The Tracking of Quartz Lamp Hours
Under the parameters section of the discovery screen, you will be able to see the lamp hours for
each quartz unit in the system. There is a built-in default of 30 minutes in the lamp hour time
count even after a reset of the counter.
The power line frequency is used as a time base to calculate the number of hours a lamp has
been operating. The time base is compensated to work with either 50 or 60 Hz power. If the
lamp is on at any level above 0, the lamp timer is counting. Internally, the number of hours,
minutes, and seconds is held in RAM memory. When the number of hours changes, the new
number of hours is stored in non-volatile EEPROM memory. The lamp timer is paused when
the dimmer is set to 0%. Minutes and seconds are not stored in the EEPROM memory. To do
so would over exercise the EEPROM using its limited number of write cycles within a month of
operation.
If power to the dimmer is lost, the last number of hours saved to EEPROM is recalled upon
power up. Also, at power up, the minutes timer is loaded with 30 minutes. This scheme is in
place to compensate for the potential of minutes "lost" during a power down cycle. The total
number of lamp hours which the timer can accumulate is 65,535 hours. Once the timer reaches
this maximum, it will *not* roll over. The total remains at the maximum.
Standard RDM commands are used to read the lamp hour meter. An RDM "SET" command is
used to reset the lamp hour meter. When the lamp hour meter is reset to 0, the saved EERPOM
value is also updated.
Altman Lighting 2 Circuit
Smart Track Fixture RDM Features
www.altmanlighting.com
57 Alexander St., Yonkers, NY 10701
Tel: 1-800-4Altman Fax: 914-963-7304
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