Has this ever happened to you? You get to fixing something and suddenly realize that the same concept can be used to fix another similar issue. In Monitech, we don’t reinvent the wheel where one is already there. It may need an update on enhancement to fit another product, so that’s what we do. Take a concept that is already in place, and it is proven to work well, and we use it to bring a logical solution to a similar issue. By this, I mean the Panelview controllers that use the U shaped CCFL backlight bulbs. One perfect example is Panelview 600. This unit suffers from backlight outage frequently. Monitech solution is to use LED’s – even though we sell the CCFL bulbs. The solution to this issue was an easy one. Use an array of bright LED modules on a PCB sheet with traces to carry the electricity to each LED light. The results were astonishing! To our surprize the reliability of the final product was exponentially better than the OEM (CCFL) solution. I mean you could throw this LED sheet across the room, and it will still work. With CCFL, you need to solder them into place, then carefully insert the housing in the controller, and again, very carefully so that you don’t break the light bulb or the solder joints, hook up the power and close the controller. This picture shows you how simple the LED backlight solution really is. Monitech has done all the work for you, so all you have to do in screw this unit in place and plug in the power – DONE! It is that easy. The performance has proved to be much better, as LED’s are twice as bright with only a fraction of the voltage. Here is the beauty of it all. We have applied the same principals to create a similar product for the Panelview 900 controller Backlight. Easy to install, much more reliable, and twice is bright with half the voltage of the OEM (2711-NL2). The other good thing is, it is in stock in Canada and USA right now, with no minimum purchase quantity (you know how they try to sell you on 100 pieces to get a good price? We don’t!) Monitech part MB900LED in stock now (because we make it here) Monitech has a whole host of backlights in stock for many different controllers. We also work with a reseller to offer better pricing. Our good friend over at T2 Industrial will receive you with the same enthusiasm and professional conduct as Monitech and the product is exactly the same but for a few bucks less. Please flip through their website to see all the products and services available to our valued customers. Feel free to contact Monitech or T2 Industrial for further info on any of our products and their features. We are here to help. Local pickup Available. Click the map below for Directions.
Innovation in Manufacturing PCB Design Monitech Industrial has always been at the forefront of creating new solutions for legacy / older controller displays. In doing so, we have come to realize the desperate need for replacement circuit boards to replace the obsolete spare parts. This means there are many requests for parts that no longer exist or the company that used to produce them has long gone out of business. There is another issue that compounds this problem. The OEM (Original Equipment MFG) may also be sold to another entity, who, when contacted wants to sell you on their new super dooper, Gluten Free, Low Fat, machinery at hundreds of thousands of dollars, all because no-one can find the replacement part – it is “Obsolete”. So, how do you “un-obsolete” an item that has been out of circulation for nearly 20 years? You need experience and innovation to produce / replicate the old technology that works with today’s requirements. There are more variables to factor in: when a company does not want to spend the money on a brand-new half a million dollar new machinery, they are forced to make the old one work at any cost. This usually means that they modify the original equipment, solely because they can’t find the replacement part. Another issue is when the other part supplier is contacted, you are force fed a minimum purchase quantity in the 100’s or 1,000’s – all for 1 or 2 pieces of repair parts that are needed to finish a run and satisfy the backlog of orders. This is where Monitech can pick up the fumbled ball and run it in the endzone for a touchdown. Let me explain this timely analogy a bit further. (SuperBowl is in 10 days’ time!) Here at Monitech, we already have the diagnostics knowledge to pinpoint exactly where the problem with a controller lies. What is important is being able to produce an obsolete spare part in low volumes that actually work, all this without charging an arm and a leg in engineering fees with quick turnaround times, here in North America. That is the beauty of our latest venture in the “low volume PCB design and Innovation”. OK, now let’s get technical. Please find some examples of our enhancements to old design and newly designed products shared below: And many more. Please let us know if & when you need our help, and we will work with you to get you the part you need in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Feel free to visit our Facebook and Twitter pages and read our Quora posts.
