Movers not responding to DMX

[DaveMack]

I have recently purchased a Jands Vista and when I attached it to my Tour Spot 575's the first three movers in the DMX chain don't respond. The next three do. When I use my laptop with the Vista software and a usb to DMX adaptor they work fine. When I use my old bullfrog they work fine. When I use the new Vista they don't respond.

 

The only one unusual thing about the installed system is all the movers are off a different power supply from the desk. All movers are from the same power source but the desk is powered locally from a normal 13 amp socket.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Is this a DMX to earth problem. But if this was the case wouldn't all mover do the same? Am really stuck on this one.

[JDP]

A silly question, but I guess you have ensured the units are addressed properly, as per your Vista patch. And that the universe patched is the same for all 6 and the DMX cable is coming from the right hole(s)?

 

Sounds to me like a patch issue..... Check that first. DMX and Earth problems are WAY down. Lets start with the basics, once we have have established that, then we will move onto cables. But for the problem to be as you described it sounds very much a patch issue.

 

IF it was the other way round, and the last 3 didn't respond, it would almost certainly be a cable issue to check for first.

[niclights]

I wonder if this is something simple like just the desk patch being wrong? Since it works on other controllers you would assume nothing cable or unit wise was wrong. Power supply location isn't important.

 

Have you tried setting all to the same address as the ones that work?

[Ynot]

Is this a DMX to earth problem. But if this was the case wouldn't all mover do the same? Am really stuck on this one.

That one's simple - no it's not.

Go with Dave's suggestion first, anyway.

[ablett]

Just set the other movers to the same address as one of the movers that you know works.

You will quickly find out if it's the cable. (Always worth just checking stupid things like which universe you have patched it on at the desk end)

As for DMX earth fault...

I would say there is no problem there...but...

We sent a few LED par's out on a hire job for halloween. I then got a call later that evening to say that one of them wasnt working. When we arrived to swap it over, it seemed that the LED Par had been dropped by accident, thus putting a lot of pressure on the plug --> The earth had come loose! We found for some strange reason it caused some DMX errors and it just wouldn't work. When we replaced the earth and checked it over, the DMX was fine again...

Can anyone shed any light on that? Personally I had never experienced that before.

[boatman]

.

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We sent a few LED par's out on a hire job for halloween. I then got a call later that evening to say that one of them wasnt working. When we arrived to swap it over, it seemed that the LED Par had been dropped by accident, thus putting a lot of pressure on the plug --> The earth had come loose! We found for some strange reason it caused some DMX errors and it just wouldn't work. When we replaced the earth and checked it over, the DMX was fine again...

Can anyone shed any light on that? Personally I had never experienced that before.

 

Just a guess, but I would say that you should check the continuity of the screens on your DMX cables. It sounds as though the mains earth is also acting as the DMX return for each fixture.

[ablett]

Just a guess, but I would say that you should check the continuity of the screens on your DMX cables. It sounds as though the mains earth is also acting as the DMX return for each fixture.

Not a bad guess, I will look into that for sure.

Every cable is tested after every job, and I don't think the guys in the warehouse found any problems. Just one of those things that grabbed my attention at the time.

[Tomo]

The earth had come loose! We found for some strange reason it caused some DMX errors and it just wouldn't work. When we replaced the earth and checked it over, the DMX was fine again...

Some power supply designs dump current down the Protective Earth conductor. If it's not there, they won't work properly.

[dmxtothemax]

If all the lights are on the same DMX line, then it most likely not the cable! as the others are working,

check the DMX polarity on the non working lights and double check all the settings and DMX addressing of the lights,

if still stuck call Jands, they are very helpfull people.

[merlin24]

If all the lights are on the same DMX line, then it most likely not the cable! as the others are working,

check the DMX polarity on the non working lights and double check all the settings and DMX addressing of the lights,

if still stuck call Jands, they are very helpfull people.

 

 

I can assure everybody on this thread that Dave has checked as have I as has a collegue the simple things like DMX addressing etc.

Dave I would still be plugging your desk into a point that shares the same Earth as the moving lights. Call me when you have trie dthis and we'll dig further if needed.

 

 

Andy

 

AC Entertainment Technologies Ltd.

[blackbird]

Probably not the case if one desk is working ... but I had a cable 'fault' the other day which resulted in some but not all of my fixtures responding.

 

Basically one of the DMX cables had the pin order reversed from one end to the other, which meant that the DMX termination was actually connecting the DMX circuit in strange ways rather than stopping reflections, so that with the terminator in some fixtures worked, but were twitching with reflections, but when removed nothing worked.

 

Anyway, I assume you have tried breaking the DMX at the 3 that do work to see if something odd is going on here.

[Ynot]

I can assure everybody on this thread that Dave has checked as have I as has a collegue the simple things like DMX addressing etc.

Dave I would still be plugging your desk into a point that shares the same Earth as the moving lights. Call me when you have trie dthis and we'll dig further if needed.

And you think that this will help how?

Sorry, but as the OP has said that all the movers are on the one same power feed, and the desk is on another, I fail to see this as a potential issue.

 

I don't see the mains earth as having any effect anyway, but if the 6 movers share the same feed then that's out of the window anyway.

 

Back at the original situation - if the first three movers don't respond but the last three do, then the logical problem will most likely be addressing, patching or cable (or faulty movers) - all of which have been mentioned already, but not necessarily answered fully by the OP. In fact we've not had much response from the OP himself as yet...

 

But simply, try each in turn:

 

Addressing - set the address of one or more of the 'dead' units to the same as a good one and try again;

Patching - Check the desk to ensure the fixture is properly patched wjere you think it should be;

Cable - Replace each cable in turn - maybe with those proven working OK between the good units.

(Assuming you have a 5-pin out from the Vista, there may be a reversal there to unit #1 and another reversal maybe on a 3-3 twixt the 3rd & 4th unit...)

[boatman]

... and as I have said many times here, buy one of these:

 

Elation Dr DMX II

 

It will save you more time than you have already wasted looking for this fault.

[Badger_Mushroom]

Easy way to figure out what the fault is. Put all your movers onto the same address as your first mover. If all the movers then don't work, it's a DMX issue. If still only the first three don't work, put all your movers onto the same address as your last mover and see what happens. If still the three movers at the beginning of the chain don't work, it's got to be either the fixtures themselves or the cabling.

[merlin24]

And you think that this will help how?

Sorry, but as the OP has said that all the movers are on the one same power feed, and the desk is on another, I fail to see this as a potential issue.

 

YNOT

We supplied the desk and supplied the training and during the training I saw the fault first hand and between myself Dave and our technical service dept are working to come up with solutions. Again all the obvious has been tried and I need the desk to share the same earth as the moving lights to rule out that option. There are all kind of stumbling points here that have not been mentioned and as far as I am concerned do not need to be mentioned as they have been looked at already. Once AGAIN as the suppliers of the desk we are working with Dave not on a public forum to fix the issue.

And FYI a desk being on a different earth to the moving lights has been proven on occasions to be an issue with more than one type of desk.