MONARCH INSTRUMENT Nova-Strobe BBL User manual

Nova-Strobe BBL
Basic Battery LED Stroboscope
15 Columbia Drive • Amherst, NH 03031 USA
Phone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.monarchinstrument.com
Instruction Manual

SAFEGUARDS AND PRECAUTIONS
1. Read and follow all instrucons in this manual carefully, and retain this manual
for future reference.
2. Do not use this instrument in any manner inconsistent with these operang
instrucons or under any condions that exceed the environmental
specicaons stated.
3. Certain strobe frequencies can trigger epilepc seizures in those prone to that
type of aack.
4. Users should not stare directly at the light source.
5. Prolonged exposure to the light can cause headaches in some people.
6. Objects viewed with this product may appear to be staonary when in fact
they are moving at high speeds. Always keep a safe distance from moving
machinery and do no touch the target.
7. Do not allow liquids or metallic objects to enter the venlaon holes on the
stroboscope as this may cause permanent damage and void the warranty.
8. Do not allow cables extending from unit to come into contact with rotang
machinery, as serious damage to the equipment, or severe personal injury or
death may occur as a result.
9. This instrument may not be safe for use in certain hazardous environments,
and serious personal injury or death could occur as a result of improper use.
Please refer to your facility’s safety program for proper precauons.
10. Nova-Strobe LED units contains nickel metal hydride baeries which must
be disposed of in accordance with Federal, State, & Local Regulaons. Do
not incinerate. Baeries should be shipped to a reclamaon facility for
recovery of the metal and plasc components as the proper method of waste
management. Contact distributor for appropriate product return procedures.
11. This instrument is not user serviceable. For technical assistance, contact
the sales organizaon from which you purchased the product or Monarch
Instrument directly.

In order to comply with EU Direcve 2012/19/EU on
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE):
This product may contain material which could be
hazardous to human health and the environment. DO NOT
DISPOSE of this product as unsorted municipal waste. This product needs
to be RECYCLED in accordance with local regulaons; contact your local
authories for more informaon. This product may be returnable to your
distributor for recycling; contact the distributor for details.
Monarch Instrument’s Limited Warranty applies.
See www.monarchinstrument.com for details.
Warranty Registraon and Extended Warranty Coverage informaon is available
online at www.monarchinstrument.com.
Monarch Instrument holds the following US trademarks and registraons, all rights
reserved: illumiNova®, Nova-Pro®, Nova-Strobe™, DataChart™, Track-It™.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 OVERVIEW ..................................................................... 1
1.1 LED Strobe Control Panel ........................................... 1
2.0 GETTING STARTED ......................................................... 1
3.0 LED STROBE OPERATION ............................................... 2
3.1 Adjusng the Flash Rate - RPM .................................. 2
3.1.1 Mulply or Divide By 2....................................... 2
3.2 Adjusng the Flash Duraon (Brightness) .................. 2
3.2.1 Flash Duraon - Degrees .................................... 3
3.2.2 Flash Duraon - Microseconds ........................... 3
3.3 Display Units.............................................................. 4
4.0 BRIGHTNESS................................................................... 4
4.1 Calculang Blur.......................................................... 4
4.2 Degree of Rotaon Adjustment.................................. 5
4.3 Pulse Duraon Adjustment ........................................ 5
5.0 USING THE STROBOSCOPE TO MEASURE RPM............. 6
6.0 BATTERIES ...................................................................... 8
6.1 Low Baery Indicaon ............................................... 8
6.2 Charging the Baeries................................................ 8
6.3 Stroboscope Disposal................................................. 9
7.0 SPECIFICATIONS............................................................. 1 0
8.0 ACCESSORIES ................................................................. 1 1

