zonino Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 suzie, if you can take some pictures of the backstage area with the dimmers etc we may be able to help you more easily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 Thanks for your reply the problem is that both the desk and the socket are female and require a male connector. There is another socket in the hall which is female - but when I plugged it in nothing happened! Also the DMX convertor in the backstage area has power to it - and a DMX cable coming out of it which isn't attached to anything!!! There are no LEDS lit on it, even though it has power. Am starting to get in deeper than I can cope with!OK, Suzie - whatever happens, as the old Hitch-hiker's guide says on the front, DON'T PANIC!!The worst that can happen? You don't get the desk programmed with the lights today, but you get someone out to look at the system tomorrow. Means you have more work tomorrow to programme, but it's not the end of the world. So - today start looking at the problems you CAN tackle and go from there. If you start getting hassle from your director or whoever, all you need to do is politely but firmly say that you're new to the job, are working as best you can, and taking advice, and that whilst there may be technical problems today you intend to sort them by the morrow. Don't get sucked into panic, or you'll get yourself nowhere!! :D If you don't have the male-male cable (which you're right should NOT be the case) and therefore can't test the system or use the desk then you have 2 options:1. Change one of the cables you have, using a 5-pin male from another one, and replacing the female with that. If you don't have/can't use a soldering iron, the quick & easy job will be to cut two cables and connect them with a piece of choc-block. Not ideal, but at least will prove what you have. 2. Forget the desk for now - you mentioned 'test buttons' before - I'm assuming something like Beta packs, so use these to point & focus the lights for today (f you've not already done so). Re the lights on the splitter, depending on the type, I'd say there won't be anything lit on that until you have a good DMX signal in to it - that'll be a good indication when chasing the signals through the system, btw. Re the outside help, the pro hire companies may well be frosty at the weekend, but are there any local theatres, amateur or pro, who you might be able to tap?? Were you in Warwickshire I'd be happy to pop over, but afraid you're a bit too far away! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suziedance76 Posted February 25, 2007 Author Share Posted February 25, 2007 Thanks again everyone .... back home again so now able to bring everyone up to date. Turns out the socket in the auditorium that I was trying to use wasn't the right one! A student that I had tasked to "find any kind of round socket" had overlooked the one we needed! I have now located the DMX socket (which is actually male!) and so the 5 pin cables that I have do connect it all up (HOORAY) This only half solved the problem as now we had manual control of two lighting bars but the other 2 were permanently on. Wierdly on one rack of dimmers only some of the 'pairs' of lanterns plugged in were controllable - the others weren't. (still don't know why?!) so I plugged them in to a completely different rack and they were still just 'ON'. <_< Don't know if I could have blown myself up at this point, but basically I used more 5 pin connectors to link each rack I'm using together (there is a male and female socket in the bottom left hand corner of each rack) and I just randomly linked them up until I had control of all the lights I'm using!!! (thats probably NOT what you guys want to hear ... but hey!) Have programmed the desk (72 cues later) using the 'step by step' idiots guide. (Yipee) have steered clear of fade times at present but may go back to it tomorrow. Now just waiting to see if the battery hold out until the morning and see if the programming ahs been in vain. Current questions are:1) should I buy a memory card as back up?? if so which one - how much - where from??2) should I buy another battery just in case?? if so which one - how much - where from??3) stupid question but to turn the desk off safely what do I do? tonight I turned the key back to preset and then removed it, then just switched off at the back ... hope that was OK? Thanks again for all your help - daresay its all blindingly obvious stuff to you, but my baptism of fire has been more tolerable because of you!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zonino Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 sounds good Suzie! the random linking up is ok, although its usually easier to avoid tangles if you go in some sort of order! 1) I, personally, wouldn't, but you might be able to pick one up cheap from a computer fair or similar, its also fairly likely there is one knocking around in the school somewhere!2) if you don't have any programming tomorrow, yes! most electrical shops should stock them3) yes thats fine for boards that don't have a shut-down mechanism, like the Sirrus (aww, memories!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 ... Don't know if I could have blown myself up at this point, but basically I used more 5 pin connectors to link each rack I'm using together (there is a male and female socket in the bottom left hand corner of each rack) and I just randomly linked them up until I had control of all the lights I'm using!!! Sounds like someone's nicked your link cables after the last show - or "removed them for safe keeping" <_< . The desk and dimmer DMX connectors should be "daisy chained" - ie the DMX out of the desk goes to the wall socket, and when it reappears from the wall at the dimmer end it goes to the DMX in on dimmer1. Then the DMX out on dimmer1 gets connected to the DMX in on dimmer2, the DMX out on 2 goes to.... you get the picture.. At the end of the chain, the last "DMX out" will have no connection - you should fit a DMX terminator there. And the order in which you interlink the dimmers doesn't actually matter - just pick whatever keeps the wiring tidy. In future, it may make sense to leave all the DMX interlinks at the dimmers permanently in place. If you're worried about "sticky fingers", then get some cable ties and secure the cables to something nearby... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suziedance76 Posted February 25, 2007 Author Share Posted February 25, 2007 suzie, if you can take some pictures of the backstage area with the dimmers etc we may be able to help you more easily May still do this when back at work tomorrow ... once this show is out of the way I'd like to get everything sorted out properly ... at the moment it all looks a REAL mess!!! excellent suggestion and I wish I'd checked back again earlier! The desk and dimmer DMX connectors should be "daisy chained" - ie the DMX out of the desk goes to the wall socket, and when it reappears from the wall at the dimmer end it goes to the DMX in on dimmer1. Then the DMX out on dimmer1 gets connected to the DMX in on dimmer2, the DMX out on 2 goes to.... you get the picture.. At the end of the chain, the last "DMX out" will have no connection - you should fit a DMX terminator there. there is a funny box (can't remember waht its called!) but its slimmer than the others and has a wiring diagram on it (how much of a girl do I sound?!) I've got a DMX into that and then out to the first rack etc. I was trying to do it logically / neatly but someone else has done random connections and used cable ties to tie stuff up so I can't actaully reach the 'correct' order. If I change it now will it all change the channels on the desk?? stupid question but I've programmed it now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 I was trying to do it logically / neatly but someone else has done random connections and used cable ties to tie stuff up so I can't actaully reach the 'correct' order. If I change it now will it all change the channels on the desk?? stupid question but I've programmed it now!No - DMX is defined by the address on each pack. It matters not what order they're plugged in.Glad you got most of the problems sorted!<_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 If I change it now will it all change the channels on the desk?? stupid question but I've programmed it now! No. The addressing of each dimmer pack is controlled by the DIP switches (or it may be small dials) on the dimmer packs, not by the order they are interconnected. But if it's all working now, maybe it's best not to fiddle with it until after the show! Edit: beaten to it by ynot... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 there is a funny box (can't remember what its called!) but its slimmer than the others and has a wiring diagram on it (how much of a girl do I sound?!) I've got a DMX into that and then out to the first rack etc.Could be a DMX splitter, or a DMux. Is there only the one cable leaving it or do you have one DMX in, and several somewhat different cables going to the dimmers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.