Les
Well-Known Member
So, I recently received an EDI Bijou Plus that I won on eBay for $100. It seems like it works very well, aside from the fact that I haven't hooked it up to any dimmers. I've just been paging through menus and writing random cues and all those functions seem to work. The question I have is about servicing the unit, as it needs a little TLC. The main thing is that the sliders feel a little dirty, and one submaster is missing its slider completely.
I called "Bear" from Norcostco - Dallas and he said that they could service it for $65 per hour and that the cleaning shouldn't take more than an hour. He also said that the potentiometer should be a cheap fix. I popped the hood and the circuit board doesn't seem to be damaged underneath, so I'm thinking that they could just solder on a new potentiometer. That's a pretty cheap part, right? What do you think about their service charge? It sounds fair to me, but I will call a few more places just to compare.
The unit also has some permanent marker graffiti on it, but Bear said that they have solvents that they could use on it to get it off. I tried rubbing alcohol, but it seems like it would take more than that to get results. Bear said that they use chemicals like Dry Cleaning solvents, etc.
All in all I think I got a pretty good deal! If I had some 5-pin DMX cables I would hook it up to my dimmer packs, but the fact that it boots up and is responsive seems pretty hopeful. There is an inspection sticker inside the board that says it was manufactured in 7/02. This is the Bijou Plus 48/96 (without the encoder wheels and moving light section).
One other thing; in Stage, the channel sliders don't register on the screen when I bring them up, either by keying them in or pushing up the handles. I think it's something that needs to be addressed in the setup menu. I don't have a manual, and have yet to download one due to lack of a USB cable for my printer and a very slow computer that really shouldn't have anything else saved on to it. This is a long shot, but would anyone around here by any chance know how to fix this?
Thanks guys!
I called "Bear" from Norcostco - Dallas and he said that they could service it for $65 per hour and that the cleaning shouldn't take more than an hour. He also said that the potentiometer should be a cheap fix. I popped the hood and the circuit board doesn't seem to be damaged underneath, so I'm thinking that they could just solder on a new potentiometer. That's a pretty cheap part, right? What do you think about their service charge? It sounds fair to me, but I will call a few more places just to compare.
The unit also has some permanent marker graffiti on it, but Bear said that they have solvents that they could use on it to get it off. I tried rubbing alcohol, but it seems like it would take more than that to get results. Bear said that they use chemicals like Dry Cleaning solvents, etc.
All in all I think I got a pretty good deal! If I had some 5-pin DMX cables I would hook it up to my dimmer packs, but the fact that it boots up and is responsive seems pretty hopeful. There is an inspection sticker inside the board that says it was manufactured in 7/02. This is the Bijou Plus 48/96 (without the encoder wheels and moving light section).
One other thing; in Stage, the channel sliders don't register on the screen when I bring them up, either by keying them in or pushing up the handles. I think it's something that needs to be addressed in the setup menu. I don't have a manual, and have yet to download one due to lack of a USB cable for my printer and a very slow computer that really shouldn't have anything else saved on to it. This is a long shot, but would anyone around here by any chance know how to fix this?
Thanks guys!