CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

heunjin · Joined: 02 Dec 2008 Posts: 3

I've had a Barco 1208 for 7 years or so. I've been lurking for a while, but have benefitted greatly from this forum.
I was wondering if could get some feedback/advice about repairing the set (again).

I've made various repairs over the years ( had a video board repaired, replaced the quad twice, replaced the HV splitter, replaced the EHT, replaced the green and blue tubes). Typically, it's $200-$300 for each "adventure". Each time I say "This will be last time", but somehow (with Curt's help and the forums posts), I've managed to keep the set going. Gotta have a hobby of some kind, no?

The latest event was a complete failure of the set to start up. There was no EHT hold down error light, no firing up of the tubes, no fans came on. From previous posts, it seemed like a SMPS issue. I bought a replacement SMPS (~$300) and sure enough, the set relays clicked on and fans started, but there was no CRT display, not even the raster - just absolute darkness. Looking more carefully, I could see the quad looked charred near the bottom, perhaps caused by arcing from the quad to the chassis. At this point, I became hesitant about dropping another $250 for a new quad...

I took the charred quad out and replaced it with an older, left-over quad. The old quad had been previously intermittently failing, usually after half an hour or so. I thought it might be good enough to help with diagnosis.

With the old quad, I still don't see a picture or any menus. I could, however, see the dim trapezoidal raster area in the blue and red tubes. However, the green tube show a raster area shaped like a quarter pie slice(?), where part of the raster seemed to be illuminating the edge of the phosphor screen (!). I tried switching the inputs between the red/green/blue neckboards to make sure green input wasn't defective. For every combination, the green tube showed the strange raster pattern. Interestingly, there are no visible error lights (EHT, RCU, etc ...). I'm kind of stuck here. I'm guessing maybe a new G2 board? Does anyone have an opionion on what else it might be? What other things can I try?

To finish the repair, I know I need a new quad (~$250). Perhaps a new G2 board (~$200). Worst of cases, a new green crt tube (~$300). The last item is the back breaker. I can't cross the $1K-total mark (plus the time for another tube installation) for this repair, just based on principle.

Any thoughts?

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

Do you have a matching EHT and quad ?

http://www.curtpalme.com/docs/BarcoServiceBulletin_R762716_New_EHT.pdf

secstate · Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 720

Boy you have had a lot problems. A couple of questions what is the specific version of your 1208 or production date? Just trying to figure out which one you have and more importantly its age. If you didn't upgrade you 1208 what would be your budget for replacement? To be honest given the history of this set I'd consider moving on. I'd probably look for a replacement CRT since 8" sets are pretty cheap these days. Failing that I'd save until I had enough to replace it with one of the decent digitals in the $2k+ range. My 2 cents. If your 1208 is the older non-S version then it has standard res tubes and older video input chain and those with the already marginal HD8 lenses at least to my eyes make those Barcos soft on HDTV sources. As point of reference I have owned Barco 1208/2 (non-S), Barco Data 808 (non-S), Barco 1208s/2 (with high res tubes), Barco Data 808s (upgraded with high res tubes) and Runco 1100 (Barco Data 1209s). I'd consider an S model Barco with higher res tubes to be the minimum today within the Barco range.

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

Tom.W · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 6635

The failure rate seems pretty high considering my BD808 has been running strong for 10 years without a failure. Not sure why you are spending so much for parts but you could do much better now...What is the condition of the tubes ?

secstate · Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 720

zGman · Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 599

Sorry to be late on this - one thing that is common on 12xx series chassis (in my experience)
is bad connections in the AC input lines - Barco runs AC in the 12xx chassis all over the place,
back and forth to the motherboard and to the on/off switch and etc. and they use cheesy pink
crimp connectors and small gage wire. I have seen several PJ's with weird problems with fried,
and I mean arced out toasty fried crimp connections. they are not all easy to find, and there's
not much extra wire - but if you have had all these odd recurring problems, it would be a good
idea to trace these wires and jumpers and look for blackened crimp areas and melted wires.
No matter how good the power supplies are, I can't help but think the arcing in the power input
can cause a lot of inexplicable problems. Just my too cents, and good luck...
G

heunjin · Joined: 02 Dec 2008 Posts: 3

Thanks all.

For completeness, it is a Barco 1208/2 w/ MEC 180 tubes. The EHT and quad are matched. The red is about a ~6 (~8900 hrs). The blue tube is about an 8 ( replaced last year). The green was about an 8. Looking at it today, it has some burn in from the raster and then some areas out side of the raster. I'm really afraid the tube is fried.

I'll check the power supply lines later today qnd look for bad traces and crimp on connectors.