How long does it take for your smart Astro to heat up?

[babynoggin]

I have had mine on for 3 1/2 hours and the bottle is warm and the base is only hand hot the wax has not moved much yet just around the bottom of the bottle.

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

I saw on the troubleshooting page about room temp. Obviously we all know room temp affects the lamps, but does the smart not have a dimmer of sorts?
i'd be annoyed if it started overheating just because i wanted to have the heating up high! bit pointless to say move the lamp to another room, you wouldnt be able to see it then would you?! :D

Question:
I'm assuming you cant add a dimmer or use a dimmer socket plug in the same way you would for a bulb powered lamp. is that correct? if so, how do you stop it overheating in a warm room or in the summertime?

[babynoggin]

the lava has just moved!! I guess it was just too cold. Just checked the heating plate but can't really tell. Thank you.

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

"automatic temperature regulation ensuring that the unique Mathmos lava lamp formula is always at optimum temperature"

conflicts with below. if it has automatic temperature regulation, why would you need to do adjust the room temperature?

"We recommend a room temperature of 20-23 degrees, so if the Smart Astro is in a cold room it may take longer to warm up and start working, alternatively if it is a in a very hot room it may overheat forming very small bubbles and then stop working. So either move Smart Astro to another room or adjust the room temperature.
Within rooms temperature can also vary so if your Smart Astro is near air conditioning, by a heater or radiator or in a draft this will also affect its performance"

I dont doubt this is an exciting new design, and its certainly beautiful, but i'll restrain myself from buying one until we have more tests by members

[Keith]

It's sad that with almost all companies you have to deal with double-speak :(

[Johnny]

my bottle sits directly on the heating plate, i can see down between the bottle and astro base ( theres a gap of few mm ) not sure if this is spose to be like it or my heating plate sits to high, the old standard bases the bottle sits on the actuel metal base, mines been on for 1.15 hours and only spiked a little,

[Charles]

Photos people, photos !!!!!!!

er....and video. Please.

[babynoggin]

mines not worth a photo just stays in a bubble at the bottom and only moves now and again even after it was on for nearly 6 hours trying it again and after 2 1/2 hours its still in a blob.

[Susan]

The first time I ran our two lamps they took an age to heat up and flow, 2.5 hours plus, and that was with the correct room temp. The second time they ran much better and heated up much quicker. I think it says in the instructions somewhere they need to run three or four times to run in as it were, don't quote me on the amount of runs times though. Mine are running better now after three runs.

I'm still conserned about the yellow waxed one though, it seems to go to really small bubbles after it has been flowing for a couple of hours (with their suggested room temp) It is the same on both the bases. The pink wax bottle runs perfectly on either base. Both lamps are standing next to each other. Must have a softer wax or something.

[Susan]

Babynoggin, what's your room temp? Did you run it more or less as you received it? Could it be because it has gotten really cold in transit and needs to get warmer? I've just received our 3rd lamp today and it was so very cold from being transported in the snow.

[babynoggin]

I have put it near the fire and its a bit better. The flow is a lot slower than the Astro babies I have. I did put it on as soon as I got it was too excited to wait.
It does say it gets better after a few uses so fingers crossed.
Thanks for your help. I will let you know how I get on.

[Susan]

I've found that once the wax is heated and flowing freely, the yellow wax one is much faster than any of my astrobabies are. The pink wax one is much slower than any of my astrobabies.

[Johnny]

mine was the same babynoggin, i moved it and within 10minutes it was blobbing, thou my wax is very grainy looking like lots of small bits of wax not melted/mixed probly, its now been on for 7 hours and the bottle isnt that hot or the base, i put a normal astro on same time and that was blobbing in half the time,
all in all im very pleased with the lamp