Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi,
Just bought a VLX to do some testing/qualification on as I decide what to do with my (3) VMLs with batteries nearing end of life.

One of the things that I notice about the VLX is that the fan on the inverter appears to be more "aggressive" than what I'm used to on the VML. On the VML, the only time I've ever had the inverter cooling fan come on is when I gave it the "100 watt light bulb test" to test battery capacity.

With the VLX, the inverter cooling fan seems to come on much more liberally:
1) After five (5) sequential full power pops of an E640 on a VLX and the inverter cooling fan will come on. This is unlike the VML where 20 sequential pops of an E640 on a VML and the inverter cooling fan stays off.
2) With the E640 idling on the VLX, the inverter fan will come on every few minutes or so, stay on for about 5-10 seconds and then shut off. Is this normal? Even if the inverter generates enough heat from a single Einstein idling, it seems that 5-10 seconds of fan time isn't likely to cool much of anything. I can leave an idle E640 on a VML, even after firing 20 continuous pops, and the fan doesn't come on.

The VLX processes over twice the power than the VLM, thus generates more heat. The fan turn on settings are factory standard from the same manufacturer that builds Samlex inverters, although we have worked with the factory extensively to achieve superior performance compared to a stock Samlex inverter.

To exemplify this work, we have bought and tested four Photogenic ION VML "Clones". ION uses a stock 120W inverter from the same manufacturer - without our proprietary improvements, and buys clones or our battery design. The result we have measured is that the VLM recycles 25% faster than ION, and achieves 25% more pops per charge.

The fan also has much higher air flow volume than the VLM fan, so five to ten seconds of cooling, periodically, removes a lot of heat. It's critical to inverters designed to recycle flash units to keep the Mosfets cool so they don't overheat during the approximately 700 watts that are processed during recycle.

Short answer: Yes, the VLX fan set point is more aggressive than the VML.

Thanks, Paul!