ELC bulbs for elmo 16-cl

[Jon Byler]

I've been working on getting my elmo 16-CL working after discovering a few years ago that the rollers had turned to goo. Almost everything is cleaned up and good to go, just waiting on the rollers now from Urbanski.

I was shopping around the other day for spare bulbs, and noticed there are a couple different options out there regarding "working distance" to the film. Some are 35mm/1.378 in, some are 31.25mm/1.238 in. Can someone tell me which is correct, and if there are specific brands of lamps that are better focused than others, have longer life, etc?

I've been hoping that someone would come up with a good LED substitute at some point, but alas, they don't seem to exist yet. I had an idea to get some sort of reflector and mount a bunch of individual led's around the edge of it, pointing towards the middle of the reflector to get the beam focused, but perhaps there's a more clever way that requires less trouble.

[Janice Glesser]

I find the Osram ECL-HL to be the most reliable .

[Jon Byler]

Thanks, Janice, I will get a few of those to try out! Any idea about the working distance? I don't have any sort of user manuals with mine, so not sure if that is specified somewhere? I was surprised to find bulbs with the same marking, but different working distances.

[Jon Byler]

I noticed when poking around in there, that my projector has a high/low switch for the lamp. Does anyone know what the effective difference is with the switch in one setting vs the other? I'm guessing slight voltage difference, which would give longer life, lower brightness, and warmer color temp on low. I'd not noticed this switch before.

[Janice Glesser]

I generally just use the "High" setting. Yes bulb life will be shortened...but I want the brightest picture possible. I have used the "low" setting on occasion when testing in a small area with a short throw.

As far as "working distance" ... I've never found that to be a consideration.

[Chip Gelmini]

Here is a link where I buy my lamps for my GS 1200 if you call and ask them they might be able to recommend a lamp for your specific projector they are of course in the USA so I don't know if that helps you or not

https://www.replacementlightbulbs.com/lampesc.html

if you look up the ELC lamp scroll to the bottom and find a list of projectors. Under Elmo your model is listed.

Call them and ask your questions. This is a good place for home movie projector lamps.

[Maurice Leakey]

Jon
I always run my 16-CL on the low setting for home use. I get a great 3ft wide picture and well lit. The low setting will prolong the life of the lamp which generally can be quite short.
Here are many offers for the necessary ELC lamp on eBay.
elc lamp: Search Result | eBay

[Jon Byler]

I figured I should get exciter bulbs too, while I'm at it, and noticed that BRK bulbs are in relatively short supply. Replacement bulbs.com has BRS listed as a viable alternative, but it looks like the filament of the BRS is mounted perpendicular to the BRK. Does anyone have experience with the BRS bulbs, to confirm that they work OK?

[Jon Byler]

looks like some BRK bulbs have the filament in line with the length of the bulb, and some maybe perpendicular to it. BRS is only 1w vs 3W for BRK.

[Jon Byler]

It seems to depend on who you ask, whether the BRS is 1W or 3...

[Jon Byler]

From Ron Miller at replacement bulbs:

The ELC has a working distance of 1.25” so 31.75mm for 16mm projection. I am not familiar with the 35mm working distance. The ELC has been adapted to so many different applications from, enlargers, disco lighting and pool lighting to the lamps I used to use in one hour photo equipment. The working distance can vary by application because the working area can be a different size than a 16mm movie frame. In the one hour photo equipment the ELC was a lot further than 1.25” from the 35mm film plane and went through a specially designed light tunnel.

What I recommend is that for 16mm projection you use a lamp with a faceted reflector. You can use any ELC but the faceted reflector will help hide minor scratches. Scratches show when there is a scratch in the protective layer above the emulsion layer of the film. If it is in the emulsion there is nothing you can do, the film is damaged. Filling up this sort of V shaped crack with a No Scratch or similar solution will hide the scratch because instead of the light being refracted away and not going through the emulsion layer it allows the light to go directly through, no refraction. The ELC faceted reflector helps do the same thing by sending the light from a bunch of different directions allowing a higher percentage of the light to avoid refraction from the scratches. It is not perfect but it helps.

On our website the GE and Philips brands have faceted reflectors.

[Maurice Leakey]

Reiterating what Jon says about the BRS (G29) and the BRK (G27). They look very similar, but one is vertically mounted and the other is mounted horizontally.

The former is the BRS, and the latter is the BRK. They are both 4 volt and 0.75 amp.

Here is an eBay listing for the BRK for the Elmo which clearly shows from its filament that it has to be mounted horizontally.

EXCITER LAMP TYPE BRK G27 FOR ELMO 16CL PROJECTOR NEW | eBay

[Janice Glesser]

Exciter lamps last a long time. I just replaced one in my Elmo 16 CL that had been in my projector for 2 years or more. I have been told there are two sizes of the BRK. Mine uses the longer one. I have six of these projectors and they all use the same size BRK bulb. Usually the size is indicated when you buy the lamp so you can get the correct one. Measure the bulb you have in your projector and make sure the one you buy is the same size.

[Jon Byler]

I have never had an exciter lamp burn out, but just in case, good to have spares! I ordered a few different ELC bulbs to try with the elmo, and also bought a variety of EFN bulbs for my bolex 15-L super from Ron Miller at replacement bulbs. The BRS and BAK bulbs were cheap enough that I bought one of each, just to try them out and see. It seems like if I ever really had a problem, that the exciter lamp would be the easiest of all to make an LED replacement.

[Maurice Leakey]

Jon
The BAK has its filament at right angles to the length of the lamp. Therefore, it will not work in your Elmo.
It is designed to operate in a vertical position, such as in a Bell & Howell.

Lot of 4 GE BAK .75A 4V Sound Reproducer Lamps General Electric | eBay