timsabre

It's not so much "inverse logic" as whether the PWM is switching the ground side of the LED or the positive side. Usually, one side of the LED is connected to the positive power and the PWM switches the ground side (because this uses N-channel FETs which are cheaper and easier to control). When the FET is turned on the output goes to ground and the LED comes on.

How long are the hdmi runs? In my experience anything over 10m becomes a lottery, not all hdmi outputs are created equal and some will go further than others. I would suspect this is what you're seeing here. You can get various types of extenders but the same variability applies.

All fog machines I have seen have a thermal fuse or resettable thermal trip on the AC feed to the block, for safety overheat protection. Does this machine not have that as standard (I realise you say you've added one)? I have experienced an aluminium block melting when the AC feed triac shorted on and the thermal fuse had been bypassed, so it is definitely a safety issue that something like this should be fitted. Clearly there's all sorts of potential legal/insurance issues with modifying a machine like this but you're presumably aware of that.

I know you are campaigning on this subject but I think you are wildly overstating the case here. TH theatre lamps in common sizes are still generally available and there are no signs that this is going to end in the near future. For Amdram groups, keeping their stock of tungsten lighting going as long as possible is often the only option and using cheap 2nd hand dimmers is a good way to do that. LED theatre fixtures are mostly still getting cheaper all the time so every year you keep your tungsten going, the LED alternative gets a bit cheaper. I did a show in a pro theatre last week and 90% of their lighting is still tungsten. (750W source 4, 1000W Ramas, 650W acclaims, PAR64 mostly)

The warm white MP60's are good and as Alister says you can't really tell they aren't a 500W fresnel. I am not too keen on cold white, just looks like working lights. The RGB version (MP75) is not as bright and you cannot mix a very good white out of them, it just looks weird for face light. If you really need a profile spot there are various cheap S4 knockoffs but I haven't seen one in real life. e.g. https://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_revueled_150_profile_3200k.htm

Um if the display says nothing then it's pretty dead. Maybe onboard power supply (voltage regulator) fail or processor. Personally I would telephone Avo and beg for help, the people who designed that desk still work there and it's your best chance of speaking to someone who actually knows.

First step would be to contact Avo support, I assume you have done this? It'll be well out of the official support period but they will usually still try to help you. The only problem is that parts for these desks are very hard to get now as the chip manufacturers stopped making them a long time ago. If I remember correctly there is a small 4-digit status display on the motherboard, is that saying anything?

As Stuart says, you can't keep it out. The only way to keep it from building up is regular cleaning. Even IP fixtures often have external fans which will get gunked up, though at least it doesn't get all over the optics inside.

I've seen some reports of problems with the encoder wheels becoming "gritty" and being replaced. Haven't heard of DMX output problems - is this just from getting plugged and unplugged?

To be clear I wasn't talking about LED worklights, but this sort of thing: a tenner from amazon ..also, gel with white LED does not always produce the colour you would expect due to the odd output spectrum of a white LED, but still I think you would do better that way than with the combination of coloured bulbs originally suggested.

You don't say what the overall effect is intended to be or what type of show it is, but that combination of LED colours will look pretty weird for lighting people. Maybe that is what is wanted. My experience of using inverters with LED bulbs hasn't been that great, they present a very capacitive load which some inverters won't start up. You can buy 12V LED floodlights very cheaply, and they are IP rated, personally I would be using those with old-fashioned gel to get the colours and not be mucking about with inverters and mains voltage. You can get 12V festoon easily too.

If you have multiple USB-serial adapters, set up a loopback and use that test software to see what is being sent by the control software, that will tell you

Ah progress!! so you are getting a reponse from the camera

Not sure what you mean {NAK}2 where is that showing up? Does that mean nothing is coming back?

Is there any sort of debug window in that software to show what is being sent / received? Perhaps try this software which lets you compose your own commands and see the response (if any) https://www.microridge.com/comtestserial/ Then send [STX] QID [ETX] (in hex characters, 0x02, 0x51, 0x49 0x44 0x03) which should send the camera model number back. (or [STX] QSV [ETX] which should send the software version back)