NEC NC1200C battery?

[Steve Kraus]

I have an NEC NC1200C used with a Dolby DSS200 with a media block (Cat.862) inside the server and dual link SDI to the projector. I take it that means I have an enigma board. Build date is summer of 2012.

Do I have a battery or batteries I need to replace before something expensive fails? Is this something I can do myself given reasonable technical proficiency but no familiarity with the inside of the projector? Or should I arrange for a service call?

Being a screening room not a commercial theatre the hours of operation are far lower but that means higher hours with the battery keeping the memory alive.

[Leo Enticknap]

The Enigma board and the cat862 both have rechargeable lithium batteries built into them for their private key certificates. It's important, therefore, to ensure that the projector and server are powered up regularly.

I have heard it said that as long as both are powered up for around 20-30 hours in every month, you should be OK. But of course, as batteries age, their capacity and longevity decline. It is still possible to buy replacement Enigma cards if the battery does die and you lose the cert, but Dolby - officially, at any rate - no longer offers a repair service for the cat862. I would personally advise, therefore, that you leave your server powered up 24/7.

The only battery that you can change is the real time clock battery on the projector's ICP. I wouldn't worry about this one too much, because if it does actually die, it won't brick the ICP. You'll need to replace it and reset the clock before you can play DCI content again, but that's all. You might like to think about buying a new one (BR2330) and keeping it in your spares inventory, then just replace it when needed.

[Steve Kraus]

I do keep the server running all the time rebooting it by power cycling once every couple months. How tricky is the ICP battery replacement?

[Carsten Kurz]

Well, you need to pull out the board, perform remarriage and clear tamper errors afterwards, so you need the necessary software and passwords/PINs. Do you know a tech, does someone visit you on a regular basis? What about air filters, bulbs?

If your equipment is running 24/7, someone should probably also perform some cleaning after such a long time of operation. No need to hurry as far as the battery is concerned in your setup (Doremi and GDC media blocks are critical), but I would schedule a tech visit and discuss items to be done beforehand. If you skip maintenance long enough, it will hit you unexpectedly.

- Carsten

[Steve Kraus]

Only the DSS runs 24/7. Projector just as needed so hopefully not too dirty. No regular technician service. I set it up and had some remote help from Mark G (with me acting has his eyes) to do the basic flat / scope alignment. (I later muddled my way through for custom formats, the BD player etc.)

Then before we went live the vendor brought his color meter to set that (and he put in the internal aperture so we could run the bulb at a decent current level). A few months in I changed the power hookup in front so the electronics could run on a full time AC/DC/AC UPS. I've done the bulb changes (we are only on #3) & filters. I have a Harkness Screen Checker for light levels. Once in a while studios will send in a tech and I know color has sometimes been read / reset. I updated the projector software about a year back. (I shy away from updating if things are running well but it was overdue.)

On the DSS side my Cat.862 once failed after a reboot--probably the on-board regulator(s) as there was nothing lit. I replaced it myself upon consultation with Brad. Had to update the DSS to match the Cat.862.

Knock wood...

[Leo Enticknap]

As far as cleaning inside projectors and servers goes, it largely depends on how must dust, popcorn oil, and other good stuff is swirling around in the environment in which they are operating. Last month I opened up a DSS200 that literally hadn't been touched (internally) since installation in 2011, because the BIOS battery had run down, it was complaining about it during the boot sequence, and the end user wanted it fixed. The booth was kept spotless and the HVAC system is HEPA filtered, with the result that it looked like a brand new server inside. There wasn't even any dust clogging the RAID drive cartridge grilles.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is a drive-in I service in which the booth door is left open to the parking lot most of the time, and where several roach coaches park just outside, all belching out greasy cooking fumes. WIthin six months of an internal clean, one of the DSP100s in there had become so gross and disgusting that both exhaust fans had actually stopped.

[Steve Kraus]

We're on the 16th floor of an office building so while not spotless it's pretty clean. No popcorn machine anywhere. One reason I don't leave the projector at least in standby after shutdown is precisely because that leaves fans on, using up their hours and filter capacity. And it will get angry if the lamp supply is not also powered which means even more fans. At the corner of my homemade stand I have an outlet and a switch (with protective cover) fed from a cord to the UPS. Projector electronics feeds from that. Thus we never touch the notorious white switch nor the large switch.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The ICP battery can be gotten at Batteries & Bulbs. They are cheap... You need to pull the legacy board, bottom one and the blank above it. Then you can pull the ICP out. Note that NEC recommends you run the projector for 30 minutes first to charge the super capacitors on the ICP. Once the boards are pulled out use a PLASTIC, NOT METAL to to pop the battery out of it's holder. The clip that keeps it in is quite stiff. Install a new battery in it's place and put the boards back in and clear the faults.The clock should automatically reset itself on NEC S-2. Hopefully when you boot it up it still works. Out of about 300 that I did, only one ICP did not survive and had to be replaced. Another Tech friend had the same thing happen, and it is a sort of a catch 22 module where you are damed if you do or damed if you don't change the battery.

[Carsten Kurz]

BTW - the ICP battery swap procedure is explained in NEC manuals (incl. illustrations/photos) that can easily be found by googling.

- Carsten

[Steve Kraus]

So to review, the Enigma and Cat. 862 batteries don't need to be worried about with the DSS running at all times and the projector powered up regularly. What about the DSS BIOS battery? Is that draining at all times or only for 30 seconds or so of downtime when I do a periodic power cycle reboot? Would there be a bunch of BIOS things to reset upon a battery change?

The ICP battery change seems pretty straightforward and does not involve delving deeply into the projector if it is just one of those modules on the side. Does the time reset done manually via DCC or does it need to access an NTP server? Ditto does all the tamper & security resets done on DCC as well?

[Dave Macaulay]

Tamper can be cleared from the panel. Marriage through DCCS. You need the service passcode for tamper reset, and a special marriage password for marriage.
BIOS batteries often last for 10+ years and I don't know that I have ever changed a DSS200 battery. If you do change it, I recommend having the AC cord plugged in and server off (hold down the power button for 5+ seconds). That keeps the "cmos" memory alive so no BIOS settings need to be redone.Just be careful not to drop a battery onto the PCB.

[Carsten Kurz]

I usually attach a piece of adhesive tape to the battery for some extra safety during hot swaps. In some cases, it is possible to cover the surrounding PCB with a piece of paper or plastic sheet.

[Carsten Kurz]

Steve - do you know how long this equipment is in operation, have there been any module swaps over time, did you buy any of it second hand?

[Steve Kraus]

The projector was brand new. I received it July 2012. I think the build date was June 2012. It began revenue service in September of that year.

The Dolby DSS200 was used. I don't recall if a build date is shown on it. Only replacements were the aforementioned R&R of the Cat.862 and replacing the 500GB drives with 1TB and a subsequent replacement of one of those that was going bad.

[Carsten Kurz]

So, your next worry would be the ICP cert battery, maybe in 2-3 years or so. Go ahead, power everything up every one or two weeks, play a show (without lamp lit), just to see wether everything else plays as usually. This is also useful to see any issues in time, so, in case you start operations again, your have enough time to fix them.