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.

I am about to do a one off job and am considering using my Strand MX DMX desk with the Zero 88 DMX dimmer system in stalled in a school but am uncertain about DMX line polarities. I have an idea from the past that Strand is at odds with Zero 88 or does the latter not care. Any advice will be welcome. if essential I can easily make a" line swap" adaptor.

Hi I have a swatch book for Strand Electric which I must have got early in my theatre lighting experience which started in 1964. The address is 29 king Street London WC2. Cinemoid 8 is present and I am happy to send you half that swatch if you supply me with your contact details.

Have you considered building your own ? Prebuilt transmitter/receivers with aerials are available on the net at around £8. You will need a pair of identical units, 5V power supplies and 3/5 pin DMX plugs with leads.. A pair of small boxes completes the job and very little soldering is needed. The end result worked well with each unit establishing its roll automatically and transmitting comfortably over 40metres. the whole thing cost me about £22( power supplies came free from garage scrap) There remains the need to DMX cable the units at the receive end together however but this a small inconvenience considering the cost compared with what you have looked at.

I'm with Sunray on this one. My local authority employed testers to check hard wired bars etc for insurance purposes. If I had not stopped them they would have happily megger tested all sockets on the bars and destroyed many triacs. Theatre electrics are not so run of the mill and electricians need to be trained accordingly- not all are! The solution in our case was to disconnect the pairs of tails in the dimmer panels before testing and then everyone was happy although it took a long time.

Not sure how to access Blue Room Admin. Since a recent Windows 10 update I am advised that Blue Room's server is not secure. The message suggests it is TLS 1.0 or 1.1. Every page change I try now gives the unsecure message and needs me to " proceed anyway" which is very tedious. The advice given is to change the server to "TLS1.2 or later.". IT is not my bag so I hope this info can be directed to the right quarters and acted upon. Thanks Robertdazzler

Before retirement I was an Approval manager for a domestic appliance manufacturer and grew up with the Weee rules some 15 years ago. Yes a manufacturer has to show the" underlined waste bin symbol" on the product and instructions ( I don't recall a demand for such to be on invoices) indicating that at end of life it must go back by recycling. Weee has 2 forms: new and historical, meaning that it may not be marked with the symbol. The purchaser should not be not charged for either except in the case of refrigerators/freezers where the safe removal of gases has to be done! When a retailer sells a piece of electrical/electronic equipment he is obliged to accept an item back for recycling. The legislation only requires the retailer to accept a number of items equal to those delivered but did not say that the returned item(s) should be of the same ilk. Sadly there is a lot of abuse here. No account of internet sales appears to have been considered but reasonable purchasers should just take said old equipment to their local site. Once returned the item can be re-cycled by scrapping or repair.

Talk to Chamsys Technical on 02380 238 666. They answer quickly and you can send them your last automatically saved show. They will show you where you went wrong and offer solutions. I am a rank amateur to MagicQ PC and have a lot of guidance with this dauntingly powerful piece of kit.

I endorse the last reply. Try Chamsys magicQ PC with Chamsys dongle. The software is free, downloadable and very powerful. When used with their own dongle, which will cost you £15 delivered, you will get more than 1 universe. Only downside is the free version is a "demo" version and shuts down after 5 hours, plenty long enough for most events. All that is required then is a reboot and all is remembered. Some of the really flashy things are denied but shouldn't worry you. Clearly you need a PC or laptop but potentially you could have all you need for £15. I have no affliation with Chamsys , just very impressed.Their helpline is awesome too.

ChamsysQ is free to use software requiring only a laptop and dongle. Chamsys can supply the dongle at about £15 delivered. Only down side is: limited to one universe and 5 hours continuous operation. after 5 hours just switch off and start again.

In industry I had to deal with the same problem with high inrush currents blowing fuses. A simple hardware solution involves placing a low resistance ( say heating element from cooker or washing machine) in series with the load. Connecting the coil of a contactor across the mains at the feed side and using its Normally open contacts to short out the resistor. At the instant of power up the capacitive inrush current is limited by the resistor. Milliseconds later the contactor energises and its contacts then apply full mains to the load. The whole operation is over in the twinkling of the eye and the only downside is one audible click. be careful to mount the resistor such that it can dissipate its heat safely should the contactor fail to operate and encase the whole assembly. Remarks about the initial surge of SMPS being huge are very true. You say that the circuit breakers only seem to operate once and then all is well suggests that the capacitors are partially charged after the first attempt . Another explanation could be a bad/loose connection somewhere meaning that a succession of surge currents occur which the circuit breakers certainly will not like