Panelview 600 backlight solutions There are a few different versions of Allen Bradley Panelview 600 controllers currently out in the market. These PLC machines have the HMI screen (Human to Machine Interface) or as some people call it, the operator control panel. On just about every Controller, the CRT or the LCD screen displays the parameters entered for the program that need to run. Well, since the CRT’s don’t have a backlight, that LCD screen is only as good as the backlight that lights up the Liquid Crystals to show you how many parts you have run, and what program is currently running. The question is this: what happens if you can’t read the screen? Answer: you are down!!! And Downtime is a 4-letter word that does not help anybody. There are 2 solutions to this problem: 1) Swap out the CRT or the LCD with a new one 2) Find out if the issue is the backlight and change the backlight OK, great. Now what’s available out there in the aftermarket arena?? If you go to the dealer, they always try to up-sell you into a new high efficiency, current technology controller. Why you might ask? Because it has the most profit for the MFG and the dealer. This is where Monitech shines very brightly. We can offer the repair part to change the LCD or the backlight on the Panelview line at a fraction of the cost from the OEM. What’s more is that we have stock, you want it the next day, no problem. You are not in a big rush, have it ground shipped, and you will get it in 2 to 3 days. Specifically speaking, Monitech Panelview 600 LED backlight is a new design development by our technicians and it offers huge benefits over the standard CCFL bulbs that currently reside in the Panelview 600 controller display. The LED bulbs are massively brighter, I’m talking 800 nits vs 200 nits on the CCFL. Also LED lights last longer especially against breakage and they draw much less power (only 0.5 Amp) meaning the controller power supply does not have to work as hard. Feel free to view our videos on YouTube and judge for yourself how effective and easy Monitech Panelview 600 backlight and touchscreen solutions really are. We also carry the LCD for this controller screen. You can always reach out to us on our website VIA Contact Us or start a Live Chat. We are here to help you get back up and running parts as quickly as possible. Panelview 600 smash and rebuild – WHAT?? Panleview 600 Backlight replacement – YouTube. CCFL Installation Video – YouTube.
How Did Monitech Save the Day (Jan 4, 2023) As we all know “Sticky Situations” creep up at the most inopportune time with a massive “Monkey Wrench” tossed in the progress of a job or project. Nothing is more frustrating than taking half a day to setup a long running production run, only to find the machine has controller issues. Broken operator control panel screen or a non-functioning Touchscreen or Keypad keyboard leaves you scratching your head, with a thought of “ How in the world am I going to input the Panelview program parameters into the controller?” In these situations, you can count on Monitech and their affiliated distributors to ship your repair part for delivery the next business day. Our Tampa Bay warehouse has the most popular brands of controller HMI parts in stock to get you out of those pesky Sticky Jammy situations. Case and point: Our customer with a Panelview 900 controller needed a backlight to read the screen. They came to us as the last resort because everyone else was either out of stock or had a long lead time. The OEM even tried to up-sell them a whole new controller, WOW!! Solution: MB900LED easy to install LED backlight. Our new design matches the mounting holes in the Panelview 900 controller. We even include the hardware needed to attach this unit in place. Plug in the 12 Volt power header to the pins on the controller and you have a bright new, low current new technology LED backlight that emits virtually no heat! Click contact us for more info or to purchase this updated version (at the same old price, I might add)
