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Author Topic: CP-650, How many different power supplies? Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2010 06:48 PM                     Am curious how many versions of CP-650 power supplies there have been? I have seen at least three. Lately I've been seeing a rash of CP-650 power supply failures. Any one else seeing this. The units are only about three years old. This began about three months ago and the first thing that usually goes is the the reliability of the Digital playback. One yesterday left just the right channel playing in analog. A check of several others showed black glop oozing out of a number of the capacitors. Photo attached of the first one that failed. The new supply is much larger and seems beefier but will it last? Or perhaps I should be saying "Will It Blend?" Bad caps circled in red. Some other cap's tops are bulging outward.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2010 09:53 PM                        Uh-oh....isn't our machine 3 years old?  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-09-2010 10:17 PM                        Hmmm, Mac computers had the same problem with capacitors. I've had 3 power supplies in my G5 iMac, circa 2005. Supposedly there was an international rash of bad capacitors. Wonder if Dolby got caught in the rash.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 05-09-2010 11:43 PM                     Cap failures of that type are caused by excessive heat, faulty caps (bad electrolyte filling), surge/overvoltage, or (not likely in a supply more than 5 seconds old) reverse polarity. A bulging top means a cap that is about to fail. Odds are that you can replace those caps with better quality new ones and revive the supply if no other components got fried.  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Weigel Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1062 From: Edmond, OK, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 05-10-2010 12:04 AM                     quote: Martin McCaffery Supposedly there was an international rash of bad capacitors. Wonder if Dolby got caught in the rash. Yep. One the major cap suppliers had a faulty QC and sent out several bad batches that ended up mostly on computer motherboards. All major computer makers (Dell, IBM, Gateway, Toshiba, Sony, etc.) were hit hard.  |  IP: Logged Marin Zorica Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 671 From: Biograd na Moru, Croatia Registered: May 2003 posted 05-10-2010 02:38 AM                     They use cheapest and bad power supply, normally there is time limit when components will fail, similar to some consumer stuff, even that power supply is same as is in some TV..... Mark, check power supply on Sony processor  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-10-2010 09:15 PM                     Indeed, I agree on the rebuilding of them and at first I thought about doing exactly that but when I got the latest version of the new power supply several months ago for the first time I can say that it was a much beefier unit than the old one was. I ordered two more of the beefier ones today for two critical theaters out of the 5 that are left. I might see about rebuilding the three others since they are less critical. 105 deg.C caps of high quality I would think should last a long time. I admit that this customer is a bit miffed with Dolby at the moment because he was also caught in the middle of the drive debacle and lost I believe a half dozen or so hard drives amongst different sites. So his opinion of Dolby is pretty low at the moment. quote: Mike Blakesley Uh-oh....isn't our machine 3 years old? We will need to check it when I come up in the very near future. Mark  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 05-10-2010 09:25 PM                     Seems as Dolby, whose products are otherwise pretty good, have a history of bad power supplies/connectors. (CP-100, CP-200, CAT 700 penthouse, DA-20 and now the CP-650.) So whoever designs the products needs a bit more training on good power supply design/specification. (Hopefully I didn't just insult Sam.)  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 05-11-2010 12:13 AM                     Yep-time to hit Ra-elco for your replacement caps...  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 05-11-2010 06:26 AM                        Just another case where "consumer" grade equipment is a mis=fit in professional gear. (CP=500 display screens are another.) I think those off-the-shelf power supplies should be considered disposable. Cost cutters got us again. Louis  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-11-2010 07:01 AM                        I don't know the power requirements of the CP650, but it would have been interesting if they had gone with standard ATX computer-type power supplies. Quality ATX power supplies are available (and could be shipped as standard), and a failed one could be replaced with a locally sourced cheapo replacement if necessary to save a show.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-11-2010 08:23 AM                     I agree Scott! Something like that would have been too logical though. Dolby always seems to want to be "special" but that "special" just isn't comming through any more... They need to stand back and take a good look at themselves because other companies are flying right past hem with afterburners on and leaving them in the dust. It's kind of sad really... installing Dolby gear actually used to be "special". Mark  |  IP: Logged Robert Minichino Master Film Handler Posts: 350 From: Haskell, NJ, USA Registered: Dec 2005 posted 05-11-2010 08:53 AM                        If Dolby were to use an ATX power supply, they'd need to have additional DC-DC converters for the rails for the analog components. The capacitor troubles of a few years ago stemmed from faulty industrial espionage, and there continues to be trouble from counterfeit parts entering otherwise reputable supply chains. Wikipedia has a good article on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-11-2010 05:24 PM                     Tony the CP100 had probably DOlby's most robust and bullet proof supply never had one fail As to the CP200 other than the caps drying out and failing which is the norm on most electrolytics eventually they are fairly robust  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-11-2010 08:25 PM                     Thanks for that link Robert! I agree on the CP-100 Gord. Those were the good ole days when things were REALLY special! Mark  |  IP: Logged

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