benefit. Thanks for your participation.
Ray Alpern
Hi Ray,
Things are going very well, thanks. Having said that, I have sent you an email re our slide feeder, gone a little caca.
I have a bunch of techs very close to me, will look into the fans at the back and the lamp fan at a later date. Would an over-spec fan (higher volume rate rather than power usage) cause any problems? I mean, is there any issue with these devices running too cool?
You mention the fan filling with dust. I don't think that has happened to us, but perhaps you could give us all pointers regarding user maintainable issues. That's assuming the user is comfortable with taking off the cover, which we were forced to learn.
For that matter, is there any kind of software maintenance that needs to be performed after a large number of cycles?
Otto Mellar
After we had to replace the hard drive last year, we looked around the inside of our two units (one is a Plus).
Upon casual observation, it seemed that there may be scope to improve the performance in a number of areas, and I would love to discuss these ideas.
Basically, we are all using units that were designed in the late 1990s with parts that at the time were state of the art.
Some parts are essentially irreplaceable (though hopefully repairable) but others are off the shelf common modules.
One of the safer replacements I have considered would be the fans. They are very loud, and I understand that airflow is critical and I do not want to compromise that. However, would it be an idea to replace the large fans at the back (and possibly the one that cools the bulb) with newer technology "silent" units?
If anything, maybe a newer fan can pump more air more quietly.
As our second unit is non-ICE but fully functional and has been reserved for parts, I am prepared to do some testing ourselves. Feedback on the theme of modifications by Ray and others would be welcome before we do anything, as I am very much a "don't fix if it ain't broke" sort of person.