Hey Everyone...
Got a problem with an air-cooled argon; hoping some of you can give me a little advice.
I've got an SP-261B, 110V Argon power supply hooked to an SP-163A head. I removed the working single line (488nm) tube from the head, and installed a multi-line head that I bought off E-bay. (The single line tube was a model 092, and this multi-line tube is a model 093, but it's otherwise identical in size and shape.)
I had to screw on a connection to one of the cooling fins at the nose so I could hook up the anode wire. Otherwise, everything hooked up the same as the 488nm single line tube I pulled out.
I fired up the power supply, and.... Shit.
All I get is a flash of light when the starting pulse hits. The tube doesn't stay lit. The power supply keeps trying to start the tube, but after 3 or 4 flashes I usually turn the key back to standby. (I remember reading in the FAQ that it's not good for either the tube or the power supply to just let the ignitor keep pulsing the tube like that.) I had the power supply in current control mode with the current dialed up wide open. I tried it 5 or 6 times this morning with no luck.
So now what? I'm assuming that either I've got a tube that is near end-of-life and is thus low pressure, or else it's a tube that has been sitting on a shelf for a long time and is high pressure due to outgassing. Either way it's not starting. So what's my next move?
Adam