CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

Tristanc1 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

Hi,

I recently setup an old Barco Graphics 800 that I had purchased from Curt ages ago, and in the process of setting it up I forgot to ground myself(being a notorious foot dragger this is always a bad idea) and touched the remote on the back and there was a sizeable spark and now the set appears to be dead...

The back LED lights up, as well as a few LEDS on the 'controller unit'(standby pwr, processor cycles, and RCU) But other than that there are no leds lit up on any of the boards and the fans don't spin.

I've removed all the boards and checked the fuses, and non were blown so unless there's a fuse I missed I'm not sure where to go next? The only thing I could think of is there appears to be a pcb that runs the length of the projector underneath all the boards, and the wires from the remote connect there first on the left before heading to the power supplies on the right so maybe there's a fuse on that that I can't see? Anyways, if anyone has any ideas they would be greatly appreciated:)

Thanks in advance,
Tristan

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:34 pm Post subject:

THe standby supply is working, most likely the main SMPS is dead. Pretty common at this point.

I can fix it for $100 incl return shipping, but I'm out of town as of tomorrow for 2 weeks.

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

Tristan are you saying a static discharge from your hand to the remote killed the projector ?

Was it working before the spark occurred ?

Tristanc1 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

Yeah that's about what happened Tom, it was working great and then ZAP! and nothing... It's actually kind of funny, my girlfriend was giving me grief earlier in the day about dragging my feet too, I of course insisted it was just the flip flops I was wearing... Apparently she was correct though! Serves me right for arguing haha.

That sounds good Curt, I'll touch base with you in a few weeks whenever you're back and I can ship it off to you. I'll keep exploring options until that point though, and see if I can save you the hassle;)

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

Well that's a first. Never heard of that happening before. Try resetting the address on the remote to 000. In case your not sure how to do that...

Quote:

The Barco remotes can control multiple projectors in a chain using addresses. The projector can be set to respond to a certain address only, using the dip switch's on the controller, what has been set does not matter as all projectors will respond to address 000. On the remote between the Adjust and Standby buttons is a recessed button you can press with a pen, press it and then press the 0 digit on the remote. The remote is now set to projector address 000 and the projector will now respond regardless to the actual address its set to. Alternately you can press the recessed button on the remote while aimed at the projector or screen and the projector will display its address (or bring up the Barco information screen from the menu to view the address), then proceed by pressing those numbers in sequence on the remote i.e. if the projector displays address 025 press 0 then 2 then 5 on the remote and it will be set to control a projector with that address, either way the remote will work again.

Tristanc1 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

Tried the reset on the remote and no go unfortunately:( Thanks for the tip though! Any other ideas?

barclay66 · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 3:02 pm Post subject:

Hi,

As the spark jumped directly to the built-in wired remote controller I could imagine the following scenario too (besides the dead SMPS):

- The wired remote is damaged (lets say its "mute")

and/or

- The controller board is damaged (lets say its "deaf")

If you have an additional wireless remote (RCU800) and there is no reaction with this one either it might be the controller board which has been damaged on its IR input lines (maybe IC49/IC38 dead, protection diodes D73/D74 shorted or resistors R78/R79 burnt)...

Regards,
barclay66

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

I would think a static charge to the wired remote would never make it to the controller but take the nearest path to ground in the wired remote. You could try disconnecting the wired remote and then try the wireless(IR) remote.

Never owned an 800 but this problem might have nothing to do with the static discharge...

Tristanc1 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

Apologies for not replying earlier, I took some wood chips in the eye at work(carpenter) and i've been out of commission for a bit..Didn't think it wise to go poking around inside a projector with only one semi functional eye;)

Anyways, I programmed an old Marantz universal remote I had kicking around to control the projector, and it works!!!! Kind of...

Fans spin, tubes light up but I get a message that says 'invalid software RFI" or some such...could this have happened because I reset the wired remote? any ideas where to go from here?

A huge thank you so far for all the help you guys have provided.

barclay66 · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:12 am Post subject:

Hi,

Could that be "Invalid Software RWI"?
In this case my first guess would again be the controller. RWI is the acronym for "Real World Interface" which is the controller's section that deals with control inputs and menu messages.
You could try reseating the socketed chips on the controller board first. Especially the RWI Eprom. If this doesn't help you could try swapping the RWI Eprom (could have lost or corrupted data due to static discharge) or the entire controller. If it was my machine I would swap the entire controller. By this I would avoid fixing one issue just to find out that there is another one lurking around the corner...

Regards,
barclay66

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:25 pm Post subject:

I've seen this once or twice, only with the 800 chassis. The first time I saw it, I changed every board in the set (this was in 2000, so details are a bit foggy), including the controller, and I could never get rid of the message. I believe I hit 'exit" and the message went away and the set could be adjusted normally.

I hvae a zillion BG and BD800 controller boards here if you want to try another one, as I think that's where the problem is.

Where are you located, Tristan?

Tristanc1 · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 9

Yeah, that would be RWI I'm down an eye dammit;)

It appears to be working.... I went down to tinker a bit and it seems to be working essentially randomly for the past 2 days. Could it be from disconnecting the wired remote and using a different one? Ghost in the machine? Smile

I still should grab a few boards for the thing though just to have on hand, I wouldn't mind keeping this thing up and running for another year at least. What boards tend to fail most on these sets Curt?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 10:01 pm Post subject:

At this point.. everything. Smile

I've been selling off most Barco 800 boards at $10 each, with the SMPS, HV section and convergence board being the exception. Frankly, if the set has just been sitting, I'd just run it at this point, as my replacements will be 20 years old as well.

I've got customers with 10 year old 800s with maybe 1 or 2 failures and are still running strong. Others at this point fail every 6 months, it's just the luck of the draw I guess.

If you notice a dot in the middle of the screen, or diagonal lines through the image on one or more tubes, immediately replace the video output amps, as that can nuke the tubes. If you bought the set within the last 6-7 years, I've already changed the defective part, so you should be good to go.