1
Figure 1 LED Strobe Control Panel
1.0 OVERVIEW
The Nova-Strobe Basic BBL LED
(Light Eming Diode) is a rugged
industrial stroboscope that
provides extremely bright, uniform
light output for performing stop
moon diagnosc inspecon
and RPM measurement. The unit
has a pistol grip with lockable
trigger switch and wrist strap for
comfortable handheld operaon
or it may be mounted on a tripod
using the integral ¼ -20 UNC thread
at the base of the handle.
1.1 LED Strobe Control Panel
The Basic LED Strobe has a two-line alphanumeric liquid crystal display
(LCD) and a 4-key keypad that enables the user to control the operaon
of the unit. Most of the icons in the LCD are not used.
2.0 GETTING STARTED
The BBL is baery powered and has internal rechargeable baeries. The
unit should be charged before use (see secon 6.0). The actual operang
me of the stroboscope depends on the ash pulse width. Narrower ash
widths increase the operang me. Note that the BBL strobe will not
operate from the recharger supplied with the unit.
To turn on the stroboscope, depress and hold the trigger. The trigger may
be locked in posion using the side locking buon. To lock the stroboscope
on, depress the trigger as far as it will go and then press the locking buon.
Once the locking buon is set you may release the trigger and the trigger
will be held in place. To unlock the stroboscope, simply depress the trigger
and then release. 1

2
Note: The unit must power down completely (OFF will be displayed and
then disappear) before unit will power on again. This is normal
operaon. Wait 2 seconds before turning the unit back on.
3.0 LED STROBE OPERATION
3.1 Adjusng the Flash Rate - RPM
The ash rate can be adjusted by turning the knob on the side of the
unit – counter clockwise to increase the ash rate and clockwise to
decrease the ash rate. The knob is rate sensive; the faster you turn
the knob, the greater the change in ash rate. The smallest adjustment
is to add or subtract one from the least signicant (right most) digit on
the display.
3.1.1 Mulply or Divide By 2
The strobe ash rate can be instantly doubled (x2) or halved
(÷2) by pressing the x2 and ÷2 buons (shown right). This
is useful in determining actual rotaonal speed. Refer to
secon 4.0 on speed measurement for more informaon.
Note that if doubling or halving the ash rate will cause the
strobe to exceed its capability, the display will show OVER
or UNDER respecvely and the ash rate will remain at the current
ash value.
3.2 Adjusng the Flash Duraon (Brightness)
The ash duraon (the width of the LED ash) can be adjusted by the
user to be a preset number of degrees of rotaon (DEGS) or a xed
number with in microseconds (uSEC). The result is a more or less bright
image at the expense of less or more image blur. Read secon 4.0 on
Brightness for more detail.

3
3.2.1 Flash Duraon - Degrees
To view or adjust the ash duraon, press the BRIGHT
buon (shown right). The display will show the current
ash duraon in degrees of rotaon – note that there
are 360° in a complete rotaon. The degrees shown
is the amount of rotaon visible during the ash. The
higher the degrees, the brighter the image and the
more apparent the blur. Use the knob to increase or decrease the
ash duraon in degrees of rotaon. Adjusng the degrees will
cause this to be the controlling parameter for pulse width. As the
ash rate increases or decreases, the strobe will adjust the ash
duraon to keep it at the preset number of degrees provided this
does not exceed the strobe specicaons. Press any key other than
BRIGHT to exit or press BRIGHT again to go to MICROSECOND
adjustment.
3.2.2 Flash Duraon - Microseconds
To view or adjust the ash duraon in microseconds,
press the BRIGHT buon again aer viewing degrees or
press the BRIGHT buon twice from normal operaon.
The display will show the current ash duraon in
microseconds (uSECS) – this may be calculated from
phase degrees set above. Use the knob to increase
or decrease the ash duraon in microseconds. Adjusng the
microseconds will cause this to be the controlling parameter for
pulse width. As the ash rate increases or decreases, the strobe
will keep the ash duraon at the preset width in microseconds
provided this does not exceed the strobe specicaons. Press the
BRIGHT buon to exit the ash duraon adjustment.
1.2
DEGS
1234
uSECS

