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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Author
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Topic: Strong CPA-10 Automation Problem - A little bit of Crazyness
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Brad Miller
Administrator
Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 07-16-2006 05:05 PM
BAH! I have my CA21s doing all of that and more. The CA21 is the most flexible system out there, hands down.
quote: Dominic Espinosa
Also, and this is kind of a dumb one, can this automation be programmed to start when it hits a cue?
I.E. projectionist press the go button, automation waits for a cue, then times out and opens the douser, switches sound, etc.
Dominic, since you're such a badass gangsta, I can tell you how to semi-convert those crappy things into a start cue assuming they are similar to the CNA100/150 line. It's not a true start cue, but it does work. I will try and 'splain...
Set your douser open time to the longest possible setting. On the CNA-150 pieces of shit I had the unfortunate pleasure of working with a few years back, this was a maximum of 9 seconds, but that was just barely enough to make this trick work. You may want to get with Monte for specifics on how to alter this.
Now take cue 0 and program it to HOUSE UP and NON SYNC, so that when it executes it does quite literally nothing at all except open the douser 9 seconds later.
It's time now to make your new leaders. Figure out how much leader you have to have in the worst case scenario to make it back to the takeup ring. Assuming you are also stuck with Strong platters, this would be the bottom deck. Be sure to make this measurement in the house where the platter is the farthest distance from the projector, and try to position all of the platters to the same within a foot or two distance-wise from the projector. Add 5 feet to that number and write it down. For example's sake, I am going to say this is 35 feet.
After your 35 foot stretch of frameline leader splice on however much SOLID OPAQUE BLACK leader you want. Let's say you want 20 feet to help protect the beginning of the trailer pack. At this point your leader should be 35 feet of frameline+20 feet of solid opaque black. Now put a cue about 4 feet before the end of your black.
Program cue1 to whatever you want the movie to start in, for example HOUSE MID / SR.
Voila, you now have a makeshift start cue because the 9 second douser timer will end up opening the douser during the solid opaque black leader. Make sense? This will ensure your movies always start exactly where you want on the leader via that cue1 and extend the life of your projectors since there won't be people "bumping" the motor button to try and manually cue down the leader.
Now I know you're about to say "but all black leader on the market is crap and it isn't truly opaque!!!" Well, email me off site and I'll hook you up.
quote: Dominic Espinosa
Well, that's the beauty of this forum, it doesn't erase posts automatically (that's the admins job) so others can search for the questions that have already been answered instead of cluttering it with the same question 10 times causing the regulars to loose interest.
Actually, unless a particular thread is causing some sort of serious problem outside of the site, ALL posts are archived, right from the very first one back in 1999. Hard drive storage space is relatively inexpensive, so it makes no sense to delete older topics, as occasionally a problem will turn up and the resolution may be found here in the middle of the night. When talking about older or rare equipment, the knowledge archived here becomes even more important as time goes on. This is why we beg people that if you start a topic and end up finding the answer elsewhere (maybe your local tech who isn't a participant or the manufacturer), that you PLEASE post a reply explaining what the fix is. Sooner or later, the problem you are dealing with now will attack someone else. Many people down the road will be thankful for your efforts. ![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif)
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Monte L Fullmer
Film God
Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 07-17-2006 12:44 AM
quote: Dominic Espinosa
When I opened it up between shows tonight I noticed the battery is just sitting on the board with the leads just pressed into the holes, it's not soldered in.
Is this normal?
The battery is reading 3.5vdc. When I put it back in I bent the leads a little so it would make tighter contact with the holes. The unit hasn't forgotten the program but every time it's powered up it says "program fault 2-0".
Interesting to say the least.
It's normal for the battery to be just pressed into the terminal holes ...
Program Fault 2-0 ... meaning that there is a command line that is assigned to program 2 that doesnt make any sense to the checksum factor when booting up.
When a system boots up, it does a check of all the system before final boot - like a computer that does a POST .. Power On Self Test. And if there is something that doesn't match the checking sequence, this Fault line pops up letting you know which program has the error line so that an edit or delete factor is needed to correct the checksum.
I bet if you goto SETUP, then PROGRAM, then PASSWORD, then SCROLL (arrow down) down to see all of the command lines - from 1 to 70, inbetween these areas is a line that simply doesnt belong there. I you find it, either change it, or delete it and it's usually a delete - which happens when you prob took out that battery and then reconnected it.
Yes, you didn't lose programming, but you could have accidently added another command line in there when you did took out the battery that doesn't make any sense to that certain program.
Curious, do you have programs assigned to each of the lens factor due to masking changes..in as well as autoturret lens changes?
I bet, that if you went through the remaining 7 programs, there is tons of lines in each program..which needs to be removed..
-Monte
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Monte L Fullmer
Film God
Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted 07-18-2006 01:44 PM
Understandable and thx as always...
This all makes me wonder if that certain CPA-10 unit is just having its failure moments. I have had to replace complete units with operational bugs that were deem impossible to remedy.
Do you have any spare CPA-10 units in storage that you can change out with? Also, if you do have any units in storage, wonder if you could try changing out the ZILOG Z-80 CPU chip, which has the version number on it. If the troublesome automation has an old version, like v.1.004, it could be possible to grab a v.3.00 chip and do the replacement.
I know that STRONG do have new CPA-10 units still in stock, and will let them go for a real good price. That way, the swapout is painless.
You can also call up EPRAD, the makers of the automations for STRONG.1-419-666-3266 on any problems/question you have.
thx-Monte
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