Robertdazzler

Bulgin Buccaneer connectors have a water protection cover on the female side for use when no male plug is present so maybe it is not Bulgin

Looks like a simple SMPS power supply with one output. The 0.5A figure could well be the current taken from the mains when running. There are plenty of power supplies available that can be used but they probably wont fit in the unit. A bench try out will prove the PSU as the culprit and if necessary an external arrangement would make the fix. No idea about the noise though.

Many years ago I had just this issue." How to get a flickering effect on actors watching a tv". Try putting a fluorescent starter in series with a small incandescent lamp, 60-100W inside a TV case. This will probably cause serious clicks on your sound system so a suppressor will be needed across the starter. This principle can also be used to create the effect of a fire flame. Apologies for the crudity of this but I have been in the amateur theatre game for nearly 60 years and I learned this trick from some other old sparky. A more sophisticated method is to use the random level effect available on my Strand MX24.

Problem finally solved after about 100hrs of trying, thanks to Alistermorton's supply of the technical manual for MX48 I was able to identify the culprit which was flattening the 3.6V on board battery: VT1 had a shorted b-e junction which meant that the battery discharged when power off at the same rate as it should charge when power on. Using a conventional transistor and a good charge appears to have put everything right without the need for a reset to factory settings. Somehow the Grand master fader had a track open circuit as well. No idea how these had occurred. Thanks again Alister. I would not have been able to solve this without your help!

Sorry, it is there I just hadn't looked well.

Thanks for circuits alister. The symptoms I see are just as you describe : corrupt checksums etc. The main control unit and fader modules test out OK if I jump past all the failed diagnostic stages. I am pretty sure the problem lies in the power supply /interface board. Do you have the circuit for that bit? I will look again for the white button but that will need serious dismantling.

Sadly have not found anything like that. First fault shown is "Set Up Corrupt" "Clear is supposed to clear "set up" or "whole System" to factory settings. it seems that all data check sums are corrupt. I am close to throwing in the towel here.

Fault seems to be in the Power/interface board PCB1014/1 REF 1952 Is anyone thinking of retiring/scrapping an MX48, if so I could be in the market for this part-+ b

Try Ancient Lights. They will probably have just what you want.

Thanks for that. I have already found lots of damage caused by fluid leakage and hopefully rectified same. I now find all checksums are corrupted. Something is loading the internal battery I have not found the reason yet. Critical question is how to go back to factory settings?

No access to my theatre during Covid has resulted in the Ni-MH memory battery being completely discharged. On power up failed to charge so replaced battery. Display now shows ERROR 1386 "set up corrupt" check sum error. Suggesting Internal battery discharged.. Indeed the voltage on this is low and falls rapidly. The manual suggests CONTINUE or Quit. Continue merely steps to the next test which is also failed ( checksum again) . What is meant by QUIT?. Manual says -cause set up to be reset to factory defaults but how? I am out of ideas now and need help!

Hi halftonner The earlier posts re. Gel-Stream scrollers were from me. I too bought 4 not knowing much about them so I gladly share what I know now. They can be operated in DMX or analogue mode. I chose analogue and built a controller for the purpose.. This controller has 2 channels only. Apologies for the state of the sketch but I did not expect to share it. Earliest circuit is the one I used. Latest is improvements to but not yet done. Tension is critical. get it too tight and it goes into sulk mode with amber led lit. Too slack and mess/tears.. the scroll can be of different lengths set by an onboard pot. The real benefit is the fact that the scrolls can be unclipped ( magazine fashion) Regrettably my local theatre has been closed for nearly 3 years with this gear locked in it so I am retired.

Talk directly with Chamsys. I had a question with MagicQ the PC version.as there was no apparent simple switched blackout available. Their helpful people talked me through it and whilst the solution was circuitous it worked.

I well remember in my youth over-tightening the GES lamp in a simple Patt 60 type lantern with the result of the lamp coming away from its cap at power up (this could be deemed an explosion). Any medium in the filter frame would have saved debris falling out. Today modern rules require that access to live parts requires a tool - not mentioned and also no mention of asbestos leads which may also be present depending on the age of the lantern. Theatre electrics is indeed a specialist subject and not always fully understood by regular electricians.

Thanks all for the confident answers that all should be well. It's really raised some serious nostalgia and anecdotes.