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Author Topic: Adjusting BACP Dolby Digital Reader LEDs Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-05-2008 05:21 PM                        Is there a way to adjust the intensity of the LED in a BACP penthouse reader? I removed the back cover and didn't see any trimpots, nor did I when the housing around the camera was removed. I have a few readers that are showing RED on the video status, others orange and one that sits there flashing back and forth between green and orange before it is even threaded. I have no idea how old these readers are, but they came out of a closed Regency theater in Utah and were shipped to Denver without first removing the flywheels. Two of the flywheels on my four readers were installed backwards somehow (somebody had to really work to do that). One of the readers does not "snap back" if you pull outwards on the sound drum (it does not move at all, in fact). Bent shaft from shipping, maybe? Mark G, were you the tech for Regency in Utah? Don't lie!  |  IP: Logged Clint Koch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1435 From: San Luis Obispo, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-05-2008 06:09 PM                     remove the video statis cover (4 small screws) and there is a small hole with a trimpot that will adjust this.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-05-2008 06:15 PM                        OK I must have missed this, thanks.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-05-2008 06:19 PM                     quote: Mark G, were you the tech for Regency in Utah? Don't lie! Yes Joe I was, however we were on a fix it only if it's broken type of arrangement with Regency! That meaning the equipment never saw regular maintainance doring its entore life. All of those BACP LED's have been replaced once over the years by me but it's probably been a while. The gain adjust should work out fine for them for quite a while. When that location closed we only disconnected the booth equipment... we did not disnmantle it as per their request. Our stage riggers did however lower the screen speakers and surrounds down. Also, you will find one of the CNA-100's is not working correctly to dim the lights . It never did from about the second year it was installed. Regency never wanted us to spend the time to fix it. Good luck with the gear... Except for the Millenniums and a couple of Strong ignitor failures it was never much trouble. Make sure whoever dismantled the stuff didn't loose any of the springs that go behind the flywheels. Use your 100mhz dual trace tektronix scope to set the gains correctly... too much level will overload the processor... too little and you have the situation you're in now. Oh, and Utah being a very dust oriented state... you may want to blow out the 650's and QSC power amps. Mark  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 07-05-2008 06:19 PM                       There is a trim pot behind the CCD cover, where the Red/Green status lght is attached. Look for an access hole for a small screwdriver. As to the drum not springing back there should be a spring in back of the flywheel.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-06-2008 12:56 AM                        OK I found the hole for the LED adjustment trim and they are all a steady green now, thanks. I still have one that reads 5-F-5-F-6-F-8-F-F-F-4-F-F-5-F-F, etc no matter what. Possibly a bent shaft creating too much vibration? There are springs on all of the shafts, I can feel them even on the two units where the flywheel cannot be removed (because it is on backwards and the allen head screw can't be reached). So the one that doesn't "pop back" or move at all can't really be adjusted, but I can feel a spring back there. So Mark, who installed the flywheels originally? Why are two of them backwards? Do I need some super-secret special tool to reach the allen screw if this is the case? quote: Mark G you will find one of the CNA-100's is not working correctly to dim the lights Fixed. That was easy. quote: Mark G Make sure whoever dismantled the stuff didn't loose any of the springs that go behind the flywheels. According to Gary Stanley they came 100% pre-assembled, including the flywheels. That's why I am wondering if perhaps the shaft got a bit bent since the flywheels were left on during shipping. I really hate the gate/trap design of those Milleniums. The trap always is loose and moves about. A bunch of breakers on the lamphouses are physically broken off, perhaps during shipping?  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-06-2008 01:30 AM                     Joe make sure that they are threaded exactly on the lines of the readers. I had the same issue on 1 screen at a venue we installed in Cyprus on 5 Christie projectors and when I reached there I stopped the film for 2 seconds, reajusted the film path on the reader and walla! a solid 3!! The other thing you might want to check is the spring in the casing of the reader. You might want to try to move it a space forth or back depending where it is now. You might have too much pressure on the pad rollers or as you say, you might have a bent shaft . I've personally found these penthouse readers very reliable and with great optics. Demetris  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-06-2008 02:37 AM                     (The Regency was a great place to watch 70mm films there. I cant remember if they had "JJ's" or AA2's - but it was a pretty noisy booth when the machines were running..Place had the great reputation of opening a lot of the summer blockbusters up there located on a hill overseeing the entire SLC valley. Now, it's a large office complex..)  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-06-2008 04:02 AM                        Ha ha I doubt you are thinking of the same Regency. Regency Theaters is a company who shows (mostly) independent-style movies. Anyway the readers are being threaded correctly without too much or too little tension... that is slightly more tension than, say, a Cat702 reader. I have one BACP that reads 0's and 1's, another that reads 2's and 3's and the fourth one reads 5's, 6's, and a few Fs. The spring didn't feel as if it could be moved. I'd be able to check if I could get the flywheel off. Mark, come out here and remove these flywheels!  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-06-2008 04:08 AM                     On the BACP, the threading diagram printed on the reader is very accurately drawn showing the ideal spacing. Essentially you want it just big enough to put a Sharpie marker in between the two tensioner rollers. (I know you already know this Joe...I am only posting it here for future people searching the archives.) I say you send the reader to Mark for him to fix. After all, it's his fault it isn't working properly. EVERYTHING that doesn't work right in Utah is his fault!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-06-2008 08:20 AM                     The sad part is that the theater was closed because the mall wanted its space back.... not because Regency wanted out. There was a shooting at this mall a couple of years ago that killed 6 or 7 people. The mall has new owners that feel a need to face lift the place. Its a pretty cool mall actually...built in the old trolly barn. I can't speak for what happened to the gear after it was all disconnected but all the BACP readers worked just fine when they were last running. We urged them to let us disnmantle them and pack the stuff... now you see what happens when head office thinks they know more than the tech does. P.S. If the flywheel is on backwards don't point the finger here... I didn't install the stuff, in fact the stuff didn't get any service until after it had been in for about two years. I seem to remember hearing that someone from Seattle did the install. In theory it shouldn't matter which way the flywheel is on the shaft, it'll still spin. I remember doing the LED's, sending one QSC in for repairs and the usual dose of DC ignitors failing. Beyond that there wasn't much trouble there. Mark  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-06-2008 04:28 PM                     But Mark, technically the penthouse reader IS a "digital" item, and we all know how much you love playing with digital things.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 07-06-2008 04:37 PM                        quote: Mark Gulbrandsen In theory it shouldn't matter which way the flywheel is on the shaft, it'll still spin. Yes, this I know and understand. But it makes two of them a HUGE pain to remove and service if it is even possible. I still can't figure out how they were even attached in the first place unless someone glued them onto the shaft or something. Is there some really short metric allen key that I'd need if the allen screw is now pointing towards the inside? I can barely even get my fingers around there.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-06-2008 05:22 PM                     I agree... had I had the need to go in the back of any of them I'd have probably discovered it myself. Good luck straightning them out!! Mark  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-06-2008 05:32 PM                     Yes, Joe, a number of manufacturers make special hex heys, probably the best known is the Bondhus "Stubby"(tm), but generically they are "short arm hex keys." It's good to have a set kicking around. And, of course, you can always "sacrifice" an allen wrench and cut it down to size for your application. --jhawk  |  IP: Logged

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