Barco ICMP-01 (Alchemy) expected end of service life?

[Juan Jose Garcia Calvo]

Hello.

Anyone knows if there is any announced end of service for the BARCO ICMP-01 (first Alchemy)?

As the battery change is a risky procedure, I think it coud be a good idea change it in our Alchemy (even if it's still good) before Barco stops doing service (certificates reload if lost), and have a fresh battery to last 5 years (if no other issue occurs, of course).

I asked to Barco twice but no answer in one week...

Thanks

JuanJo

[Leo Enticknap]

My understanding (for the USA market at any rate) is that Barco will not recertificate an ICMP (of any generation) that it out of warranty anyways: if you lose the cert, you have to buy a new Alchemy.

That having been said, I must have done around 100 ICMP/Alchemy battery replacements over the years, and have only lost one during that time. To this day, I don't know why that happened. I followed the same procedure as always: wore gloves, inserted the new one first, used a drinking straw over the positive terminal while removing and inserting, etc. etc. It's not like a cat745, where you're almost more likely to lose the cert than not while changing out the battery.

The only reliability issue that I have seen with original mk. I Alchemies is that the RAID controller card does tend to die: I've had this happen three or four times. I believe that the new model of RAID controller cannot be installed in an original ICMP - only in the ICMP+ or -X, and so if Barco no longer have any of the original card in stock, I guess that might be a problem down the road. But apart from that, they are pretty solid and reliable.

[Steve Guttag]

Leo,
I believe your information on the Alchemy recert is incorrect. Both the ICMP and ICMP-2.0 (had HDMI instead of Display Port) are still listed on the "Swap" list with a fixed price. As you say, this might just be a USA thing but that is what it is showing with a 8/2024 list. I did, recently, price out an ICMP-2.0 for a university that had their go dead during C19.

[Leo Enticknap]

These things do change, and I guess this might have done. My information is based on an incident in late 2023, in which an ICMP died in a system that we'd installed about a decade previously, and had no contact with the owners since. The projector was only used for a few hours a week, and I don't think it had had any maintenance during that time. The ICMP was still on an early enough version of the firmware that it didn't give a low battery warning, and the rest was history. At that time, we were told that they would not fix or RXO an ICMP with an expired warranty, and that our only option was to buy a new one. In the end, they bought a used ICP and ShowVaul/IMB from us, for around half the price of a new Alchemy. I installed it with a fresh battery and a big, printed "Replace cert battery by [date] on it" label on the IMB, which I now do with every media block that I install that does not have a rechargeable battery.

[Elia Orselli]

EU market: all ICMP models can be swapped for recertification with a dedicated service (and pricing)

[Marin Zorica]

EU market: all ICMP models can be swapped for recertification with a dedicated service (and pricing)

I can confirm that, as recently i just swap 1st generation of icmp where battery gone dead.
But i would not be supprised if they stop to do it due end of service life for 1st generation of icmp.....
I cannot recall when we ship out icmp which was dead, did they sent us same 1st generation or 2nd. (i am sure it was not icmp--x and it was not same unit which was sent).