C-Touch 5000ct Dead or Alive?

Hello all,

We have moved into a house that has one C-Touch panel installed. All was fine until today when the blinds wouldn't go back up. When I tried the screen it was responsive but the blinds would not go up. I powered it down and now all I get is a gray screen with very light lines flashing to be seen when it powers on.

Has this unit died? Can it be repaired or replaced? Can the LCD screen be replaced if thats what is a fault. What happened?

Thank you for reading.

Cheers Mark

 

Hey Shovetts,

It could be the screen and there are options for replacement, maybe repair but @Trevor would probably be able to confirm.

However another issue could be that your C-Bus power supplies are dying, partly because I have seen the C-Touch units do similar when there isn't enough power on the bus for them, but also because your blinds stopped working before that and if you have an original C-Touch the install is probably getting to that age. Do you have other C-Bus in the house and is that all working as expected?

 

Thank you for the reply.

This is the only C-Touch screen we have in the house. I can open and close the blinds by pushing the buttons on the changeover relay. This is a C-BUS2 relay.

I am new to all this, please can you tell me what is powering the blinds, C-Touch and other things in the house. I have attached a photo of the two replays and the dimmers installed.

Cheers Mark

 

Does this board have anything to do with the C-Bus system? If so what is it doing?

 

Hmmmm...
That likes like an old "Minder" controller to me. Try doing a search for Minder - it's not something I can help with but there's plenty of awesome talent here that can.

 

Hello,
Thanks for the reply...I have been searching...not sure where to go from here. I just don't know how to troubleshoot any of this so to determine what the issue could be. Everything works when I use the replays and dimmers that are in the cupboard, I just cant see the C-Touch screen to do it from there..very frustrating.

I found the Home Minder software, but had to order a serial to USB adapter before I could connect. Hoping maybe I can backup the programmed file before I attempt anything. Is this possible?

Can anyone recommend an electrician or a company that can come to my house to sort this out. I am in the Sutherland Shire area of Sydney.

Thanks

 

You definitely have a Minder system there connected to C-Bus. Try to contact Nous House. https://www.noushouse.com.au/ Brad should be able to assist with the C-Bus. If he can't help with the Minder, I'll help him out from Adelaide with how to go about it.

 

Hi shovetts,

Send me an personal mail on here with your contact details and I'll give you a call to assist you.

Conformist, My ears were burning and I didn't know why, happy to help here.

Cheers,

Brad

• www.noushouse.com.au

 

Hi There,
Arbor Australia still do the repairs for the Colour Touch Screens, the fault you describe is due to the age of the unit and can be repaired. Fill out the attached RMA forma and send it with the unit for repair. Any other queries contact me directly.

Trevor Callaghan
Senior Workshop Technician

Unit 36, Eastern Business Centre
41-49 Norcal Rd Nunawading
Victoria 3131

Phone : +61 3 8736 0328
Email : [email protected]

 

wow..thank you for all the replies.

 

Hi Mark
Hopefully you've got help by now, but from the images, it dosen't look like that Minder is doing much, only one wire connected and no C-Bus interface.
It sounds like a touch screen / C-Bus power supply issue.

 

Hi Matthew,

Am working with Mark on his issue. First port of call was a power supply as other comms related symptoms were evident, but touch screen is still flickering. Bringing it back to the workshop for look see.

Brad

 

@bmerrick - I just finished fault finding a flicky screen issue for a client, it turned out to be a failing powersupply in a dimmer. Once that dimmer was out of the pink-link and a stand alone PSU installed t meet the networks minimum current needs the screen issues went away, it was that the screen was particularly touchy about the faulty PSU.

 

Yes, they are a bit. Thanks for that.

Having 8 in my own home network (used for MRA control before eDLTs) I know them particularly well and bad power is their major issue as they always drop off the C-Bus network first if you ever go close to the power limit from adding new modules / testing client suspect modules etc and they go into one of the LCD cycling / Initialising / line fragments / backlight flashing sort of routines.

That being said, I like them a lot. They are solid little screens, and I still have my original 8, none have failed so I'm lucky.

Brad

 

Hey thanks for the follow up, everyone loves a happy ending!.
I too have a 13y.o. original touch screen at home still happily chugging along & gets used everyday (we find flashing lights in teenagers bedrooms is far more effective than calling them!).
I did replace one of similar age in a pub last month.
The only complaint is that on some pages half of the page is 1pixel higher then the rest. I've seen this on a few, never found a solution.

 

Hey Matthew,

Always like to try to provide follow up as people who were watching Mark's post and contributed to the discussion to help him would be interested in the outcome.

It was pretty interesting in that the touch screen had died big time. There was some possible water mark oxidation evident on the metal fascia backplate that is also the main frame which could suggest historical overzealous screen cleaning with a liquid but this was not done by Mark.

I understand that the screen became unresponsive after working fine and so Mark hit 'cleaning mode' which showed a counter that locked up mid count down. After a period of no change in the countdown, a power cycle was completed via C-Bus power circuit breaker but the screen did not reboot after.

On inspection, the screen had seemingly suffered a major failure as the LCD primary connector to the LCD controller board had heated up to a degree that it melted the mylar non-conductive tape covering the joint and even melted the solder on the pinned solder joint to the circuit board. See 3 images attached of the faulty touch screen LCD (IMG8126-8128) and a normal one (IMG8129), it was quite surprising. The heat even caused the touch overlay to skew about 8 degree off horizontal as it heated the 'double sided tape' holding it to the LCD.

Anyway, Mark is now up again with a replacement refurb 50000CT with some scenes recreated so all seems good.

As a further point, the Minder Mark's images noted on the C-Bus network was not responding at all to 'trigger' commands issued from the light switches on the lighting app so also seems to be non-operational so I suggested disconnection as it was only doing rudimentary scenes and schedules anyway.

So closure for all that provided input, thanks for that.

Merry Christmas to all,

Cheers,

Brad

• www.noushouse.com.au

 

Good to know

 

Greetings everyone. I found this old thread that is similar to my problem. Can I continue on this thread or need to start new thread? Please let me know.

We moved to a house, which has CBUS v2 installed. The Monochrome touch screen 5000CT has been working just fine since we move in. It froze twice but I did a hard reset on the main switchboard when it was not responding/slow and it is always working after that (Perhaps the cache is cleared (if that is the right terminology)).

The touch screen was not responding again yesterday and I did what I usually do but it is not working this time. I can still switching the lights on and off directly from the dimmers and blinds still working from the wall switch.

My question is if this unit can be repaired or it is better to go for replacement? The previous owner didn't share the saved project but thinking it can be redownloaded once plugged in. I live in Bayside LGA in NSW. Hoping for guidance on how to resolve this. Thanks.

 

Hi n0Fr1ll2,
Is it the touch screen not working or the display? Does it still beep if you touch the screen?
Clipsal should be able to help with this, i have put Avalon's contact details below for you.
If it is either, then Clipsal should be able to repair it and recover your project as well.
regards
Trevor

Avalon Coetzer
Customer Resolution Specialist
PZ Customer Experience
International Operations
Schneider Electric

D +61 8 8161 0736
M 0439 777 085
E [email protected]
F 08-8161 0923

33-37 Port Wakefield Road
Gepps Cross
Adelaide, 5094
Australia

 

Hi Trevor,
Wow, thank you for your quick response. This forum is awesome. The touchscreen is not responding at all. No beeping sound as if I touch blank screen. I am based in Sydney (Bayside LGA), New South Wales. Do you have contact in NSW that I can reach out? The last time it came back alive after few hours after being slow/not responsive (as if it clears the outstanding queue of instructions/cache by itself).