Getting support, repairs and replacements from CE Electronics

Have the serial number from the CE label on the unit, the job or building name, the controller type, and a few photos. With those, the CE support engineer can usually pull up your job while you are on the phone.

Bring:

1. The serial number from the CE label. On Elite PI displays this is a white sticker with three rows of information. The top row is the model (for example OL150-CT2 or EW150-CL2); the bottom row starts with SN and is the serial number. On driver boards and relay boards the serial number is also on a label, not printed on the board itself. A number silk-screened on the board (for example “CE 372”) is a board part number and cannot be looked up.
2. Read the serial number carefully. The leading digit “1” often blends into the “#” sign on the sticker, so a six-digit number you read may really be a seven-digit number starting with 1. Letters or a dash-number after the serial number (such as A, G or -001) matter too; they identify a follow-on order against the original job.
3. The job or building name and the elevator contractor’s branch/office. The engineer uses these to identify the right file when several orders have similar serial numbers.
4. The controller type (for example a TAC 32 hydro) and how the display is being driven (serial link from a CE driver board, discrete inputs, etc.).
5. The car number and the floors the car serves. Many older orders were placed without car numbers, so telling the engineer which car the unit belongs to helps CE keep the information together for next time.
6. Photos. A photo of the label and of the screen or board behavior is often all the engineer needs. If the engineer asks you to email photos, use the address the engineer gives you so the pictures attach to your case.

If you are calling about a replacement board that someone else ordered, use the serial number from the label on the old board, not a number from a packing slip. Ordering against an unrelated job number instead of the serial number of the board being replaced can result in a board built with the wrong input voltage.

The serial number on the label is the original sales order number, and every later order for that job is filed under the same number with a letter added.

How it works:

1. The original order for the job gets the base number (a seven-digit number, ).
2. Follow-on orders for the same job – replacement boards, new program chips, a repair – get a letter suffix: A, B, C, and so on. If your label shows that number followed by G, the engineer knows this unit came from the seventh follow-on order for that job and can see what was built on it.
3. CE’s records are sorted by serial number, not by date. If your company placed separate purchase orders per car, each car may have its own base number, so an engineer may need to check several nearby numbers.
4. If the unit originally shipped as part of a controller manufacturer’s stock order, CE will have the order but not the floor programming, because the controller manufacturer programmed it themselves. In that case be ready to tell the engineer the exact floor markings the car serves.

Because of this, the serial number is far more useful than a job name, a purchase order number or a reference number from an email. Model variations also show up here: a display that came back from a previous repair may have been converted to a different mounting style (for example an OV104-CM to an OV104-BM), and the engineer can usually see that in the job history.

Call CE support, describe the failure, and the engineer will either issue the RMA number on the call or email it to you. Then ship the unit to CE marked “Attention: RMA” with that number.

Steps:

1. Call support first. The engineer will ask for the serial number and a short description of the fault (for example “screen is black”, “keeps rebooting”, “floor number stuck”). For an Elite PI the engineer may ask you to check the blue ACT LED below the small digital readout on the back of the unit. If it is not blinking, the two processors on the board are not talking to each other, nothing can be done in the field, and the unit needs to come in for a processor repair.
2. Get the RMA number. The engineer creates the RMA, notes the fault, and gives you the number by phone or email. If you already received an RMA number by email, tell the engineer – they will update that RMA instead of issuing a second one.
3. One RMA can cover several units from the same job. If you decide to send in more units than you first said, call back and the engineer will update the notes on the same RMA.
4. If the unit already has an RMA sticker from an earlier repair, read that number to the engineer. CE will add the previous RMA to the notes so the repair technician can see what was done last time.
5. Ship it to CE marked “Attention: RMA” plus the number on the box. The receiving department then knows exactly where it goes. Ask the engineer for the ship-to address if you do not have it.
6. A purchase order is normally needed for the repair. CE will quote the repair after inspecting the unit, and your office can issue the PO at that point. Repair quotes are emailed to the contact you give, so make sure the engineer has a current email address.
7. Tell CE where to ship the repaired unit. CE can return it to your office, the job site, or any other address you give them.

In some cases the RMA is handled by a separate RMA department rather than the engineer who diagnosed the fault. If the engineer cannot transfer you, call the main number back and ask for the RMA department, and tell them which engineer you already spoke to.

If your display was supplied through a distributor or fixture company, that company may want the RMA to go through them. Check with them before you ship.

Send the complete electronics unit, including its metal bracket, but leave the lens in the fixture and leave any program chips on the board.

• Elite PI displays: Pull the whole unit – the display and the board on its metal bracket – because CE tests the display and processor board together. Do not send the lens; there is no reason for it to travel. Leave it in the car station or hall fixture and slide a piece of cardboard or similar behind it to cover the opening while the unit is away.
• Driver and relay boards: Do not remove the program chips before you ship. CE does not swap or remove them; leaving them in place gives the technician something to test against, and the board comes back with the same chips in it. If you have labeled a board with the car it came from, leave the label on.
• Pack the unit with the RMA number on the outside of the box.

CE’s normal path is to repair the unit you send in, and the repair quote is issued only after the unit has been inspected.

