Matthew Davies Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 On a number of occasions I have come across lazy moving heads, i.e. you have a number of heads but one is always slightly slower to respond. what would the cause of this be? how do you solve it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jay Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Have you terminated the DMX line and have you made sure they are all in the same mode? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Many moving lights have "Speed" attributes so you can set a maximum - either via DMX or even as a menu setting. Going deeper, it's possible that the units are running different versions of firmware - as manufacturers improve their equipment, they'll write better code as well that can result in faster moves. - To do a firmware upgrade on a moving light always requires specialist equipment, and is best left to the manufacturer or authorised service centre. Further than that, as the units age they may react slower due to wear and tear on the internal components.Check the belts have the right tension, bearings running freely, frame not warped etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 What make/model the units are can have a bearing on what the problem might be. Martin Macs, for example, have a 'studio' mode, the purpose of which is to make the unit run more quietly. Part of what it does to achieve this is to limit the maximum pan and tilt speed ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Maybe one has been set to the wrong mode namely vector/tracking? This can be in a menu or DMX as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Davies Posted March 1, 2008 Author Share Posted March 1, 2008 Thanks guys I have come across it on a number of occassions, but the latest time was a couple of days ago, I was using 4 mac 250 kryptons which are brand new and it was their first use, I literally took them out of their case and powered them up for the first time and yes I did terminate the line. The speed was set to 0 via DMX on all the heads, but when snapping to a position or blacking out one was always about a second slower, gobos and focus etc were all ok. I did also notice that the one particular head was always the first to show any light when fading up slowly also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey_51 Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Hi Slightly Off Topic Do the mac 500's have studio mode? I did have a quick look in the manual but could not find any thing or is just the newer macs? Jordan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody74 Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Does it always only occur with one particular desk, or is it many different desks? -w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobOwen Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Have you actually checked on the head itself the speed setting as suggested? This setting is used when DMX 0 is applied to the speed channel. Tracking mode speed is normally overidden by DMX right up the end of the channel, but it's good practice to make sure the fixture's settings all match in the first place. The dimmer problem can probably be solved by adjusting the software offsets (not sure if possible on a MAC250). You need to line the fixtures up and adjust the offset of the "rogue" head until it matches. Be careful not to adjust too much as you will find that when the fixture strobes it might start hitting the mechanical stop. If you can't strike a balance then mechanical adjustment is needed. Seeing as though the fixture is new I wouldn't go down that line, someone else should have taken care of it! The software will be the same so getting it right is possible, just a pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Do the mac 500's have studio mode?Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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