Thread: Interesting Chauvet Hurricane 1250 observations

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So I bought one of those Hurrican 1250 too. The controller and large juice reservoir are nice, but if these are really 800w machines, then we have an issue.

In this case though unlike a light bulb for instance a fog machine draws power, it doesn't produce it.

Seems like a light bulb draws power to produce light and heat (resistance).

Ah now see you just caught on. So what would happen to a 100 watt bulb if you scaled back the current I.E. used a dimmer? The bulb would dim and not use its full 100 watts BUT the amps would not increase. Just like with a fogger in this case you draw back the power it is not going to have its full potential draw to operate at its recommended specs. Brandon's formula only comes into play IF that device is drawing a certain set wattage but that is only if the case was the foggers full potential is 800 watts which in this case it isn't.

I don't know or really care much about the whole 110v and 220v talks... it really doesn't seem to pertain to why I'm only seeing 800 watts pulling on my Chauvet 1250.

So, your Martin Pro Magnum 1700 watter is pulling 91% of its rated watts.

Our Chauvet 1250 1200watters are only pulling 67% of its rated watts.

Something stinks here. I suppose Chauvet would say we are comparing apples to oranges. I emailed tech@chauvetlighting.com yesterday and have yet to hear back. That was the email address in my instructions to contact for support. They should at least have an auto-reply. I might have to call Chauvet as well to see if they can tell me when the machine would ever spike to 1200watts or even 1000watts since I have never seen it do so.

Texas78, which Martin are you talking about? I can only find this one:
Martin Foggers
and it seems to be rated at 1600 watts.





Derrick

Originally Posted by Texan78

Ok I just tested one of my foggers. I used my Martin Pro Magnum in this test which is a 1700 watt fogger. The label on the back says 1700 watts and rated at 14.6 amps. Now when it was heating it averaged around 1600 watts and at 13.5 amps. As soon the heater warmed up and was ready to fog it dropped to 5 watts and with the pump running it was 12 watts. So the wattage was comes into play when the heater is on and going through its cycle.

I found this interesting... which may pertain to your 110v and 220v talks...

Martin Foggers Comparison Table

Notice the Magnum 1800 heat exchanger info. It claims to pull an additional 150watts when running at 220v. Odd that the 1800 is the only one that makes that claim.

Well I've got a Chauvet 1000 and a 1250. Both will be on display on Halloween so I'll be sure to take plenty of video so we can judge the performance between the two.

I'm on the phone with Chauvet right now. I keep getting passed around by people who don't quote know how to respond.

Redrom... do you have any way of testing how much current your fogger is drawing?

I just called Chauvet and I think I talked to the same tech that OpenTrackRacer talked to. He said that this is the second call that he has received about this recently. He said pretty much the same thing as stated before. He doesn't really know anything beyond what the instruction manual states and he admitted it. He also said something like, "Well, the recycle time is already pretty short." Um... sure, but wouldn't it even be shorter if I got 33% more juice into it?

I told him that I understand that what really matters is how much fog comes out... but I must say that I'm a bit paranoid about the fact I spent 3 times as much for a Chauvet 1200 watt fogger expecting to get 1200 watts. (3 times as much as the cheapy 1000 watt fogger at Party City.) Yes, I know I'm getting a bigger reservoir and nice auto-shutoff and maybe much higher fog output and lower recycle times... Shoot.

He didn't say that anything was wrong with the unit. He said he'd make a big fuss about this with the right people. Not much beyond that.

Texas78, I'd love for you to do a kill-a-watt test on your 1000 watt Chauvet. I asked the tech if he thought the 1000watt unit maybe only pulled at 600 watts... and he didn't know. Like I really expected him to...

I know you weren't asking me... but I think my Kill-a-watt device shows Amps. Is that what you mean?

Originally Posted by OpenTrackRacer

I'm on the phone with Chauvet right now. I keep getting passed around by people who don't quote know how to respond.

Redrom... do you have any way of testing how much current your fogger is drawing?