8mm Forum: GS1200 ESS woes

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Topic: GS1200 ESS woes

Stuart Reid
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 720
From: Worthing, West Sussex, UK
Registered: Feb 2009

posted June 04, 2016 11:33 AM

Trying to get the ESS part of my mk1 GS working. I'm running a 25hz wav file from the headphone socket of my pc, connected to pins 4 & 5 of the DIN socket on the projector. Nothing happens at all. I'm getting no movement on the needle to tell me the signal is being received. Any ideas?

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Maurice Leakey
Film God

Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007

posted June 04, 2016 12:03 PM

Stuart
Have you got an Instruction Manual for your GS-1200?
I only use my projectors for playback so I don't know what ESS is, but according to the manual it is to do with Pulse-Sync projection.
The manual says connection is by using Pulse Cord PC-O01. Looking at the Accessory cords page this cord is 1.5m long with a 3.5mm jack plug at each end.
Hope this helps, or have I got it wrong/

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Maurice

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Alexander Vandeputte
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 243
From: Belgium
Registered: Nov 2009

posted June 04, 2016 12:30 PM

Before you try anything else: The wav signal must be fed at a pretty high level (LOUD). My Elmo does not accept the wav signal coming from a PSP or an Ipad but sure does coming from my PC...
Also make sure that the auto thread is released otherwise the ESS wil also remain dormant.
Getting it to work can be a bit fiddly, but when it eventually will work you'll be happy to discover how easy it is to run a Derann print next to the DVD.
Be aware: some very early GS1200 machines will only sync up to 18fps. Look at the ESS board in the machine. Most likely it will have the designation ESS24 printed somewhere and that tells you that you can sync anything between roughly 16 and 26 fps...

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Paul Browning
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1006
From: West Midlands United Kingdom
Registered: Aug 2011

posted June 04, 2016 12:44 PM

Needs to be a square wave stuart. I use audacity to do this and come out the headphone socket, which should be at a higher level but enough for the Elmo to pickup on. You can start and stop with this too. A dvd player will do the same thing, if you come out of the yellow phono socket on the back and into the 5 pin socket it will pickup the same as.

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Alan Rik
Film God

Posts: 2211
From: New York City, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted June 04, 2016 01:46 PM

And if you happen to have one that has the 18FPS board only you can modify it to do 25fps by cutting traces on the board. I did that with mine and now my 18fps board can do 25fps.

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Stuart Reid
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 720
From: Worthing, West Sussex, UK
Registered: Feb 2009

posted June 04, 2016 03:15 PM

Haven't checked the board yet, but so far I'm having little success. I'm definitely getting signal as far as the machine; I know this because I left the casing off the din plug and placed the signal and earth from an old set of headphones across them onto the same pins. I also tested Pulse Rec the same way by wiring headphones to pins 1 & 5. That gave me a signal BUT there seemed to be a LOT of mains hum (as opposed to the 'angry wasp' noise) getting picked up too. Now I'm going to open up and check the board revision, see how early this mark 1 is. Would love to find another GS owner locally (London/Essex) who has ESS working successfully to see if there's an issue with my board.

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Andrew Woodcock
Film God

Posts: 7477
From: Manchester Uk
Registered: Aug 2012

posted June 04, 2016 04:02 PM

Bill will tell you anything and I do mean any..thing regarding these machines that you may need to know Stuart.

He's not too far from you here. [Wink]

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"C'mon Baggy..Get with the beat"

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Alessandro Pavoni
Master Film Handler

Posts: 255
From: Zürich/Switzerland
Registered: Sep 2009

posted June 04, 2016 04:20 PM

Hi Stuart, maybe it can help you, received years ago by Ugo.
[Smile]

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Jean-Marc Toussaint
Film God

Posts: 2392
From: France
Registered: Oct 2004

posted June 05, 2016 05:53 AM

Stuart, you might want to check the following:
If you open the back, and look towards the front of the machine (somewhere below the gear assay for the feeder arm, if I recall correctly), there's a tiny sensor that monitors speed. If that sensor is clogged by excessive dust or grease, ESS won't work properly.
I'm nowhere near my GS1200 these days, so I'm unable to pinpoint the exact location of that small part for you but perhaps someone here could.

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The Grindcave Cinema Website

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Paul Browning
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1006
From: West Midlands United Kingdom
Registered: Aug 2011

posted June 05, 2016 10:15 AM

You are referring to the reed switch Jean that's attached above the shaft that has the shutter blade attached to it. I believe there are two on the GS, there are permanent magnets attached to the rotating shaft that open and close this switch to provide the clicks for pulse sync to pickup, some kind of reference I guess.

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Stuart Reid
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 720
From: Worthing, West Sussex, UK
Registered: Feb 2009

posted June 05, 2016 02:04 PM

Well the news is it's a very early board without the 24 written on it. I'm also trying to locate the reed switches as mentioned, would that be the small black rectangle with wires as pictured just below the gears?