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Author Topic: Planar PT-1545 Touch Screen monitor Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-22-2016 01:45 PM                     Here is yet another expensive ticket item that the manufacturer does not support or repair. This is one of th most commonly used touch screen monitors on cinema servers. I have one here from a customer that I know just has bad power supply caps. It comes on and goes right back off again, I've seen this a dozen times before on other brand monitors. I can not figure out how this thing opens up... There are no hidden screws, nothing under the label except a mold mark. Planar DOES NOT REPAIR THEM! Have any of you tried to open one of these up? This is the first time I have ever run into what is apparently a sealed shut monitor of any type. I may have to try prying it apart or going around the edge with a very narrow saw blade or Dremel cutting wheel. Anyone here run into this on Planar Monitors before?  |  IP: Logged John Roddy Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Spring, TX, United States Registered: Dec 2012 posted 12-22-2016 03:02 PM                        I've got maybe five or six of these in a nearby cabinet with that exact problem. And boy oh boy was I hoping that the stupid electrolytic caps would be the entire problem… Yes, they can be opened. They're not sealed, only clipped. The plastic is just above and beyond standard quality, so it takes some effort to properly flex it. If you don't have a spudger or similar opening tool, you'll really want to get one. iFixIt has a really good one for like $10. It's just a flat piece of flexible-yet-sturdy metal that can get behind those clips and lift them up. You'll need that and an assorted list of bad words to get the cover off. And once you're inside, it's pretty straightforward. The inverter circuit is integrated into the power board, and the LCD/touch driver is on a separate board from there. It's pretty obvious which is which. Just remove the screws, unplug the cables, and prepare for disappointment. I can almost guarantee every single capacitor on there will look perfectly fine. And everything but the backlight itself is going to run OK, so it's limited exclusively to the inverter circuit (You can verify that by shining a bright light onto the screen to see if an image still persists even after it appears to die out). Now you're down to extremely advanced component level repair. Which part is acting up? The controller IC? The mosfets before the transformers? The transformers themselves? I don't know! It's something in that specific circuit, but I haven't been able to narrow it down. Even a few basic diagnostics with my Rigol oscilloscope got me nowhere. Now what? On a more positive note, I did actually find that exact power board available from some random Chinese supplier. In less positive news, the link I saved for that no longer works, and I haven't found anything since.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-22-2016 07:46 PM                     John... I wonder if a putty knife would work to open these up...? And what does "The plastic is just above and beyond standard quality" mean exactly? Are you referring to the frame around the screen itself, or the back of the monitor? I had a feeling there were either snap clips or it was glued shut like an Eye Pad. If you happen to have one of yours sitting open a picture would be appreciated. I don't want to break this one trying. Anyways, if it's the CCFL driver board then I know where to get universal CCFL driver boards for most monitors. This is something I'm going to look into and offer a repair service for if it's doable. These are too expensive to just toss out. Mark  |  IP: Logged John Roddy Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Spring, TX, United States Registered: Dec 2012 posted 12-22-2016 09:41 PM                        I just mean that the plastic is much higher quality than you might think. You have to put a lot more effort into opening it up, but the plastic itself is also much less likely to break while you're working on it. A putty knife is actually not a bad idea. The tool I was referring to is the iFixit Jimmy opening tool. The drawback with a putty knife is the sharp corners, which a standard opening tool doesn't have. But as long as you can get under the lip of the plastic, it should still work. I'd recommend taking a close look at the way the plastic from the front & back of the bezel meets up near the buttons first. That will give you a starting point. From there, you can figure out the best way to prize the pieces apart. Just accept up-front that you will scratch it up a lot. Nothing on the exterior is screwed or glued to anything, so good ol' force is all you need. You just need a lot of it.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-23-2016 05:03 AM                     We have three bad ones, ourselves, and counting. So I'm with Mark. I'd like to find a way to bring these back to life.  |  IP: Logged John Roddy Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Spring, TX, United States Registered: Dec 2012 posted 12-23-2016 07:59 AM                        Sounds like this is a wider-spread issue than I originally thought. Well if that's the case, I guess it might be worth another shot on my part as well. I'll crack open one of my dead screens tonight and see if I can at least get some pictures or something to help narrow down the problem area. If memory serves, the the driver IC and transformers were parts I suspected the most. I'll see if I can isolate them and give it a more thorough test.