monkeypuzzle Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 One of my atomics seems to work fine for about 2 mins then turns off. All leds on the back go out. when I then unplug the DMX cable, it comes back on line then goes off as soon as I plug the DMX back in..... Infact, just tested it again and pulling the cable from source (Magicq artnet box and a lightprocessor zip 18) it comes back on, so when it gets DMX it turns off..... Another unit just seems to trigger itself randomly (not to often but more than is desirable)...... Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Bad DMX/cable? Try running DMX direct from console avoiding the artnet part to start with. Also try disconnecting anything linked in the chain. I experienced a similar problem recently at a festival. After much head-scratching and swapping we came to the conclusion the fault existed further upstream, almost certainly related to Showtec Sunstrip's in this case (they do odd things to DMX!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeypuzzle Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 I've tried other cables, 3 pin and 5 pin, The problem seems to be with any DMX source and is there no difference where the unit is in the chain, this is with other atomics as well which work as they should. Could it be an earthing issue when the cable is plugged in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeypuzzle Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 so in addition, just listened to the unit and it's making a just about audible high pitched whine when powered up... upon opening the back, the noise seems to be coming from a small black and yellow transformer situated just behind the 5 pin out socket.... My other units don't do this and I guess this one shouldn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 high pitch whine is common,its to do with the high voltages roaming around and the way its madealmost certainly related to Showtec Sunstrip's in this case (they do odd things to DMX!) realise its going OT but what sort of things were they doing to the DMX? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Remo Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Sunstrips have a master/slave mode that can send spurious data both up and down the DMX line. I generally tend to keep them on their own line out of the buffers, and often chuck my AL microscope 3a in line set to hold on DMX loss so if the desk gets pulled for any reason (festival switch over for example) they don't light up like christmas trees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 Yeah, that's point that many may not know; many Chinese bits and bobs have DMX in and out sockets, which are wired together, so they are a loop through. Many of these fixtures enable a group of them to be connected together so one is the master and the others slaves. Which is OK as long as you make sure that before you connect the thing to DMX that it is definitely not in a master mode. Otherwise it'll transmit DMX all by itself and confuse the heck out of other things on the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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