We’re all massive fans of the top-of-the-line Japanese brand Mazak here- and for good reason. They’re famous for well-constructed and engineered CNC machining solutions. Rivaling the likes of CNC giants like Haas, Mazak has swept the international industrial market and continues to do so until this very day. Due to their prominence and dominance, so many different companies in various industries use Mazak machines and controllers in their factories and workshops. And thus, the demand for their parts is sky-high. It’s difficult to find a high-quality, reliable, and durable LCD Upgrade Kit for 12″ Toshiba Mazak TR-120S09C, Amada FBD-1253 press brake monochrome CRT, but Monitech and T2Industrial kept ready-to-ship stocks that can get to you as early as the following day. How can you top that? Well, we just did! We will throw in free Ground Shipping. The same goes for our sought-after LCD Upgrade Kit for a 14″ Mazak 8DSP40 Color CRT. And yes, the Mazak 8DSP40 Economy LCD upgrade kit is sold at a discount this month, too! It doesn’t even end there. The Mazak DR5614 Economy LCD upgrade kit is also included in this ultra-generous offer- its price is so low it’s almost half the price your regular Mazak Data Ray DR5614 counterpart, sheesh! I’m letting you know this early just so you have the entire month to decide, and honestly, I don’t see why you’re still thinking about it. Insider tip: Stocks are running out fast and if we run dry even before September ends, you might just be spending the rest of the month regretting why you spent a little too much time thinking and not enough time doing. Catch us on our socials, too: Blog, Facebook, Twitter
Replacing your Allen Bradley 1200 / 1400E Touchscreen We are pleased to announce that we can supply you with touchscreens for the Allen Bradley Panelview 1200 and 1400e HMI controls. After receiving many calls asking about these products, we have come up with a replacement touchscreen that is a perfect match. Whether your screen is damaged by years of use, an electrical failure, or being accidentally struck, we know that a damaged touchscreen can be just as crippling as a downed machine. Panelview 1200 and 1400e repair parts are always in stock in USA or Canada, and we ready to ship your order right away, so to minimize downtime and frustrations. Installing a new screen is a simple process, that can be completed in around an hour with basic tools and a limited mechanical knowledge. If you are uncomfortable doing preforming the install yourself, there are a few options for you. For local customers within our area, we can send a technician to you to install the screen for you. Our customers who are outside of our travel area, you can send your monitor to us, and we will install the screen in our workshop. Regardless of the situation, we will have your machine back up and running in a very short time, rather than waiting for an overseas supplier to send you the wrong part!! We can send your package with whatever courier company you choose, from FedEx to UPS. If you have a shipping account set up with a courier, we are happy to ship it on your account. If you do not, we will prepay and add the cost to your invoice, simple! To find out more information about our Allen Bradley Panelview 1200 and 1400e Keypads and touchscreens, please contact us!
ERROR! FEHLER! ERREUR! ERRORE! Allen Bradley Error 31 Solved! Here’s what you must do to clear “error 31 non-touch” from a PanelView HMI controller. Your touchscreen has failed, and no amount of repeated reboots of the controller will not make this go away. You must replace the touchscreen. First things first, jump on Monitech.com and search for your model (PaneView 550, Panelview 600, 600 Plus, 700, 900, 1000, 1200, PanelView 1400e etc…) Or contact us. Next: Step 1: Remove the back cover of your PanelView and unplug your touchscreen and/or Keypad Step 2: Test the PanelView. If you do not get an error, then your keypad and/or touchscreen is defective Step 3: Remove the front bezel and take the touchscreen and overlay off (Pro tip: for PanelView touchscreen that is stuck to a front bezel, put it in the freezer and the glue freezes and comes off easy) Step 4: Install Monitech replacement touchscreen/keypad. CAUTION!!! You only get one chance to stick it down. You cannot remove this without damaging it once it is stuck. Go slow and be precise. Step 5: Final Test. Contact Monitech for support if you need us. We have lots of Touchscreens as well as touchscreen with a numerical keypad (combo) like 2 devices in one. You get a nice new looking machine, and you will be the envy of all your boss and your peers!! A hero in the making, so go for glory. Click here for the YouTube installation video. Click here for our Facebook page. Click here to talk to Ellon Mussk directly. (Just kidding, it’s Monitech Twitter page) Click here for LinkedIn. Our Quora page is pretty exciting, click here.