4
3.3 Display Units
The display can show the ash rate in revoluons per minute
(RPM) or per second (RPS or hertz). To switch between display
modes, press the DISPlay buon (shown right). The display
units will toggle at each press (RPM < > RPS).
4.0 BRIGHTNESS
The strobe’s brightness depends on how wide the LED ash pulse is; the
wider the pulse, the brighter the visual output from the LEDs. Since the
strobe is primarily used on reciprocang or rotang targets, there is a
downside to the wider ashes. All strobes work by giving short bursts of
light (the pulse width) at a rapid repeon rate (the ash rate). Strobes
rely on the persistence of the human eye (the ability to remember an
image) and its response to bright light to give an apparent stop moon
image. Imagine a sha rotang at 6000 RPM or one rotaon every 1/100
of a second (10 msec). If the strobe ashes once every 10 msec for a brief
moment, the user sees the ash at the same spot in the rotaon of the
sha and the persistence of the eye remembers this unl the next ash
making the sha appeared to be stopped. As the target is rotang, there
is some movement evident during the strobe ash. The longer the ash
duraon, the more obvious the rotaon is and this increases the blur.
4.1 Calculang Blur
Blur can be calculated. For example, if the sha takes 10 msec to
complete one revoluon and the strobe ash duraon is 100 μsec
(1/100 of a millisecond), the sha will turn:
(ash duraon/me per rotaon) x 360°, which is (.0001/.01) x 360 = 3.6°
So you will see the sha move 3.6°. As the ash pulse widens, you
will see greater degrees of rotaon which results in more blur and a
brighter perceived illuminaon (the LEDs are on longer so the average
light the eyes see is greater). The trade-o is blur versus brightness.

5
One also has to take into account tangenal velocity (rotaonal speed).
The further away the rotang point is from the center axis, the faster
the tangenal velocity and the worse the blur appears to be – it is
always the same number of degrees of rotaon but the physical length
of the blur gets bigger as the point moves faster. The strobe adjusts the
width of the pulse automacally to keep the degree of rotaon visible
constant.
There are two methods of adjusng the ash pulse width, and hence
the brightness and consequently the blur.
4.2 Degree of Rotaon Adjustment
The rst method is to adjust the ash pulse width for degree of rotaon
visible (blur). The user can set this from 0.2 to 14 degrees out of 360.
The higher the seng the brighter the strobe appears to be but the
target is more blurred. Opmal seng to stop moon is 1.8 to 3.6°.
The number of degrees is a proporonal amount and remains constant
as the ash rate increases or decreases. The strobe automacally
calculates how wide the pulse width should be at dierent ash rates
to keep the blur constant – the faster the ash rate the narrower the
pulse width. The pulse width equals: (seng in degrees/360) x (1/ash
rate in Hz).
Thus the blur remains constant no maer what the ash rate*.
4.3 Pulse Duraon Adjustment
The second method is to adjust the ash pulse width to a xed
number of microseconds. Here the user sets the ash pulse width in
microseconds not degrees. As the ash rate increases the pulse width
stays the same and the image will get brighter and more blurred as the
ash width remains constant*. The degree of rotaon visible changes
to keep the pulse width of the ash constant*.

6
*Note: There are two limits maintained by the strobe – the pulse can
never be greater than 3000 μs nor can it exceed 14° of rotaon.
The strobe automacally adjusts these values as the ash rate
is increased or decreased to maintain these limits at all mes.
For example - at a ash rate of 600 ashes per minute 14° of
blur represents a ash pulse width of 3800 μsec. The Strobe will
limit this value to 3000 μsec or 10.8° of rotaon (blur).
5.0 USING THE STROBOSCOPE TO MEASURE RPM
The primary use for a stroboscope is to stop moon for diagnosc inspecon
purposes. However, the stroboscope can be used to measure speed in
RPM/RPS. In order to do this, several factors need to be considered. First,
the object being measured should be visible for all 360° of rotaon (e.g.
the end of a sha). Second, the object should have some unique part on
it, like a bolt, keyway or imperfecon to use as a reference point. If the
object being viewed is perfectly symmetrical, then the user needs to mark
the object with a piece of tape or paint in a single locaon to be used as a
reference point. Look only at the reference point.
If the speed of rotaon is within the range of the stroboscope, start at a
higher ash rate and adjust the ash rate down. At some point, you will
stop the moon with only a single reference point of the object in view.
Note that at a ash rate twice the actual speed of the image you will see
two images (reference points). As you approach the correct speed, you
may see three, four or more images at harmonics of the actual speed. The
rst SINGLE image you see is the true speed. To conrm the true speed,
note the reading and adjust the stroboscope to exactly half this reading, or
just press the ÷2 buon. You should again see a single image which may be
phase shied with respect to the rst image seen.