Advice on Fiberstars Fiber Optic Lighting

[PhilB]

Hi,

I'm new here, found this site while researching an issue with my Fiberstar system. Looking for some advice if you have any optic or lens type of knowledge.

I have a 10 year old Fiberstar 6008 fiber optic lighting system in my swimming pool. The system uses a metal halide bulb, which sits behind what's called a hot mirror. On the other side of the hot mirror are the fiber lines.

I'm no scientist, but from what I deduce the purpose of this hot mirror is to filter out the infrared emitted from the metal halide bulb, so the end of the fiber lines don't melt.

The hot mirror consists of 3 pieces of 1" square glass stacked together. The top and bottom piece appear to be regular glass, as when I clean them with Windex they come out clear.

Here's my dilemma. I'm in the Northeast, and I opened up the pool last weekend and then went through the lighting system to clean it. The middle piece of glass in this hot mirror platter seems to be different from the other two pieces it sits between. The part is supposed to be clear. But when I hit this piece with some Windex, it doesn't t clean. It has some sort of mineral deposit built up on it, and it's no longer clear. It looks almost like frosted glass now.

I checked with the manufacturer and I can't just get the little piece of glass, I need to buy the entire assembly, for $150 +/-. Not the end of the world, but was wondering if there was something I could do to clean this little bugger- maybe with some muriatic acid - to remove whatever is built up upon it. And if this piece of glass was covered with a film to add optic characteristics, how important would that film be to the overall purpose of this part?

Thanks,
Phil

[Watermom]

Bumping this back up in case Phil still needs some opinions. Welcome to the forum, by the way!

[PhilB]

Bumping this back up in case Phil still needs some opinions. Welcome to the forum, by the way!

Thank you.

I have since ordered the replacement part, but am still curious to understand the composition of this piece of glass, and what perhaps it is coated with that enables its operational characteristics.

Thanks,
Phil

[Pool Clown]

I would look at this from a different angle. Does the frosted middle piece impede the brightness of the Fiberstars? Those units should also have a color wheel. I don't suppose this is what you are trying to clean is it?

[PhilB]

I would look at this from a different angle. Does the frosted middle piece impede the brightness of the Fiberstars? Those units should also have a color wheel. I don't suppose this is what you are trying to clean is it?

Nope - color wheel is a different component. This is a stack of three clear lenses, with the middle one being something special. Combined, the three lenses filter out the infrared light emitted from the metal halide bulb, preventing the end of the fiber lines from melting.

The top and bottom lens in this stack cleaned up fine, but the middle lens frosted over so "clearly" (no pun intended) it was coated with something special. Or maybe just contamination accumulated from being outside for 10 years softened up from the Windex and then dried onto the lens, but I would imagine if this was the case another squirt of Windex would re-loosen it, enabling me to clean the lens, and that is not what is happening. There is no cleaning this frosting from this lens.

BTW, the new part arrived and the new lens is clear.

Thanks,
Phil