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Author Topic: Replacing the white power switch on NEC NC2000 Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-18-2014 10:44 PM                        This is a little bit of a rant. The design of the NC2000 clearly didn't take into consideration the possibility the white power switch might have to be changed. Although the switch its self pops out relatively easily, the 4 wires attached to the switch are not long enough to actually pull the switch out. Instead, you have to work inside a very tight space to remove the wire and then reconnect them. I would up having to remove the front cover from the projector, which required unhooking the 'baffle' around the lens. This should have been a quick 5 minute job that wound up taking at least 15 minutes longer than necessary.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-18-2014 10:55 PM                        That stupid switch is clearly a design flaw in an otherwise nice machine. Why they couldn't use a heavy duty, industrial super-duper grade switch, rather than that cheap thing, is just a mystery. I have to admit it makes me wonder where else they cut corners.  |  IP: Logged Joe Elliott Master Film Handler Posts: 497 From: Port Orange, Fl USA Registered: Oct 2006 posted 03-18-2014 11:56 PM                     It is because Caucasians are too damn tall. Their hands are too big. (Crazy People) I have a wire terminal puller, which are hard to find, but it is essentially a flat-head screwdriver bent at a 90 degree angle and the tip is split just a bit wider than the metal spade the terminal goes on. Takes a couple of seconds for each one. And I agree, could they have used a cheaper switch? Such a thing is not made by man.  |  IP: Logged Lance C. McFetridge Expert Film Handler Posts: 135 From: Penn Yan, New York Registered: Jul 99 posted 03-19-2014 09:07 AM                     Joe: Would you be kind enough to post a picture of that tool? Thanks Lance  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-20-2014 10:18 PM                     quote: Joe Elliott Such a thing is not made by man. You're right! It's made by crazy Germans! And Strong charges like $80.00 for the buggers and they are sold in in G.B. for 12 euros at RS Electronics (Same as Newark). For a German made switch it is incredibly cheesy. I haven't seen any failures in almost a year now though so hopefully the switch has been beefed up internally. They ALWAYS break in the OFF position! It can be easily bypassed and I have had several customers do that until a new one arrives. Mark  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 03-21-2014 04:08 AM                     There are no euros here!  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-21-2014 04:16 AM                        I saw a comment on here several years ago - possibly by Mark, talking about how those switches were prone to failure. Since not long after that we have had several on the shelf. Between the 12 projectors at our 2 locations we have had about 5 switch fail so far. The one I just replace was on our oldest projector, but the first one I replaces (about 6 months ago) was on a projector that is more than a year newer. What I've done now is plug the projector power into a power conditioner that gets switched off every night. This way the white switch always stays in the On position unless it need to be powered off for maintenance or something.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-21-2014 06:11 PM                     Why not just leave the projectors in standby anyway? Most of my customers do this. It's easier on the projector. That is assuming you have a UPS on the projector... Mark  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-21-2014 08:16 PM                        The guy who pays the bills just feels that the money spent on electricity to keep 12 projectors in standby for 12-18 hours each day is far more expensive than the cost of replacing a few switches each year. If there was evidence that completely powering down each day resulted in more failed ICP or legacy boards, then it would be a different argument. Personally, it just feels wrong to walk out of the booth at night with as much left on as we have now. I'm still not completely past the idea that the booth should be completely silent when I lock the door at the end of the night.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-21-2014 10:28 PM                     They draw about 20 watts in standby. So, a few cents a day.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 03-21-2014 11:37 PM                     I'm with Justin. (P.S. How do you quote on this forum?!?!?) We've got 7 NECs and 3 Barcos. The NECs we put into standby, and the Barcos just have an on/off switch and get switched off. Anyways, it really drives me up the wall to have all the servers on and projectors in standby and all the little lights blinking and all that at the end of the night. One of my FAVORITE things as a projectionist was at the end of the night, especially Thursday nights, turning everything off as usual and then just sitting in the middle of the pitch black, silent booth to just relax and collect my thoughts for a while before leaving the building much calmer. I know it's silly, but it was really special.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-22-2014 12:15 AM                        I know what you mean. A few years ago we had our marquee neon upgraded, and they put an electrical box in the booth that makes a slight "hum" when the marquee is running. It took me a long time to get used to still hearing that hum when I had shut everything else off for the night. Now, the hum is drowned out by all the other stuff that's still running.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 03-22-2014 09:30 AM                    What is the failure mode of the white switch? Something mechanical with the toggle or something with the contacts? I haven't touched mine since the projector was new but wondering if it could still fail. Since separating the electronics feed, I have the IEC cord plugged into an outlet box with a switch that is attached to my base and that plugs into the UPS. That's what I switch off daily and were that electrician-type switch to fail I could just pull the cord and plug it into the UPS directly. I wouldn't wouldn't mind leaving the machine in standby if it was just some electronics but I don't like the fans grinding away wearing out bearings and using up air filter capacity. Plus it gets annoyed if the lamp power is turned off and that's even more fans running. As a screening room, our schedule is rather irregular so it can be days between uses.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-22-2014 09:39 AM                        quote: Steve Kraus What is the failure mode of the white switch? Something mechanical with the toggle or something with the contacts? Ours at least was mechanical. The switch starts feeling mushy (doesn't snap into place) and eventually just won't connect.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-22-2014 10:47 AM                     We've told all of our customers to NEVER use that white switch. While our current mode is to have projectors go to standby at night (those that have a standby mode like NEC or Christie or even the Barco 10s), we are thinking of killing power to the projectors...particularly the NEC since it runs one fan all night (FAN 6, the AC power fan). I don't believe there is any benefit to leaving it on since it gets from power to standby in less than 15-seconds (Christie is notably longer since it has to boot up Windows). In screening rooms, there may be months between uses of the projector. I've had two LVPS die in the "off" time when nobody was using the room...only to find a dead projector when they needed the room. I've always been in favor of using common things like breakers, light switches...etc to do this sort of switching. When on uses the power switch of a device...the duty cycle of that switch is often an unknown...it will fail, eventually. When it fails, the cost of the part and the time it takes to obtain, change is ALWAYS going to be higher than using a common-use item. When electricians have commented about using breakers since most (particularly low-bid) are not "switch rated" I return with: We are never switching the rated load of the breaker and often just a small amount The replacement breaker is cheaper and more available than the specialty switch The cost of changing the breaker is cheaper than the specialty switch I mean really, how long does a breaker last, particularly good ones like Square-D QO series with a daily use cycle? 10-years? What do they cost at the nearest home-center or even electrical supply house? $10 or less? Compare that to changing a specialty switch. Note, the NC900C leaves full fans on 24-hours so it is even more of an issue for that one.  |  IP: Logged

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