Christie Series 2 TPC issues

[Steve Guttag]

I'm seeing a trend on the Christie S2 projectors that we support. If one power cycles the projector (full power off, not just going to standby), the TPC (Touch Panel Controller) may not power back on. If one power cycles the system again (sometimes multiple times) it boots back up. Once booted, it behaves.

Changing the battery, flash card and even the Standby supply itself (which also powers the PIB and parts of the EVB) has not improved things.

Have any of you all come across this issue (yet)? It is feeling like a capacitor issue (like we've run into on the Crown DSi amplifiers...though that one as induced by the capacitor's location an proximity to heat). Have any of you come up with repairs for them?

[Miguel Moreno]

I have this problem on several projectors. In order to make the touch panel start, what I do is disconnect its cable and reconnect it. but so far Christie hasn't given me a solution either.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Bad connections in the TP cable? Maybe a little de-ox/cleaning... or socket been damaged from repeated seating/unseating/use? (In an effort to start with simple and move to difficult?)

[Steve Guttag]

Reseating the cable itself does not affect it. One has to leave power off for a few seconds. Power cycling the projector, without ever touching that cable, can bring the TPC back up. Based on my conversation with a Christie tech today, I don't think Christie is aware of the problem (same result as Miguel above). This is really starting to feel like a bad capacitor in the TPC (or a collection of them) such that whatever voltage it needs to start up, isn't cutting it.

[Elia Orselli]

I've seen some issues with Advantech TPCs that could only be solved repairing or replacing the MB, even if most times the issue was battery related

[Leo Enticknap]

This reads like the classic symptom of a failing capacitor to me.

Is there still a ridiculous wait time for replacement TPCs? The last I encountered a dead one was in late 2022 or early 2023, and Christie gave us a six to eight month wait time for a new one. Our customer had to replace an otherwise OK projector.

[Steve Guttag]

I haven't encountered Christie parts delays in 2024. So, I suspect that it isn't a problem. Now, like Leo, I had issues getting even the Standby supply, critical to powering the PIB, TPC and EVB (you know, the parts that run the projector). There are a couple projectors out there now with lower-cost power supplies in them with a more common "barrel" power connector instead of the DIN that I did during the supply chain issues. In 2024, I had zero issues getting factory supplies.

[Hong Sung Hyeok]

How about replacing the standby supply??
In addition to the genuine Christie product, a compatible adapter is very cheap and easy to find.
It has the same pin specifications as the HP printer 24v adapter.
Of course, if the size is different, the problem is that you have to worry about how to fix it.

[Steve Guttag]

Already stated in the original post. Standby supplies have been changed. Furthermore, the PIB emergency button does work, which also needs the standby supply.

[Caleb Williams]

Have there been any updates on this front? We have a fleet of about 70 projectors, most of them being CP2210's, and 8 of those have started to have this issue just since the start of July. I've reached out to Advantech (the manufacterer of the TPC) to see if they know anything about it. The components on the mb for the TPC-650H are really tiny. Cap failure seems to be a possibilty but everything is so small it would be difficult to replace or even find the bad part. Replacing the CR2032 did not fix the problem for us unfortunately. If Advantech has anything useful I'll report back

[Steve Guttag]

SMT board work is not as daunting as it would first appear...you do need the proper tools...like a hot air tool, suitable tweezers, likely a microscope (one that is designed for this sort of work so it isn't in the way of your hands/tools while doing the work) and developing a technique so you don't blow the parts (including the parts near to desired part) off the board. Hot tweezers (like two soldering irons that can be used to remove/replace SMT capacitors and like components.

To answer your question, no. Nobody has identified the source of the problem but since it is power related (when the unit is power cycled...never when it is left on), I'm thinking capacitor(s). I'd start with the bigger ones, given the chance.

And yes, merely interrupting the power cycle to the TPC is often sufficient to get it to boot up the 2nd or 3rd time.

[Leo Enticknap]

Believe it or not, I installed a brand spanking new CP4230 last week (never thought I would install a new xenon projector again, but this project had been delayed for several years with the projector in storage during that time), and had this problem. The solution appeared to be strain relieving the combined power and data cable between the TPC and the back of the projector. Initially, I had to unplug and reseat the connector two or three times to wake the TPC up. I then noticed that the thick, curly cable is pretty heavy, and strain relieved it by looping a zip tie around one of the grille slats in the back panel and the cable, and tightening it just enough to take the weight off the multi-pin connector. The TPC then booted up first time over several projector power cycles after that.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Believe it or not, I installed a brand spanking new CP4230 last week (never thought I would install a new xenon projector again, but this project had been delayed for several years with the projector in storage during that time), and had this problem. The solution appeared to be strain relieving the combined power and data cable between the TPC and the back of the projector. Initially, I had to unplug and reseat the connector two or three times to wake the TPC up. I then noticed that the thick, curly cable is pretty heavy, and strain relieved it by looping a zip tie around one of the grille slats in the back panel and the cable, and tightening it just enough to take the weight off the multi-pin connector. The TPC then booted up first time over several projector power cycles after that.

That is a good tip. We've moved our TPC to a mount closer to the doremi operators window (bought another ball mount and mounted it to a column near by (just left of the projector)... thus our strain is probably higher than that cable would impose due to gravity alone. Will look at relieving it at the projector connection in a preventative way (cause have not seen this issue ourselves, yet.....).

Although to be honest, if differing strain on a connector tail was causing intermittent operation... feels like time to solder on a new connector (or re-work the existing). Relying on something holding the cable in a "working" position seems a bit iffy in the long run (but good to prevent future damage).

[Leo Enticknap]

On this projector, I could actually see the receptacle take the weight of the cable and connector as I released my fingers from the connector after seating it: the receptacle moved to a very slight down angle. So there was definitely some strain taking effect. Agreed completely that this shouldn't create an unreliable connection, i.e. you shouldn't need to faff about with zip ties to make a brand new projector work reliably.

[Steve Guttag]

I'm going to speculate that Leo's issue was a manufacturing defect and likely not the same problem as replacing the TPC also will solve the problem...unless he is identifying it was the connector on the TPC side of the cable. Again, if that is the case, I'd want to see the connections on that connector. If that really is the problem, then yeah, either support the cable or use an alternate, lighter weight cable that isn't so long when it is just inches away on the typical mount.