Cleaning/Repairing console faders

[Radiant]

We use a Leprecon LPX-24 console at church. Four or five of the faders, when brought down to 0%, "creep" back up to 5% or 10%. Sometimes they stay up, sometimes they flicker between 0% and 5%. This even though the fader is physically at the bottom of it's travel. The really irksome thing is that two of these are "Playback" faders (other consoles would probably call them submasters, but Leprecon is, umm, different.) The moving light protocol is LTP only, so if I'm using Playback 4 at full intensity, but Playback 3 creeps up to 5%, suddenly my lights jump to a different scene! Maybe they'll even do a nifty dance between Playbacks 3 and 4! And hopefully it'll be during a very somber, introspective time!!!
The workaround we've discovered is to very gingerly fade out the offending faders until they deactivate, but they're still a smidgen above the physical bottom. Is there a real solution for this, besides replacing parts? Can I clean them? Maybe they're corroded?
I've never opened up a console before. I also need to replace the 3.5" floppy drive (really!!) so that I can do a show backup and hopefully install LED fixture profiles.
Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

[Grog12]

The first thing you do too clean out an LPX-24 is throw it in the trash as it is a poor excuse for a light board much less a moving lightboard.

That being said I'd advise against you personally opening and or cleaning the board and instead contact your authroized rep/dealer down there in OK

Cowser Lee Marketing
Jim Cowser
http://www.cowserleemarketing.com

800-572-6433
817-478-5262 (fax)
AR, LA, OK, TX

[ScaredOfHeightsLD]

While the cleaning aspect seems like something you could do yourself with the proper cleaning product, i wouldn't recommend cracking open the console and trying to replace the disk drive yourself. It sounds like this board is in need of a serious tune up. I would recommend getting in touch with the dealer who sold you the board, see if they do factory authorized repairs/cleaning and if not, perhaps they could point you in the right direction of someone who can. As another option, give leprecon a call and see what they recommend.

[JD]

Generally, non-oil based contact cleaner spray will work without opening up the board. ( like http://www.polywater.com/typefd.html ) Make sure it does not say "clean and lube" as these contain an oil which may drip all over the place. Unfortunately, most newer sliders have so much lube shoved in them that cleaning will not help, but you may end up with the lube all over the place inside the board!

Now, the real question is "do you have dirty sliders in the first place?" Often, high use controls will actually wear out the carbon trace that is used as the resistive contact in the slider. Quite literally, when I've taken apart old ones, you can see the backing material right through where the carbon was where the metal fingers slide! If this is the case, no amount of cleaning will help! Both produce the "flicker area" effect when the slider is in that position. Although it is a simple inexpensive part, the job is usually VERY labor intensive as the backs of the sliders are almost always soldered in to a circuit board and everything has to be removed to get the fronts free prior to replacement. I would not recommend this to anyone. If some of the sliders are that worn, then it's time for a new board as the repair labor cost will be very high!

[Van]

Gotta go with JD on this one. Many sliders are "self Cleaning" and while a lot of people might frown upon it, one of the first things you can do to clean out a slider < audio, video, lighting board> it to slide it up and down rather quickly, don't press down on it too hard, just slide up and down its normal travel several times really quickly. No this won't hurt it at all. Occasionally dust / dirt / cheetos get stuck between the contact and the carbon trace which is what causes the jumping.
DO NOT USE a solvent / Cleaner , this is where I will differ with JD, using a Clean and Lube elcetronics cleaner will be your best bet to extend the life of a dirty slider. A solvent only cleaner will remove the lubricant used in the slider and cause premature wearing away of the carbon trace rendereing the slider useless, and nescessitating the replacement of the slider. I have seen boards where someone thought they were doing a good thing by, "blowing out all that gunk in there" with canned / compressed air, that clear, Vaseline like lubricant is supposed to be in there, it helps catch dust and debris, sortta like earwax and snot.
If none of these solutions help than I wouild consider either sending it in for repair <if under warranty>, or replacing the slider yourself. It really is an extremely simply task for anyone with even a little skill in electronics.

Oh and for general knowledge;
another main cause of failure of slider is people placing excessive downpressure on the slider button itself. I have opened up boards to replace sliders and found the reataining tabs, that hold the slider itself together, bent down < away from the surface of the board> this is quickly remidied by squeezing the tabs back closed and checking the slider for travel , drag, and or rough spots.

[TimMiller]

try to get through to leprecan. Your board is probably still under warranty, even if you dont even know it. I know of several churches who have gotten warranty parts and service and they didnt even know it was still under warranty. Call leprecan, and keep calling if no one returns your call.

[Radiant]

The board is not covered by a warranty, as we purchased it used about 4 years ago. I sent an email to the company that did our install, perhaps they can service it as well. I wish I could tell whether the sliders are dirty, or if they're coming apart.

Believe me, I'd love to hand-me-down this board to our college or high school group and get a Hog 3PC. But I think the accountants are a bit tired of me right now, as 1) I talked them into an extra pair of Mac 600s, 2) which necessitated a new breaker panel being installed, 3) I hit them up for a minimum number of spare lamps to keep on hand, 4) we bought new sockets and lamps for our Lekos, 5) I conferred with our kid's director for some kinda DJ flashy-spinny thing. Bottom line, I'm leery of asking for any expenditures right now, and hope I can do this myself.

[TimMiller]

I'd try the self cleaning slider method described. It does work sometimes. Some cheap faders are not self cleaning. I think the lep faders are though. I havent serviced one of those consoles in a while.

[Grog12]

http://www.leprecon.com/productfiles...V3.2Manual.pdf

pg 213 in Adobe 209 for actual page number...worst Maitenance and Repair section.....Ever.

[TimMiller]

AGREED. What a load of crap, that is just normal before you begin info. No where that i have seen does it say that you cannot wash out your entire console by pouring a bucket of water into it.