Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ballast for NEC NC900C

This is topic Ballast for NEC NC900C in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul Looker (Member # 5420) on 02-03-2016, 10:55 AM:

Does anyone know where I might be able to get one of these?

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-03-2016, 11:30 AM:

Simple answer from your equipment supply dealer

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-03-2016, 01:57 PM:

This is not a projector for anyone to work on. If you are not familiar with doing this sort of work then don't! Call your tech and have him do it.

Note that both Wrong and Moving Images Technology both sell parts direct. Lately we have switched over completely to MIT because we know they will be around a long time. Things at Wrong have been very shaky lately. When you call to get them be sure you get the redesigned version of it and I recommend replacing BOTH at the same time. That bottom one is a bugger to get out and these aren't terribly expensive! Keep the old one as an emergency back up, in the past they have been out of stock. Also be sure to update the projector firmware because there were changes made to both the lamp and the ballast and the new parts will not function correctly with out the firmware update but if you are at 4.217 then ignore doing that.

Since those two Ushio parts were revised I now see almost no lamp failures at all. What failures I do still see are old lamps that came with the projector.

I also DO NOT recommend that you keep more than a pair of lamps at the theater. They do have a 3000 hour 100% warranty, but only a two year shelf life warranty. I service theaters that do not run 3000 hours in two years. So do not buy more lamps than you can consume in two years!

And lastly to those that may still have some new old style lamps sitting on the shelf, NEC will exchange those for the new versions if they are within the two year warranty period.

Lastly... Be VERY CAREFUL unplugging the tiny white connectors.

The two ballasts are stacked at the right.

Crappy Soldering at the factory! I carry a very fine tip iron, so I was able to repair it on site.

Mark

Posted by Paul Looker (Member # 5420) on 02-03-2016, 06:16 PM:

I wasn't trying to do the work myself but our current service guys at strong said they are out of stock and that I could be looking at 2 weeks before they get more so I was looking for someone else. Thanks for the info Mark I will pass it along to our tech hen we get the ne ballast in and he comes to put it in.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-03-2016, 08:41 PM:

Moving Image Technology may have them in stock... General Theatrical Supply here in town has at least one new style ballast in stock and they are also a direct NEC parts distributor.

Also, I have seen a couple on-off switch failures. The switch is soldered to a PCB and is somewhat difficult to extract. NEC wants something like 280.00 for the complete assembly but the switch is about $7.00 from Mouser. I have one customer that has quit a few of these and I got them one assembly and I keep that one repaired ready to switch out. Best solution is to install an external power switch.

Also, if your NC-900 is still under it's 2 year warranty then NEC will pay for parts and labor but they do not pay travel time. But you have to go through Strong or MIT to get that.

Mark

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-03-2016, 08:43 PM:

...definitely not user friendly...

Definitely can understand the pencil soldering iron working on these small units.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-03-2016, 08:54 PM:

Had Ushio done a better design job on lamps and ballast these projectors would have been very trouble free... They are now...

Mark

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-04-2016, 11:28 AM:

They also suck an awful lot of dirt inside. Changing out the lower ballast is definitely a pain.

Note, one does not update the power supply firmware so much as the newer design runs on the later firmware and the older design runs on the older firmware...hence in the versions sheet, both are listed.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-06-2016, 07:51 AM:

Exactly! An older ballast will not "see" the newer firmware, only the older firmware. This is why you can get away with just changing a single ballast if one fails. I only had one site where both ballasts actually failed... But If you have to change that lower one then you may as well just do both of them while you're in there. This projector isn't going to take a lot of disassembly-reassembly before the threads and stuff wear out.

Mark