Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DP-100 + battery backup

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Posted by Trevor Cable (Member # 6086) on 01-28-2011, 01:05 PM:

Hello,
I've got a DP-100/2 in one of our screening rooms and am just getting around to a project I've been putting off for over a year. When we first purchased the projector we had a power failure (whole neighborhood) during dailies and lost the light engine as a result. We had a new one the next day and we determined that we really should have the projector's electronics on a UPS. Not the lamp of course, just what it takes to keep the cooling running during an outage.

Has anyone here tried something like this? I've contacted Barco and they say they've heard of people doing this but they could not assist as it's probably breaking more than a couple of rules.

If you've done this or something similar could you let me know how big a deal this is? Thank you for any suggestions.

-Cable

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-28-2011, 03:07 PM:

Quite a few projectors nowadays have separate power connections for projector electronics and lamp, that is exactly for the purpose of operating the higher level functions through a UPS. Don't know about that specific Barco model, though.
Usually you would power the server from a UPS as well then.

A lot of people say, though, that using a UPS is only advised if power failures are actually common in your area. Because UPS' have their own issues. In certain areas where power failures occur rarely, the UPS might be your only real cause for lost shows, because they do fail as well.

- Carsten

Posted by Phil Ranucci (Member # 3820) on 01-28-2011, 10:47 PM:

I recall that the electronics require 220volts. Anybody know of a 220volt UPS?

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 01-29-2011, 12:01 AM:

Check out a manufacturers website. APC and Tripplite certainly have 220/240V UPS units, even three phase... but you won't find them in Best Buy. They cost a good buck too.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-29-2011, 11:57 AM:

Well, how do you get 220V if there is no UPS in the first place?
Maybe Barco builds in a 110->220V (230) converter because they are a european company where 230V is common. Sounds strange.

- Carsten

Posted by Phil Ranucci (Member # 3820) on 01-30-2011, 02:48 AM:

Our DP100 is 3 phase and it seems that the electronics use 2 of the phases to get 208-220v. Our NEC machines have a seperate power input for the electronics which could be connected to a UPS.

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 01-30-2011, 09:19 PM:

The series II Barco projectors have a short "jumper cable" with a male and female power connector joining the 208/240 line power to the projector electronics, this jumper sticks out the back of the projector. If you want to have a UPS on the electronics you remove this jumper and connect the electronics power input to a UPS.
I don't understand your question. Barco doesn't provide a UPS. The projector does not require a UPS. If you add a UPS and configure your projector and (ups protected) server properly it's possible to recover from a short duration power loss very quickly. Without the projector UPS you will have to wait for the projector to reboot before restarting a show, about 2 minutes I think.
A UPS is, I think, an absolute requirement for your server. A server power failure at the wrong time can scramble the RAID and rebuilding it takes hours. You may be unlucky enough to scramble the SSD system drive and that may take days to fix.
The projector doesn't get screwed up by a sudden power loss, in my experience anyway. Every time you switch the Barco off you cause a sudden power loss.
If you have a lot of short duration power losses where you are, a projector UPS may be worthwhile. If you have reliable power and dropouts are rare then maybe forget about it. You also have to look at how your server reacts to power dropouts. Doremi can work with APC UPS units to pause the server when line power is lost, but I don't think they will restart into "play" when power comes back on. You can set up a UPS protected projector to start the lamp as soon as line power comes back on, but this is not a great plan if the server is paused. If the server has stayed in play during the dropout, patrons will be miffed about missing more than a few seconds of the program. Plus when the emergency lights come on, in my experience, everyone goes to the lobby. That will take long enough to sort out that waiting for the projector to reboot is not your big problem.

Posted by Trevor Cable (Member # 6086) on 02-04-2011, 04:39 PM:

The purpose of the UPS is to avoid the fans shutting off and letting the heat do any damage. We lost a light engine immediately after a power outage thus the desire for a UPS.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 02-05-2011, 08:39 AM:

Since the Barcos seem to have this special way of using two phases to create their operating voltage for projector electronics, you should definitly call Barco and ask for an experienced installer to do it.

On US models using standard 110VAC with the split power connectors like people mentioned it for Christies and NECs, you could do it with any plain-vanilla UPS.

- Carsten