• A failed processor on an Elite PI, the most common reason for a black screen, is a bench repair; the LCD panel itself rarely fails.
• On older driver boards, a stuck or unchanging floor number is frequently a small electrolytic capacitor in the power-supply circuit that has dried out – a straightforward repair. Those boards can be sent in even if you have a pile of them; CE will repair what is repairable.
• If you cannot wait for a repair, you can instead ask for a quote on a new unit. The engineer will tell you which route makes more sense for your situation. Warranty coverage depends on the date of the original order; the engineer checks it when the RMA is issued, and units from older orders are normally billable repairs.
• You will be asked for a PO once the repair fee is known, not before.

Whether a particular unit is repairable is only known after inspection, so the engineer will not promise a repair over the phone.

When CE replaces the processor during a repair, the technician loads the most recent design on file for that job, because the unit’s previous contents are lost with the old processor. If that design is a multi-car “lobby vision” layout and your working screens show one car, the design running on the good screen is not the one on file.

What to do:

1. Do not assume the factory file is wrong. Every design on file for a job’s 15-inch screens can be a three-car layout while the working hall display shows a single car, because someone loaded a different design in the field after the original shipment.
2. Find out which design is running on a good screen. On the back of the working Elite PI, turn ON switch 1 of the upper DIP switch bank (S1). An information box appears on the screen for about 30 seconds and shows, among other things, the name of the design that is running. Take a clear photo of that box. If it disappears before you can photograph it, turn switch 1 off and back on. You can set the switch before applying power – the box appears as soon as the unit boots.
3. Send the photo to the engineer and reference your RMA. With the design name, CE can check whether that design exists in its files for your job.
4. If the single-car design was created or modified by your own company, CE will not have the file; whoever manages your designs must reload it. A USB update works only with the correct design file for that screen.

Verify with CE support.

Call support, explain that the unit was just repaired, and have the RMA number from the repair sticker ready; the engineer can see what was replaced and will decide whether it needs to come back in.

Things the engineer may ask you to check first on an Elite PI:

• Whether the blue ACT LED on the main board is blinking (processor running).
• For screens that should show video or live content, whether there are link lights on the RJ45 jack of the main board, not just on the external converter. If the converter shows link and the main board jack shows nothing even with a new cable, the jack or board is suspect and the unit goes back in for inspection and repair.
• Whether a DIP-switch “information box” (S1 switch 1) shows an IP address and the current software version. Some problems you describe (for example screens that freeze and show “check video encoder”) can be a software version issue that CE fixes with an update file on a USB drive rather than a return.

CE will issue a new RMA for the return and note the previous repair on it.

Give CE the serial number from the label of the board you are replacing, plus the car number and the floors the car serves; CE builds or programs the replacement from that job’s file and quotes it to the email address you give.

1. Serial number from the label of the old board. This pulls up the original order and all follow-on orders (A, B, C…) so the engineer can see what floors and signal types were built last time.
2. Car number and floor markings. Say exactly which floors the car serves and how they are labeled (for example “LL, 1, 2, 3, then 5 to 21”). Floor labels change over the life of a building, and the file may still show the original markings.
3. Driver boards versus program chips. On the older serial-link PI drivers, the driver boards for a job are the same hardware; the program chip determines the floors. You can order a spare driver board and move your existing chip to it, or order new program chips for a board you already have. Tell the engineer which you need.
4. Boards that originally came through a controller manufacturer’s stock order have no floor programming on file at CE. If that is the case, a replacement is shipped with the standard program unless you specify the floors when you order; ask for the chip to be programmed for your car’s floors.
5. Input voltage and signal type. If the controller’s PI outputs have changed (for example 24 VDC versus 120 VAC inputs), tell the engineer, because the input resistors on the board are selected for that voltage. On some boards they are plug-in resistors and can be moved from the old board; the engineer will note the change in your job file.

The engineer sets up a quote under your job’s serial number and emails it to you. For replacement of a discontinued product with a close-match current model, ask support directly.

Verify with CE support.

Support calls come into a shared support queue and are answered by whichever engineer is available; that engineer can transfer you, take a message, or handle the request themselves.

• If you ask for a specific engineer, the person who answers will try to connect you. If that engineer is on another call, you will be offered voicemail or a callback.
• Leave a voicemail with your name, company, the serial number and a callback number. Engineers return voicemails.
• If the engineer is on a call when you ring, your call may roll to another engineer or to voicemail; this is normal.
• Call quality matters: if you are calling from a noisy machine room or hoistway, the engineer may ask you to move or switch to another phone so the serial number can be read correctly.
• For RMAs, ask for the RMA department if the support engineer is not able to issue one directly.

A “ticket closed” email can simply mean two open tickets for the same issue were merged into one; your scheduled support is unaffected unless the engineer tells you otherwise.

• When the same problem is reported twice (for example by phone and by email), CE merges the duplicate into the original ticket. The system sends an automated “closed” notice for the duplicate.
• The scheduled remote session or follow-up stays on the original ticket. If you are unsure, call support and ask them to confirm the appointment.

For remote sessions on a networked product, the engineer will call you at the agreed time and remote into your computer. Be at the PC that is connected to the equipment, and give the engineer a phone number that you can use at that location; if you must move to a different desk or line, tell the engineer and they will call you back on the new number.