Eaton Cutler-Hammer Panelmate retrofit parts It was back in 1986 when PanelMate was first introduced. Since then, there have been six generations of PanelMate, with Eaton’s PanelMate ePro as the latest system available today. What probably best sets PanelMate apart from similar OI products would be the fact that it is the only one that allows the taking of applications from the very first generation and running them on the latest systems. This conversion procedure allows the preservation and continuous service of PanelMate units for over 20 years. PanelMate is a true game-changer in the industrial automation field. Its quality, construction, durability, and features are considered topnotch by experts in the industry. One of PanelMate’s earlier and obsoleted generations would be the 91-0 Series by Cutler-Hammer, which has been acquired by Eaton- a Fortune 500 company whose last year’s sales amounted to as much as $17.86 billion. Although system integrators can transfer applications from old PanelMate units to newer ones, it still is a whole different topic when it comes to hardware failure. Eaton has stopped supporting the obsolete PanelMate units, which means spare part manufacturing has long been halted. Say, for instance, your screen develops a dark spot, you cannot buy any PanelMate replacement screen no matter how hard you look, and you could be forced to upgrade your CNC controller to a whole new and much more expensive system altogether- well, not really. Thanks to Monitech, you don’t have to break the bank to keep your production lines running. For instance, when you have a faulty PanelMate 91-00935-00 monitor, you don’t have to change your entire CNC controller system to a Pro version- you can just replace your display with Monitech’s ML121LLMATE-10. What’s more, ML121LLMATE-10 would also work for various PanelMate machines like 91-00992-00, 91-01536-03, and even the MM-PMC2-200. Aside from the 91-0 Series, Monitech’s CRT to LCD upgrades also includes the LCD kit for the 14-inch PanelMate 4000 CRT, the part number for which is ML121LL4000. There is a whole lot more, to be honest. Just type in “PanelMate” on the search bar and you’ll be able to browse pages of different Monitech offers, even a Panelmate 39PTHX PM3000 Touchscreen (MTPM3000)! There are so many different machines running in thousands of factories all over world, with different brand and model preferences. But hey, whatever works for us, right? What they all do have in common, though, is that their manufacturers tend to discontinue supporting them in just a few years or so and that leaves their customers hanging- unless they spend a fortune to upgrade to products that are still perfectly functional. But why upgrade when your machine can still do the trick with only a few minor repairs required? When you get a crack in the windshield, you don’t throw the whole car away. You get it repaired, which incidentally brings me to the next point. Monitech offers Repair services for your controller display. That’s where Monitech stands- bridging the gap between everything you need and all of the parts OEM’s would no longer provide. Are there questions boggling your mind? Maybe the answer is here. Better yet, talk to us about it! We’re just a filled-out form, email, chat, or phone call away. In these times of obsoleted PanelMates with spares nowhere to be found, why not let Monitech be your guide. Monitech Industrial Display Solutions (@MonitechLcd) / Twitter Monitech Industrial Display Solutions | LinkedIn Monitech Inc | Facebook Industrial controller HMI (quora.com)
Monitech CRT Retrofit kits explained In the world of older (legacy) Automation Machinery controllers, one display reigned supreme overall. The good old CRT style TV was used in a countless number of Human Machine Interface (HMI) controllers such as CNC, Lathe, Mills, Molds, press, etc. Basically, any industrial machine with a controller in it, used to have, or still has a CRT as the output display. The industrial revolution saw the need to make “MORE” products as fast as possible. Consumerism after WW2 was rampant. Due to a population (baby)boom, cities were going up everywhere and being populated as fast as developers could build houses. All these houses wanted appliances (Ovens, Fridge, Laundry machine, etc.) and the industry answered back by automating where possible. They would program a machine to spit out the same part repeatedly, so the utility company can have wire grips to bring electric power to all the homes that were going up. (That’s just one example) OK, enough of the history lesson. Our aim here at Monitech is to bring you the solution for all the CRT’s that are still out there somewhere in the world. As a matter of fact, the solution we are about to present will work perfectly for LCDs also. To retrofit a CRT or LCD with another display, you need to provide 2 things: 1) Electric Power 2) Video (image) signal. The computer in the Panelview 1400E or Proto Trak MX2 which controls the movement of the machinery parts, can display in real time the results of the running machine, such as number of parts made, the sequence in the machining process