Big drag scoreboard parts not available

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Big drag scoreboard parts not available

Postby BillGorman » Mon Jul 02, 2018 4:12 pm

The track has a set of 8 year old LED scoreboards for the dragstrip with 24 in tall red digits. Lightning struck the metal pole 4 feet from the scoreboards and took out some track lighting, a security camera and damaged the drag scoreboards. The LEDs faired okay but the part damaged is a small chip and I need a few. Checking online for parts, I am finding the parts are no longer available.

Where can I get parts and how do I get the scoreboards repaired?
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Re: Big drag scoreboard parts not available

Postby lazdee » Mon Jul 02, 2018 4:32 pm

The suppliers discontinued manufacturing several parts a while back. The same scoreboard today contains a different control circuit. RaceAmerica has an upgrade for the dicontinued circuitry using currently available parts. Each digit is fitted with the upgrade replacing all of the older control chips in the scoreboard. The result is a fully working scoreboard with slightly brighter digits and more resistant to failures by lightning (although a direct hit is a lot to deal with!).

Contact Sales or Technical Support at RaceAmerica to check into the upgrade/repair. You ship only the circuit boards in for repair and not the heavy enclosures. The scoreboard firmware is also updated as part of the upgrade to make the scoreboard fully compatible with the new parts.
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Re: Big drag scoreboard parts not available

Postby BillGorman » Fri Jul 06, 2018 8:21 am

Looks like I need a couple of chips as far as I can tell. One of them is on the left board, I looked it up and it is a mcu chip discontinued about 2 years ago. Will the upgrade solve both failures? Since the scoreboard is about 8 years old, is there a way to repair it back to operation. I really don't want to buy a new scoreboard right now.
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Re: Big drag scoreboard parts not available

Postby raceamerica » Fri Jul 06, 2018 8:42 am

The MCU chip is long gone replaced by a newer chip back several years. If the MCU chip is bad, there may be more wrong with the master board since that chip controls everything. If it is damaged, the same low voltage DC line connects to several other components. Best to have RaceAmerica take a look at it. When there is extensive damage, it will cost more in labor to repair than to replace the master board with a new one. Since you have more damage than that, it can all be evaluated first and alternatives for repair can be proposed. The upgrade discussed earlier would be part of the total solution to get your scoreboards back on line.
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Re: Big drag scoreboard parts not available

Postby BillGorman » Mon Jul 09, 2018 8:02 am

I removed the digits from the scoreboards and will be shipping them in for evaluation. The left board would not release from the enclosure until I removed the nut on the power inlet connected to the circuit board. One of these connectors may be loose now and may need replacement.

Once I know what we are dealing with, I can present it to track management for approval.
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