Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: AW-3 LED & Control Card Upgrade?

This is topic AW-3 LED & Control Card Upgrade? in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 05-13-2009, 01:26 PM:

I have several Christie AW-3 platter decks that use the
old style incandescant bulb & CDS photocell for speed
control. One of them is begining to have problems.

If I recall, there's a kit available to upgrade the
assembly to a newer type using an IR LED & Photosensor.

But some quick searching online has turned up no
usable info for me.

Has anyone who has done this upgrade tell me:
> Does the 'kit' include parts to do all 3 decks?
> Is it necessary to also upgrade the control cards
or will the old ones work with the new LED units?
> If new control cards are necessary, were they
included in the "kit" or did they need to be
purchased seperately?

Thanks for any info you can give me.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 05-13-2009, 02:32 PM:

Uh-oh!!!!!

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-13-2009, 05:34 PM:

We stock them and I've done a bunch of them in the field. Set up is slightly different. The kit comes with instructions. I can't say exactly how much the kit is but it is a 100% improvement over the sensors with CDS cells. Platters also seem to have slightly better dynamics to them after conversion.

Mark

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-13-2009, 07:01 PM:

No, don't buy them. They are a disaster. Keep the old photocells. If you have a problem with one of them, Christie still makes them if you ask for them.

Posted by Richard May (Member # 2627) on 05-13-2009, 07:48 PM:

Who didn't see this coming??

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-13-2009, 08:48 PM:

Next time just save me the hassle and let them know Richard.

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 05-13-2009, 10:33 PM:

I put one of these in a short time ago because I got fed up with the poor operation of the regular sensor.. it wasn't bad, but it didn't run any better at all. Most of the AW3's run great, but the few that don't are real nightmare. I'm thinking about making a fixture to test the regualr CDS cells/LEDs to pre-test somehow them to find ones that work before installing them.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-14-2009, 08:27 AM:

I have had zero problems with the new kits!!! While they may not be speed accurate enough to suit Brad, they do work well and they don't become intermittent as the CDS cells do.

Mark