Martin MX-4 Scanners

[Oliver S]

Hi all,

 

We have 2 Martin MX-4 scanners at our school that are controlled by a Martin 2518 DMX Controller.....

 

Now they aren't working anymore and the story goes as follows:

 

On the 15 of February we had a valentines ball were everything was working perfectly and then us as a the tech crew go get a coke and come back and want to get things going, when I realise ( I do the lights) that I can't control the scanners anymore.

We eventually decide to leave it for the evening. The next day at the clean-up we try and get them to work but they just won't. A point I must explain here, is that the controll board still goes on and seems capable of its functions, and the MX's still go on and eventually go into stand alone/music trigger mode, because obviously they have not recieved DMX signal from the board and thus go into this mode.

 

Since then we have tried numerous times to get them to work and have had no success. Now is the only time I have had to take them home and sort them out ( so I am sitting here with the board and one scanner, other one I am picking up tomorrow) and am stumped.....I am playing around with the DIP switches acording to the manual, but am getting confused even , as said usuing the manual. So basically we can't get the MX to respond to the board.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated as we need these MX's soon, thanks a lot!

[Mr Steve]

Do you have a DMX desk you can test the scanners with - even something that isn't "capable" of controlling movers? If so, you can set all the DIP switches on the first scan OFF apart from the first one (ie, addressing the scan to DMX 1). You should be able to push up fader 1 on your DMX desk (or type in 1 at <level>....depends on desk) and whatever attribute is on that channel should change etc. If stuff happens, then your Martin controller is at fault.

 

Also, for good measure, are you terminating the scans?

[Oliver S]

Do you have a DMX desk you can test the scanners with - even something that isn't "capable" of controlling movers? If so, you can set all the DIP switches on the first scan OFF apart from the first one (ie, addressing the scan to DMX 1). You should be able to push up fader 1 on your DMX desk (or type in 1 at <level>....depends on desk) and whatever attribute is on that channel should change etc. If stuff happens, then your Martin controller is at fault.

 

Also, for good measure, are you terminating the scans?

 

Will try and get to doing this when I have time....any idea if a JB systems CMX 24 would do the job on what you are suggesting???

 

And we never used to terminate the ends and they still worked, but I am using a terminator now and it is still not working, just it might be the wrong resistor, so I might just go get a new one to make sure it is a 120 ohm resistor.

[prolightdesigner]

I also take it you've tried switching the cable?

[Mr Steve]

I believe it will. When you move the first few faders, the light should do something. If they do, then the Martin controller or connection between it and the scans is at fault, if nothing happens then it could be something to do with bad DMX receivers in the scans.

 

Its also worth checking you're using known good DMX cable so you can rule a cable fault out, too.

[Oliver S]

I also take it you've tried switching the cable?

 

Yip tried I don't know how many different cables....

 

just really need them to work again and am getting some what frustrated....

[HobitLight]

Have you tried taking everything out of the rig apart from one scanner at a time? Maybe just the first (for example) scanner is faulty and as the DMX is going through this to the other scanners...

[Oliver S]

Have you tried taking everything out of the rig apart from one scanner at a time? Maybe just the first (for example) scanner is faulty and as the DMX is going through this to the other scanners...

 

At the moment we have a generic rig and our only inteligents are these two scanners, as with it being a school.....the usual, of not even having a low budget, but a budget for the sound and lighting does not exist. However we are looking at getting some movers.

 

(to your question) I have taken one of the scanners home to try and sort out and so far it is not working, but will be getting the other one soon.

 

Does anyone else have MX-4's, can you tell me what DIP setting you use, as I think I may be getting that wrong (if that is the problem) even though the DIP setting they where on made them work, maybe someone messed with it......I have tried to get the DIP setting from the manual and just doesn't seem to make a difference unless I am making a mistake....so if anyone can tell me their DIP setting for master slave please.

 

thanks

[KevinE]

If you say they were working before you went to get a coke, surely this suggests the DIP switches were correctly set and shouldn't have altered..barring a phantom dabbler?

[rossmck]

if anyone can tell me their DIP setting for master slave please.

 

On the master, you need to set 2 and 10 to on, and 3,6,7,8,9,11,12 to Off

On the slaves set 10 to on, and 1,2,3,4,5,11 and 12 to Off

(the rest of the pins (1,4,5 and 6,7,8,9 on the slave) are for fixture-specific options)

 

Ensure the master is on before all the others.

 

Also remember with these if they lose DMX for any more than 5 or 10 seconds they go into standalone mode..

 

I've not used these for a while but I have a manual kicking around ;)

[five_pin_xlr]

Also another thing is make sure you have the dip switches set correctly, I had this issue on saturday, when hog 2 could not control them. I suggest the 6 channel setting and u just have everything set to off, then set them to the address needed, next thing set them to DMX address 1, both of them.

 

Terminate to, failing that stick a end of a cable in the out of the last MX4 and leave it, was told it works as a terminator to.

 

I had problems with them resetting half way through, so make sure the controller isnt set to above 80%.

 

hth

[Tomo]

failing that stick a end of a cable in the out of the last MX4 and leave it, was told it works as a terminator to.

No it doesn't, and this is probably the worst possible thing you could do to a DMX chain.

 

Never leave a 'free end' - open ends cause reflections, and reflections cause havoc. 10 feet of cable to an open end is enough to render a DMX signal unrecognisable on a 'scope (although oddly enough, many fixtures seem to cope - at least some of the time)

 

An unterminated DMX line will rarely cause issues to the fixture on the end of the chain - it's usually the ones along the line that get the garbage.

 

If the end of the line is a receiver chip, that at least provides a small amount of bias loading and reduces the size of the reflections a little bit.

[greenalien]

Does your desk have a 'polarity reverse' switch for the DMX output? If someone has flipped that, it could cause the symptoms you describe.

[Oliver S]

Does your desk have a 'polarity reverse' switch for the DMX output? If someone has flipped that, it could cause the symptoms you describe.

 

I am pretty sure it doesn't(thanks anyway).....sigh I am starting to get frustrated ...