Delay in Gralab Timers

[Michael Graves]

I have a Beseler 45MX with a 45M dichro head. With an old mechanical Gralab timer, when I hit the switch it turns on instantly. I have two different Gralab digital timers. With both of them, using either the footswitch or the pushbutton start, there are intermittent and unpredicatble delays before the light in the head fires up. So if I have the timer set for a 6-second exposure, I might get 6s or I might get 3.7s or whatever. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

I don't think it's the timers, because I have a Beseler 57M with a cold light head and both timers work perfectly on it.

[Nick_3536]

I don't remember my 450 having any trouble with my condensor head. I don't remember if I ever used it with the dichro head.

[Donald Qualls]

There's nothing in a Gralab that should/could cause that kind of delay unless you have a *major* case of oxidized or burned contacts in the relay or the microswitch that controls it; if that were the case, I'd expect the problem to be worse with a high draw (which a dichro head might have, if it's got three separate lamps).

You might try testing the timer with various other loads -- floor lamps, a small hotplate, etc. (resistive loads only, please, no motors) -- to see if there's a particular current draw that causes the delay; if you do find that to be the case, a new relay is probably the fix (nope, no idea if Gralab sells parts or will repair an older unit -- they didn't even answer my e-mail with a question about mine -- and it's not at all obvious, with mine, how to dismantle it non-destructively; mine is put together with blind rivets).

[cyrus]

I had an old mechanical gralab that would simply stop once in a while, especially around 30 seconds left to go. I assumed something was worn out in there so I chucked it and went with an electronic timer.

[Eric Brody]

For what it's worth, I have a Graylab digital timer with a Beseler Color Computer Dichroic head, origin circa 1982, that does the same thing! You are not alone. I used to use it with my Zone VI VC cold light head and it had no delay. The delay seems to get less when the timer is started a few times. What I do, and it is a bit of a pain, is to hold cardboard under the lens, start it a couple of times, then it seems to "work out" its delay and I can make the print. I'd love it if someone could help with a fix short of getting a new timer.

Eric

[John Kasaian]

I bought a costly new Gra-lab that worked for awhile then suddenly died. I then bought an old metal Gra-lab off ebay for 1/4 the price of a new one and the thing keeps on plugging away like a Timex watch. FIts funny how those things can happen!

[Michael Graves]

It wouldn't be so frustrating if it wasn't for the fact that both timers work so well on the cold light. I've had one of them for years. On the 45MX, I only had a condenser head and it always worked fine. Then I bought the 5x7 and kept switching them back and forth between the one timer. When I saw the other Gralab about to close on Ebay for a few coins I figured, what the heck, why not have a timer on each one. Worked fine until I got the dichroic head. At first I figured it was the head. But when I tested it on the old mechanical Gralab it worked perfectly.

I'll try the "warm-up" bursts and see how that works. Thanks for all the responses.

[Scott Davis]

I had this problem quite noticeably with my Beseler Dichro head for my 45 series enlarger. The head is the older dichro head with the mechanical dials to set the filtration. I switched to an RH Designs Analyzer Pro, and I still have this problem, but to a much lesser degree. I suspect it may be a problem with the Beseler heads for the larger formats.

[nolindan]

These sorts of problems are common with digital timers and electronic heads. Electronic heads have their own lamp relays/scrs and the timer only turns on a small relay or electro-optical circuit in the head. There are two scenarios: the head doesn't draw enough current to 'wet' the contacts in the timer's relay; the timer passes enough current through it's protection circuitry to trigger the head.

Try plugging a small light bulb in to the timer along with the head: plug an outlet strip into the timer and plug the head and a small light into the strip.

If this solves the problem you can put a 7W lightbulb in a large tin can as a 'dummy load'. If you are handy with electronics or know someone who is you can add a small power resistor to the head that will cause the head to draw enough current from the timer so the combination operates properly.

[Michael Graves]

Somebody PM'ed me with a similar solution. And last week, I bought a Time-o-Lite electro-mechanical timer. When it gets here, I'll hook it up to that enlarger and see if the problem goes away. In which case I'll be stuck with a fancy digital time for my Christmas lights.