Christie CP4220 power issue, hum and taillights flickering on and off

[Andrew Thomas]

Hello all.

I have a CP4220 that I’m getting ready to put back into service. It has been sitting here plugged in since the pandemic shutdowns, and I’ve occasionally run content through it. I went to the theater today to start going through all the equipment to ready it to reopen and noticed the taillights were flickering on and off in a repeated pattern. Not super rapid, but about once on/of cycle ever 1.5 seconds.

I can hear a humming/buzzing sound during the on cycle, and it seems to come from the bundle of wiring where the feed running into inlet side of the low voltage power supply.

I also bypassed the projectors feed to that LVPS and plugged it into the wall directly. Same cycling but the humming/buzzing goes away. The LVPS status light is solid green when power but the outlet line is disconnected. When connected it cycles on and off in sync with the tail lights.

I figured I would see if any of you have seen the issue before I spend too much time trying to figure out what the cause is.

[Andrew Thomas]

One small update: when having the “BBP_power inline” connector removed, the TPC is now able to power up and boot up. Of course the projector itself does not. So the issue seems to be somewhere down the line of the BBP connector I mentioned.

[Andrew Thomas]

And final update: I pulled each card one by one from the cage and when the PIB is removed, the power doesn’t cycle anymore. Grabbed a PIB from another Christie and the thing fires up.

Any idea approximate cost range on PIBs?

[Leo Enticknap]

Before giving up on that PIB completely, try giving its contacts the DeOxit treatment, then reseat?

If it's in the same price range as its Barco and NEC equivalents, I'm afraid that you'd be looking at well into four figures for a new one.

[Steve Guttag]

The Christie PIB is under $2K (both list and street price).

[Andrew Thomas]

I will give the DeOxit a go tomorrow. And I just checked a couple of places, and yes, sub $2k but both places I checked are saying Christie is quoting a SPRING 2022 availability!

[Leo Enticknap]

They are backed up. I had a Christie touch panel die last month - completely pooped. Reseating the umbilical and new CMOS battery wouldn't wake it up, and despite LEDs inside the chassis and the screen's backlight coming on (but the display remained blank), no VNC communication with it, either. Christie estimated 1-2 months for a new one. Swapped one in from another screen and all was good with the projector.

[Steve Guttag]

These are definitely scary times when one cannot get repair parts and it is most definitely not just Christie. We are having extended waits on most things. The rough thing on Christie is that the Touchpanel is the brains of the outfit (that and the PIB, I guess)...without it, the screen is down.

[Leo Enticknap]

I've been advising customers with older Q-Sys amplifiers to order a spare of each model, for the same reason - a screen could be down for weeks if one powering stage channels goes out and they don't have a working spare. At least if they put the order in, the clock starts to tick until they have their insurance policy in place.

[Steve Guttag]

I'm not as worried about amplifier failure on Q-SYS as I NEVER put Center on the same amplifier as Left and Right and all of our systems have the ability to bypass any stage channel with those that remain. And, in my ATMOS rooms, I'm starting to adopt a 2-amplifier policy for Center. That is, I'll have Center and 1/2 the subwoofers on one amplifier and a "Spare" an the other half of the subwoofers on another amplifier. Since the DPA-Q/CX-Q have those nifty Phoenix Speaker terminals, all one has to do to get Center back is move the plug (and select the spare on the touchscreen/web interface). Since the subs are always on both amplifiers, if either amp has a failure, you'll know and get it fixed and, at worst, you lose half of the subwoofer system. So, the spare is in the rack and ready to use at all times.

Another thing that can be done on Q-SYS, is dynamic pairing where one just has to plug the amplifier in...the rest will self-configure and load the design in. All the theatre personnel have to be able to do is operate a screwdriver.

But this is probably a Q-SYS Corner discussion.

Back OT...I think the "Just-in-time" stocking scheme has completely fallen apart when supply chains get disrupted and we are feeling that. For audio, it has been combined with a major chip manufacturer for Digital to Analog chips burning to the ground.

[Leo Enticknap]

I do have Q-Sys installations with all the stage channels on one physical amplifier (not my design, but I have to deal with them), hence the advic to have a spare amp in stock. The way I manage onsite replacements is to put a DHCP server on the (primary or only) Q-LAN. A cheap Chinese $30 router does that job. That way, if one needs to be swapped out by site staff following a failure, I can see it on the remote access PC the moment it's booted up (because the DHCP server will have given it an address in the Q-LAN subnet) without having to change NIC addresses remotely (something I'm always a bit scared to do in case of loss of communication), change its device name to the one in the design, and it will then update its firmware if necessary, load the design, I then unmute it using Q-Sys Designer on the remote PC, and we're back up and running.

[Andrew Thomas]

While I can say for sure that the PIB is dead, it seems I have another issue and it seems as though it may have been the power supply that killed it?

I’m getting 120 on the input side of the XP Power X7, but not getting 24v or 12v out of the output side.

[Steve Guttag]

Leo,

Dynamic Pairing presumes DHCP is available. The switches I'm currently using (TP-Link Jetstreams series) do have the option of DHCP servers. Furthermore, QLAN-B is connected to our router to allow control to make it to the normal booth network...so a DHCP server can be had there. I float QLANA...no gateways, only physical connections and really, only Q-SYS devices. But yeah, if one is going to put all of their eggs in one basket...have a spare basket.

On the Christie...the TPC and the PIB run of the "Standby Power Supply (a little in-line 24V brick that is mounted below the LVPS in a CP4220/CP2220). If that is not functioning, you'll have a dead TPC and a dead PIB and forget about the rest because nothing will trip the relay that turns on the LVPS for the rest of the power rails. That stupid supply has a DIN output connector too! I recently replaced one...cut the old output cable to keep the DIN connector, screwed a Phoenix to DC coax connector on it (made it an adapter cable) and then put in a different brand 24VDC with a little higher wattage capability) Standby supply...one just as to watch the size fo the substitute supply or be prepared to address the mounting of it since the bracket presumes a specific size.

So, if you don't have a PIB that is functioning I don't believe you will get the LVPS to turn on its other rails. That only happens when the projector comes out of standby.

Christie has this awesome idea of having these green LEDs that will let one visually tell if the Standby and the 208V power are on (two LEDs)...in S1 projectors, they were on standoffs and labeled. In S2, they darn near hide them...the one for 208V is often tied and tucked under the cardboard for the "Relay" and the one for the standby supply is similarly tide to make it less obvious. I normally free them up a bit and place them such that one can see them through the louvers in the side of the projector without taking the cover off! They can be a handy troubleshooting aid. The Standby supply has an LED on it too that will indicate if it is alive.

[Marcel Birgelen]

While I can say for sure that the PIB is dead, it seems I have another issue and it seems as though it may have been the power supply that killed it?

I’m getting 120 on the input side of the XP Power X7, but not getting 24v or 12v out of the output side.

That's your standby PSU... luckily, it doesn't have any fancy remote control interfaces, it's always powered on. So you can indeed swap it for any generic 24v PSU with at least the same rating, as long as you keep the connector in place and wire it up correctly. Christie charges an arm and a leg for that little PSU, if you can get it at all...

[Carsten Kurz]

XP Power VEC65US24

DC PLUG-P1J-R6B