Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: BACP Analog Reader Failure Rates

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 05-10-2005, 09:05 PM:

Last week one of the many BACP analog readers we have suddenly quit working. This is surprising since Bay Area builds some good stuff. Making a long story short, no contact was made between the power source and the +12 LED indicator. As a result, no sound. A quick change-out with a digital house, coupled with a next day visit from a good service tech with proper tools for alignment, and the day was saved.

No noticable cracks on the board, no surges, no broken pins, nothing out of the ordinary. Very strange. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-10-2005, 09:12 PM:

Since they became available...... not one failure out of hundreds... and I literally do mean hundreds! Ditto for the penthouse reader. I think we've done close to 40 DP-70 alone so far plus all the usuals that are out there.... A great design.

Mark @ CLACO

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 05-11-2005, 12:10 AM:

Aaron,

I thought I felt my ears burning so I checked in.

I don't think I dealt with this directly, but I'm glad you're back on the air.

The power supply/line amp is removable without disturbing the reader alignment so the in-house staff can usually take care of a bad module without a tech having to come out. This of course assumes you have a spare module or can "borrow" a board from another screen to test with and isolate the problem.

There is a mini backplane that connects the in's and outs but it has only passive components so this does not normally fail. There are failure modes that do require the entire reader to be replaced, such as a solar cell failure or a damaged lens.

Posted by Rick Long Jr (Member # 541) on 05-11-2005, 12:26 PM:

Could it be the power supply you are using? I've heard that using an old supply such as an R-1220 can give the unit too much voltage, as it was originally intended to run with a 4-5 amp load. Without the load, the voltage climbs and pops the regulator. I've always used the included transformer, unless the existing supply is regulated.

Just wanted to add, of the dozens we've installed here in Ontario, not one has even hiccupped.

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 05-12-2005, 11:06 AM:

quote: Sam D. Chavez
The power supply/line amp is removable without disturbing the reader alignment so the in-house staff can usually take care of a bad module without a tech having to come out.

Unless one of your co-workers helping diagnose the problem felt the holding bracket slightly move when pushing the card in, possibly throwing the asmuth off. Our tech was due in for a post-maintenance call anyway. He was more than happy to do a sound check.

quote: Rick Long Jr
Could it be the power supply you are using?

Not likely. The reader has been in for over a year now and there are five others of the same generation installed at our theatre and working flawlessly. Like you, we use the transformer too.

I think we all agree here that this is more of an anomaly than a serious product issue. Of the thousands that are out there one was destined to go eventually. Are we the first? If so, will BACP replace it for free? [Big Grin]

Posted by Nic Margherio (Member # 273) on 05-13-2005, 11:25 PM:

From time to time on my BACPs I have had the green phoenix-stlye plug work its way out of the socket just slightly causing a loss of continuity between the preamp board and the LED. A simple re-seating solves the problem. It can be difficult to detect because visually the plug seems to be in place, its just seperated enough that the metal does not make contact. This has only happened maybe four or five times on fifteen screens over the last three years...never had a problem with any preamp board, power supply, or LED module.

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 05-14-2005, 12:45 PM:

I've also had that problem once every five months or so on a particular machine here too. In fact, I was going to post about that particular problem but never got around to it because it is so minor and easily fixed. Now that you mention it, anybody else had this situation?