To all,

I wonder if somebody had good luck using CSI 444C strobelight, in particular, for slow motion analysis as claimed in the manual?

Thanks in advance.

It works as advertised with the 2120. It tracks the cursor, has the phase adjustment, it's bright. . .all this and more conveniently packaged in the size and weight of a cinder block. I've never used it with a 2130.

The 444C is the Sherman Tank of strobe lights. I love mine, but only use it on special ocassions due to it's size and weight. The old grey units didn't quite work right with the 'extra' features. But the newer black one that I have seems to work as intended. Using an accel and an ICP power supply, you can trigger it off a good 1x signal right off the machine.

Rusty; I'm confused? I use the 444C blk beauty as a trigger. But what about the acel to trigger the 444C? Or am I readign it wrong?

David, to answer your original question, using a strobe light is very useful in a number of instances.

It will reveal "shuttling" of fan or pump shafts due to thrust bearing damage. For large amplitude, resonance-related vibration, tuning the strobe to a speed lower than the running speed (usually 100-200 rpm lower) will allow you to actually see the large amplitude movements, and where they are occurring. For VFD applications, and some gearbox applications, it will allow you to observe what I call the "fast twitch" behavior (torsonial vibration) of the motor/gearbox shaft.

Perhaps the most unique thing I've done with a strobe is finding a broken pump shaft. Vibration at the outboard pump bearing was erratic with sharp impacting, but the inboard bearing was relatively smooth. "Freezing" the shaft at the outboard end showed the shaft was 'jerking' erratically, but the shaft at the inboard end was very smooth, with no jerking or twitching at all. I used the movie mode of my diigital camera to 'record' a movie of both ends of the shaft as proof of what I was seeing. When disassembled, the pump shaft was broken in half at its center, inside the pump impeller. This is what held it together enough to run.

I wear the PK2 pocket strobe on my tool belt and check the running speed of every machine I check. The strobe and my digital camera which 'freezes' any rotating part for inspection are my two most used tools, other than my mechanical 'ear' (file with a plastic handle) and my 2120.