DMX LED Lighting

[bigandy]

Gi'Day All,

 

Last year I had done away with all my hot, power hungry par cans and replaced them with the new LED Light technology. I bought 2X par36 LED's and 2X Color Floor LED's (also known as Panels), anyway, I had just recently found time to fiddle around with the programming of scenes using a 192 Channel DMX Operator (Light Controller), I had been using it for entertaining on stage and they've been fabulous and much better than the ol' par cans. A few days ago I did some programming of scenes and saved them in banks. I found a problem which I hope can be fixed.

 

Keeping in mind that all leads were created according to instructional manual for lights and controller.

 

The problem is this: When I program the last 4th light, and tho' it's address is completely different than the previous 3rd light in the chain, the previous light can sence a signal and so responds by showing a small colored section on the panel light while I'm trying to program the last 4th light. This is really anoying since I want a looping with clean colors that I choose and not having to deal with a blue or green showing through my sequence of looping eg: RED.

 

The manual says what addresses to use for each in the chain and these are: 1, 17, 33, 49.

Lights 1, 2 & 3 can be programmed with no problem, but, when it comes to programming the last 4th light, it's as if the 3rd one wants to join in. That's when I say: "But I've turned you off!". Why or what is going on? At first I thought it might be the panel light so I changed to 2 over but nope, still the same problem. Leads and connections seem to look ok, but then again nothing always is what it seems. Can anyone help please?

[woody74]

Terminator?

[KevinE]

When you say you changed the 2 over, what happened..did the fault go with the light, or did it stay in the next-to-last position?

 

Have you checked that there's no channel-inverse selected on the desk utility menu (for that one fixture), or that you havent assigned a stray channel as a scanner XY controller (eg joystick/wheel)?? You didnt say what make and model desk you had.

[paradoxism]

Double check the address settings on the fixtures - especially if they're set using DIP switches. It may be that a switch isn't quite making contact, or it's come loose from the socket it sits in. Sounds like there may be a DMX overlap somewhere.

 

You can set the base addresses to whatever you like as long as there is more than 16 between them (from your manual it would seem that each light has a block of 16 addresses controlling different functions) You could try swapping the addresses of the third and fourth head around and see if the problem occours again. Changing the physical positions in the chain doesn't affect the addresses that they use.

 

Unlikely to be a cable fault if it's affecting the third light in a chain of four without the fourth playing up, but always a good idea to terminate the chain with a 120 Ohm resistor as suggested - especially if you have a very long cable run.

[berry120]

What happens when you change the addresses to something else? i.e. try putting the last light on something like 60 instead, does it make a difference? Also, does it matter what way aroud the lights are connected?

 

To check whether it's a lead issue you could check the first 3 lights / leads are ok, and then swap one over with the 4th light and see if you get the same problem. As mentioned earlier it could be a terminator issue - are you using one?

[bigandy]

Sorry Folks, I didn't give much detailed information. Here it is more specific:

Light Emotion 192 Channel Controller.

 

MAIN FEATURES:

Compact DMX controller

 

192 control channel for 12 projectors each up to 16 channels

6 chasers with up to 240 scenes can be programmed

30 banks of 8 preset scenes, 240 scenes max.

Sliders reversible

Channels re-assignable

Fog machine and strobe control button

Grab any fixture on fly

Copy function for the scenes, programs and records

Blackout function

Beat activiation, tap sync and auto run

Sound control via built-in microphone or Audio input socket

Polarity selector

MIDI compatible

19 inch mounting dimension (3 units).

 

I have done all what you guys have suggested and put a "terminator" in place. I am greatful for all your help so far but I still have this same problem.

[StNic54]

bad fixture? does it foul up on it's own, straight out of the board?

[bigandy]

bad fixture? does it foul up on it's own, straight out of the board?

 

 

No! All has been checked in that area, cables been checked from professional and all is OK in this area. One thing I need to NOTE: All lights and console is as new as the day they were purchased and well looked after even after dozens of gigs. They are well packed away from harm to and from venues. I had just emailed the company today and will probably hear from them in the next few working days.

[Peter Chivers]

You have given us the information from the manual for the controller, but it might be worthwhile double checking the manuals for the fixtures. You also haven't told us which fixture is at which address. Most LED PAR fixtures only use a few channels and so a spacing of 16 is more than enough to ensure that there is no overlap, but LED Panels can use more than 16 channels so if the two panels are fixtures 3 and 4, it is possible that there is an overlap.

Hope this may be of help.

Peter