and other information that are programmed into it. Monitech has solved the question of what is needed to make these old displays work, and the solution comes in the form of a Monitech retrofit / CRT upgrade kit. That’s the beauty of it you see! Everything you need to fix a broken display is provided in the retrofit kit. Monitech and T2 Industrial have figured out the Power and Video cables needed to make over 300 different controllers work with the new LCD. You get the industrial level flat LCD panel, metal mounting brackets that match the holes in the controller where the old display used to be, as well as brand new power and video cables to the controller to make the whole thing work, regardless of the age and Brand. All we need from you is the make and model of your machine, along with pretty pictures of the front and the back controller section, showing the current power and video connections and BINGO!! We’re in business. You need to take the machine down for about an hour to swap out the old and install the new (we provide the printed install guide for you to make life easier) and there you are, making parts again. We also carry HMI Touchscreens and controller keyboard (AKA: keypads) and LCD display backlights. What’s more Monitech and T2 Industrial have Technicians to help you if you get stuck, just contact us, or initiate a chat session from our websites to get a quick answer. Don’t forget to checkout our Social Media pages and our YouTube channel. Monitech Industrial Display Solutions (@MonitechLcd) / Twitter Monitech Inc | Facebook Monitech Industrial Display Solutions | LinkedIn Monitech – YouTube MonitechIndustrial (@monitechindustrial) TikTok | Watch MonitechIndustrial’s Newest TikTok Videos (3) Industrial controller HMI (quora.com) Monitech Industrial Display Solutions, Inc. Kitchener, Ontario, ON N2K2Z4 (thomasnet.com)
Benefits of LCD over CRT displays In the wide world of monitors and displays, there are really only 2 options. The old-style CRT and the new style LCD panel. They are both “Output” devices, where the signal comes in from a main-board video card or driver-board and the image is displayed on the screen that you and I see. I have no doubt that you are reading this article on an LCD screen (Am I right?) This means that the “Liquid Crystals” or pixels as they are commonly known, are lit up by a “Backlight” to show the image on the screen. This is a major benefit of the LCD type monitors. A CRT monitor has a Cathode Ray Gun that shoots harmful gamma rays to “excite” the phosphor lining the inside surface of a vacuum sealed glass unit. The CRT monitor has a size limit (5-inches across) and it requires a big power supply using lots of electricity.By contrast, LCD panels use a lot less power. They either have a CCFL light source or LED’s, which use a fraction of the power a CRT monitor requires, without the harmful carcinogen rays!! (Remember hearing: ”Don’t sit so close to the TV!”) LCD’s are much thinner so they can be mounted anywhere and you can get a very small LCD, like in a watch or Volt meter test device. This also makes LCD’s very light weight, as well the low power consumption makes it possible for them to run on battery power which makes them portable (Laptops, Tablets, cell phones, watches, test devices, etc…) Lastly, the CRT style displays are becoming harder and harder to find. They are no longer being developed or manufactured, so when the controller display on your 50-year-old Okuma CNC finally gives up the ghost, you are stuck with a 20-ton paperweight!! And that is not taking into account the backlog of orders that are pilling up, plus angry bosses and customers because your machine is down. Solution? Monitech easy to install retrofit kits with movable metal mounting brackets that will fit the old CRT frame exactly, I’m talking one to one drop-in replacement. The kits include an easy-to-follow printed install guide, with power and video cables to plug & play (no reprogramming required) we even provide the stepdown 12V power adapter for the low voltage LCD. The swap out could not be any easier. Simply take out the old CRT and the electronics, leaving the bare metal frame in the controller unit. Plug in Monitech LCD with the cables provided to ensure it is working right, then bolt it in the controller frame where the old CRT used to live. DONE!! Your 20-ton boat anchor is up and running again making parts. The OEM will try and sell you a new machine that does the same thing your old CNC machine used to do, because the repair parts are not available. We say the display parts are readily available! Just give us a call or go on our website and search for your make and model. You will be surprised to find that we have the product you need on our shelves right now. Fast overnight delivery available to minimize downtimes. https://www.facebook.com/MonitechInc/ https://twitter.com/monitechLcd/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/monitech-industrial-display-solutions/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHoLU52vfrE3RC23pHnVdvw/ https://www.tiktok.com/@monitechindustrial/ (2) Industrial controller HMI (quora.com)
