my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » BACP Analog Reader Failure Rates

Author Topic: BACP Analog Reader Failure Rates Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-10-2005 09:05 PM                     Last week one of the many BACP analog readers we have suddenly quit working. This is surprising since Bay Area builds some good stuff. Making a long story short, no contact was made between the power source and the +12 LED indicator. As a result, no sound. A quick change-out with a digital house, coupled with a next day visit from a good service tech with proper tools for alignment, and the day was saved. No noticable cracks on the board, no surges, no broken pins, nothing out of the ordinary. Very strange. Has this ever happened to anyone else?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-10-2005 09:12 PM                     Since they became available...... not one failure out of hundreds... and I literally do mean hundreds! Ditto for the penthouse reader. I think we've done close to 40 DP-70 alone so far plus all the usuals that are out there.... A great design. Mark @ CLACO  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 05-11-2005 12:10 AM                       Aaron, I thought I felt my ears burning so I checked in. I don't think I dealt with this directly, but I'm glad you're back on the air. The power supply/line amp is removable without disturbing the reader alignment so the in-house staff can usually take care of a bad module without a tech having to come out. This of course assumes you have a spare module or can "borrow" a board from another screen to test with and isolate the problem. There is a mini backplane that connects the in's and outs but it has only passive components so this does not normally fail. There are failure modes that do require the entire reader to be replaced, such as a solar cell failure or a damaged lens.  |  IP: Logged Rick Long Jr Expert Film Handler Posts: 211 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-11-2005 12:26 PM                     Could it be the power supply you are using? I've heard that using an old supply such as an R-1220 can give the unit too much voltage, as it was originally intended to run with a 4-5 amp load. Without the load, the voltage climbs and pops the regulator. I've always used the included transformer, unless the existing supply is regulated. Just wanted to add, of the dozens we've installed here in Ontario, not one has even hiccupped.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-12-2005 11:06 AM                     quote: Sam D. Chavez The power supply/line amp is removable without disturbing the reader alignment so the in-house staff can usually take care of a bad module without a tech having to come out. Unless one of your co-workers helping diagnose the problem felt the holding bracket slightly move when pushing the card in, possibly throwing the asmuth off. Our tech was due in for a post-maintenance call anyway. He was more than happy to do a sound check. quote: Rick Long Jr Could it be the power supply you are using? Not likely. The reader has been in for over a year now and there are five others of the same generation installed at our theatre and working flawlessly. Like you, we use the transformer too. I think we all agree here that this is more of an anomaly than a serious product issue. Of the thousands that are out there one was destined to go eventually. Are we the first? If so, will BACP replace it for free?  |  IP: Logged Nic Margherio Film Handler Posts: 91 From: St. Louis MO, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-13-2005 11:25 PM                     From time to time on my BACPs I have had the green phoenix-stlye plug work its way out of the socket just slightly causing a loss of continuity between the preamp board and the LED. A simple re-seating solves the problem. It can be difficult to detect because visually the plug seems to be in place, its just seperated enough that the metal does not make contact. This has only happened maybe four or five times on fifteen screens over the last three years...never had a problem with any preamp board, power supply, or LED module.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-14-2005 12:45 PM                     I've also had that problem once every five months or so on a particular machine here too. In fact, I was going to post about that particular problem but never got around to it because it is so minor and easily fixed. Now that you mention it, anybody else had this situation?  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.