photonix Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 hi all, I use a event416 desk but have never mastered how I can keep the control channel for the discharge lamps constantly on (in my moving fixtures) through the desk without accidently switching it off. If the clear button is pressed it cancels the level. I have tryed patching the channels seperately(on top of the fixture patch) but this still gets canceled if clear is pressed. Dont say it..dont press clear... Any ideas other than setting the lamps to constantly on on the fixtures?? Any one use this desk still?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 What movers are you using? I can think of no common movers which need the control channel held at a value to keep the lamp on. Every mover I've ever come across needs the control channel set to a value for a few seconds to strike the lamp, and the lamp then remains on until a lamp off command is sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photonix Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Fixtures im current useing coemar cf1200s. The control channel for the lamp neads to have some desk output otherwise the lamp is turned off as I would have thought would be common with all fixtures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron-Hill07 Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 I'm not familiar with the CF1200s, But I do know that most moving lights work in the same way if they have discharge lamps, which the CF's do. Once the lamp on command is sent, they'll stay struck until you send another command to turn them off.. That's the way the fixtures are programmed.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Fixtures im current useing coemar cf1200s. The control channel for the lamp neads to have some desk output otherwise the lamp is turned off as I would have thought would be common with all fixturesOn further investigation this would appear to be correct but this is very much not common on all fixtures! Having the lamp off command being sent with a DMX value of 0 is pretty stupid if you ask me and I can see this being a problem on many consoles not just the Event. I'm not personally familiar with the Event 416, however the only hope I can see (other than disabling lamp off in the fixtures menu) is that it may possible to set a clear value for a channel in the personality file, but as I say I'm not familiar with the 416. Your only other option would be to have that channel on a playback which you constantly leave on but this isn't the most elegant solution and the waste of a playback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokm Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Page 53 of the manual >> Linky, seems to imply there is the facilty to disable the lamp off feature. Might be an easy work around for you in this instance. How very odd... T *ahh.. beaten to it by John* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 As I'm at a loose end this evening and curiosity was getting the better of me, I downloaded the Jands Event 4 fixture file editor and it would appear that you can set a channels default value and I would assume it's this value that the console goes to when you hit clear. If you drop me a PM with your email address I'll send over the edited file for a CF 1200 for you to try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photonix Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 ok .. DMX level 241-255 turns on the lamp, it then must go into DMX 0-19 to get it to turn off again. Thus DMX 0 turns off the lamp. Yes on the fixture you can control on's and off's , but the control wanted was desk control. Putting the lamp control onto a fader still gets overriden by preferance of the programer clearing its self. To get out of certain programs in the programer you have to press the clear. You have to have used the desk to understand.I supose I could just reload the fixture into the desk patch with a edited version without the control chan and patch that seperate. Just wondered if there was a better way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Can you invert the channel in the personality? ie: Make 100% on the fader DMX=0 and 0% be DMX=255 That's a bit of a kludge, but should work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 Well the fixture file I've just emailed to you defaults the control channel to 255, as I say I haven't used the Event but when you hit clear it's possible that the channel goes to the default value specified in the fixture personality so this could work for you. You will still be able to adjust the channel to 0 when you need to turn the lamp off, it just hopefully won't go to 0 every time you hit clear. Let us know how you get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadyn.williams Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Failing John's solution, (I'm not familiar with the desk BTW) can you park the DMX value at 241? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photonix Posted September 19, 2009 Author Share Posted September 19, 2009 Well the fixture file I've just emailed to you defaults the control channel to 255, as I say I haven't used the Event but when you hit clear it's possible that the channel goes to the default value specified in the fixture personality so this could work for you. You will still be able to adjust the channel to 0 when you need to turn the lamp off, it just hopefully won't go to 0 every time you hit clear. Let us know how you get on. The file did not work -somewhere from you to my load to the desk messed it up, so I suppose I will have to remember how to use that editor again myself.. Its a odd thing to use dont you think? It would be best to set the DMX level to mid way and not high or low as that is when the fixtures get the command to switch the lamp. When clear is hit- it sets the fixtures at the previous state that they were in before the programmer was loaded, which somehow is not quite default levels, as 'shift' + clear sets values at default'.Definatly the way forward is to re-edit the fixture default levels as this would work and be fool proof. Thanks all for your help and thoughts. :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted September 19, 2009 Share Posted September 19, 2009 Sorry the file didn't work, must of got corrupted some where on route. I certainly agree the fixture editor software is far from intuitive, certainly took me a few attempts to get my head round it. As for the default value, you really need to set it between 241-255 which is the range for the lamp on command, if you set it for anything else you'll either cause the fixture to do a full reset, a pan and tilt reset or lamp off. Setting to mid value (128) will cause the unit to reset every time the desk goes to default value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photonix Posted September 19, 2009 Author Share Posted September 19, 2009 Sorry the file didn't work, must of got corrupted some where on route. I certainly agree the fixture editor software is far from intuitive, certainly took me a few attempts to get my head round it. As for the default value, you really need to set it between 241-255 which is the range for the lamp on command, if you set it for anything else you'll either cause the fixture to do a full reset, a pan and tilt reset or lamp off. Setting to mid value (128) will cause the unit to reset every time the desk goes to default value. I will have a go at that, thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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