Clay Paky Alpha Spot 575 colour wheel problems...

[Daniel]

Hey,

Thought I would once again pick the brains of the forum for a problem I'm having a problem solving...

 

We have 4 Clay Paky Alpha Spot 575's (not the HPE versions) running (mainly) from a Pearl Expert.

 

Having intermittent problems with the colour wheels becoming out of sync. Have programmed colour palettes the usual way - select correct colour on both colour wheels, store palette, hit a button.

 

We randomly have one, or two lights go out of sync. For example, I'll press the palette I have red assigned to, and 3 of them will go red, 1 will go yellow. The one that is yellow, will then stay out of sync (press yellow, 3 will go yellow, 1 may go green, etc).

 

Now, all of these lights have, at some point in the past 3 months, been sent off for repairs (always with this problem mentioned) but it's still happening.

Not at all good, especially when you have some famous people in like tonight. Very embarrassing, and doesn't help with getting more work!

 

Anyway - I'm a bit stuck. Repair company say lights have all been fixed, and I can't find anything wrong with the desk or the way I'm programming it (plus, it works fine for other types of lights we use.. Mac 500s and Robe 575s being the most common).

 

Anyone every had the same problem? Or at least - any ideas on how to troubleshoot this issue further?

 

Cheers,

Dan

[peter]

Hi Dan

 

I don't know the Alpha Spots particularly well, but are you sure you've not accidentally programmed the slow continuous rotate value into the palette, instead of the actual colour reference? Might be worth double checking that one, as it can be quite a gotcha!

 

Other than that, try soft-resetting the fixtures from the desk when you see the problem - these sorts of things are normally caused by sensors losing calibration.

 

Hope this helps,

[maeterlinck]

Assuming that the palettes are correctly recorded (as above) then it sounds more like a physical problem. I'd suggest getting them down and look at the colour wheel (with the lamp off) as you recall colour palettes. Look for the wheel sticking or not moving in the same way as the others. You can eliminate DMX issues by setting all the fixtures to the same address. I'm assuming the fixtures all reset correctly? If they have been sent off for service recently then there *shouldn't* be any physical problems, but intermittent software problems can be missed easily. If you can't see any physical problems then you could try swapping the control boards to see if the problem moves, but you're getting a bit complex here so you might not be comfortable doing that.

[Daniel]

Hi Dan

 

I don't know the Alpha Spots particularly well, but are you sure you've not accidentally programmed the slow continuous rotate value into the palette, instead of the actual colour reference? Might be worth double checking that one, as it can be quite a gotcha!

 

Other than that, try soft-resetting the fixtures from the desk when you see the problem - these sorts of things are normally caused by sensors losing calibration.

 

Hope this helps,

Will definitely check that - I really don't think this is the case (as I've got linear colour movement set on, so I'd see "half" a colour).

Resetting from desk does not usually fix the problem. I honestly have no idea how I fix it when it happens. I usually try resetting - that either does nothing, or maybe makes another light, or a different light have the problem (this makes me think it could be something to do with the desk?). Sometime resetting a few times, and maybe hard resetting the power seems to fix the problem.

It's such a random event to actually CAUSE the problem, it hardly ever happens when I'm messing about and have time to troubleshoot. Usually, like last night, in the middle of a gig. :P

[Lampy Craig]

'Ello Dan,

 

I came across this problem quite regularly on a pearl I work with a lot, (that's had a bit of beer spilt in it) a few months back.

 

I stored colour palletes for my movers as they should of been stored and when I came to recalling them one mover would be "out of synch" with the others.

 

I found that if I selected the movers, recalled the colour pallete, then put the odd one out back into line, then stored this second pallete over the original it seemed to solve the problem. (so it wasn't the colour wheels in the fixtures, just the desk playing up).

 

Exactly why it was happening in the first place, at the time I had no inclination to try and find out (too lazy for all that). But after storing the second pallette over the first, I never had it happen again (if it works I tend not to ask too many questions).

 

I know it's not a definitive answer but try it and maybe it'll work for you, without the need for sending it for a service.

 

Other than that Nick Forro at Avo is always pretty good with explaining anything else over the phone.

[lxdad]

Assuming that you have ruled out desk problems, you could look at this...

 

There is a problem with the colour wheels on the alpha spot range where the magnets (that are used for calibration) lose their magnetism after repeated heating and cooling i.e. turning the light on and off. This is a bit of a major flaw in my opinion, but CP have released a 'Mark II' magnet that seems to be a bit better.

 

You can spot this problem if you open up the unit, turn it on (without striking the lamp) and find the screen that shows feedback from the color wheel sensor. With a bit of finger based spinning you should be able to see of the magnet is working or not.

 

Best of luck

 

LXDad