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-23-2016 08:34 AM                     ours that failed were always the actual touchportion of the panel with it sending out false triggers Also it is the only touch panel that GDC supports  |  IP: Logged John Roddy Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Spring, TX, United States Registered: Dec 2012 posted 12-23-2016 10:02 AM                        All of the ones we ever lost were exclusively at one site. Pretty much our entire company (8 or 9 locations, I think? I forget) uses exclusively GDC servers with the external Planar screens, and all of them have been A-OK. Even with leaving them on at max brightness 24/7. We long-since switched to powering them off overnight, of course, and I run them at 25% brightness on both of my locations. But it doesn't seem to be the deciding factor. Something at that one location murders these screens, but only the backlight circuit. I've confirmed on all of them that the image and touch functionality are both fine. And a quick-and-dirty test with a laptop inverter board proved that the backlights themselves are still fine. It's just one part of the inverter circuit. And aside from a couple of components that have clearly seen some abuse, nothing looks wrong. Even the abuse part isn't too unusual since that circuit runs at an extremely high voltage with a very fast frequency. Both of those are nasty workloads for any component to deal with. What would be nice is if I could get a known working board, fire up my SMD rework station, and start swapping components between it and a failed board until something starts not sucking anymore. But given the price of these monitors and the company's bizarre reluctance to let me tear everything apart for no really important reason (can't really fault anyone on that, to be honest), that's not happening. Unless anyone else wants to donate a functioning power board to the cause. I just can't guarantee it'll still be functioning after my grubby little paws have gotten a hold of it.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-23-2016 12:16 PM                     quote: Gordon McLeod ours that failed were always the actual touchportion of the panel with it sending out false triggers Also it is the only touch panel that GDC supports That can be caused by a metal particle in contact with the touch screen itself or just excessive dirt, possibly behind the escutcheon edge by the screen. I have not lost a touch screen as of yet. But they do behave erratically when they get full of smudges. I have a few ILO monitors out there that also work just fine with GDC. The ILO driver is more or less the same as Planars being universal. Thanks in advance John for info!! I ordered a kit of four different spludges. There is also the option to convert these to LED backlight with some work with a universal kit from China. http://www.ebay.com/itm/222277756593?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT http://www.ebay.com/itm/272344244336?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Mark  |  IP: Logged John Roddy Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Spring, TX, United States Registered: Dec 2012 posted 12-23-2016 12:41 PM                        quote: Mark Gulbrandsen Thanks in advance John for info!! I ordered a kit of four different spludges. These opening tools are some of the single most useful tools you never knew you really needed. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen back on them for getting into stuff. They're very useful. quote: Mark Gulbrandsen There is also the option to convert these to LED backlight with some work with a universal kit from China. That is very interesting. I might actually try looking into that as well. It just sounds like a fun project, if nothing else. And any chance to give the finger to CCFL lights is quite welcomed.  |  IP: Logged Leslie Hartmier Expert Film Handler Posts: 100 From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Registered: Jul 2012 posted 12-23-2016 03:35 PM                     Funny you should mention that, Gordon. As of yesterday, I have one that behaves precisely like this thread is complaining about. I have it in my office, having come from Fort. Mark, I also have an ELO Touchscreen in my office that does NOT work with GDC's servers, and having talked to GDC themselves, they pointedly stated that they do not guarantee that anything but Planar works on it, as it is the only touchscreen monitor driver that they have in the OS. They went so far as to state, "No other monitors should be able to work on the servers." So, specifically, please list what monitors you have installed/been using that work with the non-AR, AR and IMS servers. I am interested in that list, as keyboard/mouse is a poor, if functional, substitute, and Planar is pretty obscenely expensive for what you get (not to mention the zero support/repair). I look forward to the list. Thanks. Leslie  |  IP: Logged Jason Raftery Film Handler Posts: 72 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: May 2011 posted 12-23-2016 04:07 PM                     Leslie, what GDC software version are you on? There are a handful of different touchscreen drivers available to choose from in the current software: Also, add me to the list of those that have had a Planar experience an inverter or backlight failure that would like to be able to repair them.  |  IP: Logged Leslie Hartmier Expert Film Handler Posts: 100 From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Registered: Jul 2012 posted 12-23-2016 04:26 PM                     Interesting. Clearly since I was asking, more have been added. I had the problem with 7.83, 8.01 Build 244, and 9.00 build 369. Mind you, at this point, all the servers are on 8.01 build 256 and 9.00 build 397. I just never revisited it in 2016. Still, a list of monitors that can be confirmed to work would be valuable. With Planar, the approximate cost approaches $900 per 15" monitor for us, with customs, taxes, US to canadian conversion, and frankly, I'm not into that. Thanks for the heads up on the additional drivers though. That is magic. Leslie  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-23-2016 04:37 PM                     WOW...that seems way over the top. They are under $400US Amazon has one for $320. Even with the Canadian exchange it doesn't get anywhere near $900CAD  |  IP: Logged Leslie Hartmier Expert Film Handler Posts: 100 From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Registered: Jul 2012 posted 12-23-2016 05:10 PM                     I know, right? Mind you, when we bought them, we did so from Strong, and my figures were from the invoice, and the actual cost from accounts payable, so I'm confident of my numbers (modified by the value of the current exchange rate). That said, we can get the ELO Touchscreen screens without importing them, so if we had confirmation, it would open up options. Leslie  |  IP: Logged

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