Roboscan 812 odd behaviour

[Lobster Lighting]

Hello all. got some roboscan 812s had em for years but only used em for disco hire stand alone pretty much. tonight I tried running them on my desk along with some Mac 300s, mini mac profiles and washes, destroyers. led pars and par 56 and 64 on dimmers. Everything other than the roboscans has been used many many times in the same layout so there are a few shows programmed into the desk which is a martin Xciter (and yes I'm aware I now seem to be an advert for slightly old martin gear) and that all works fine.

 

problem I have is, the roboscans just stay on, I havnt programmed them into the existing shows yet other than one crap show to just see what happens. when you hit blackout in a show all other fixtures black out. the roboscans stay on. also it seems I'm going to have to go through all the shows that are in there and select the scans, store them with the colour wheel shutt in each scene of each show Even if im not using them in any part of that show) as when playing back anything they just spring back on open white. normally on this desk if youve used a fixture and don't store it into the show it will black out untill its called upon again but not these

 

If you select the fixtures you have full control over what they are doing. So any suggestions? is this just a quirk of these older lights or is there away round it or have I set it up wrong.

 

Set up of full rig is such:

 

Martin 2518 desk conected into the input of the Xciter desk to control my dimmers and led pars from address 1-72. Xciter desk to DMX splitter, one output of splitter to led Pars, one to Mini Macs and Destroyers, one to dimmers and one to the roboscans with a phase reverse cable into 1st roboscan and then 3 other roboscans daisey chained off that. and loop out of splitter to the Mac 300s all lines terminated. never had to use terms before but tried it just to see.

 

 

Sorry if this is a long rambling post but hoped to give lots of info in order to diagnose. Cheers.

[lukeyboi30]

I have two of these scanners, I dont know the exact fault but I program them with adj mydmx and they work fine so its not just a quirk of the lights, try programming them into one show as blackout and see what happens

[Lobster Lighting]

I put them into one crap show like I said. basically all the macs shutter open white aimed around edges of stage and the roboscans in centre. stored. exit the editor, all the lights other than the scans go off. hit playback and all come on, hit blackout button and all but scans go off.

 

Can't get back into venue now till 3pm but will at least have a fresh head for it. just thought some ideas from people here might be handy when I go back in. gig starts at 8pm. Plenty of time to swear at it some more.

[lukeyboi30]

lmao have u put the gobo wheel shutter on as well

[tomscott]

The problem with these lights is that they have no dedicated dimmer, they use a "black" gobo as a shutter. Hence, when the blackout button is pressed, there's no dimmer to shut, so the lights stay on. We have the same problem with some 150W moving heads we use, its a right pain... the way we get around it is programming the home position to shutter closed on our Jester ML desk, then, when busking you have to hit blackout, then the home button to blackout the movers. Needless to say, since the purchase of 6 new (to us!) Oby 5 movers with a dedicated dimmer, we don't use the old ones with the desk anymore!

 

In answer to your question, its not a fault with the lights, just how they are designed... I guess your going to have to go through each scene/show to black them out, I don't know your desk so can't suggest any other work around, I'm sure someone on here might be able to help tho!

[johnhuson]

problem I have is, the roboscans just stay on, I havnt programmed them into the existing shows yet other than one crap show to just see what happens. when you hit blackout in a show all other fixtures black out. the roboscans stay on. also it seems I'm going to have to go through all the shows that are in there and select the scans, store them with the colour wheel shutt in each scene of each show Even if im not using them in any part of that show) as when playing back anything they just spring back on open white. normally on this desk if youve used a fixture and don't store it into the show it will black out untill its called upon again but not these

I think you're probably experiencing this behaviour because the 812's don't have a dedicated dimmer, the only way to blackout is using the colour or gobo wheel as you're probably already aware.

 

I'm not familiar with the Exciter but I suspect when there is nothing programmed the fixture personality is defaulting the colour and gobo wheels to open, hence the fixture always staying on. I'm not sure whether it's possible to edit the fixture personalitys on the Xciter if you can't then it looks like your only option is to program the gobo or colour wheel in black in every cue you're not using them in unfortunately.

 

The lack of dimmer channel will certainly explain why blackout isn't working as the blackout function will be acting on the fixtures dimmer channels which the 812's don't have.

 

EDIT: Looks like distractions whilst replying mean I've been beaten to it!

[lukeyboi30]

The problem with these lights is that they have no dedicated dimmer, they use a "black" gobo as a shutter. Hence, when the blackout button is pressed, there's no dimmer to shut, so the lights stay on. We have the same problem with some 150W moving heads we use, its a right pain... the way we get around it is programming the home position to shutter closed on our Jester ML desk, then, when busking you have to hit blackout, then the home button to blackout the movers. Needless to say, since the purchase of 6 new (to us!) Oby 5 movers with a dedicated dimmer, we don't use the old ones with the desk anymore!

 

In answer to your question, its not a fault with the lights, just how they are designed... I guess your going to have to go through each scene/show to black them out, I don't know your desk so can't suggest any other work around, I'm sure someone on here might be able to help tho!

 

what moving heads did u use to use + I was wondering if u could convert the roboscans into halogens rather than discharge bulbs as it would be cheaper to replace the bulbs

[tomscott]

what moving heads did u use to use + I was wondering if u could convert the roboscans into halogens rather than discharge bulbs as it would be cheaper to replace the bulbs

 

The heads were Merlin 150's from Batmink (Visage brand I think) but the pretty much the same as many many other cheapy Chinese 150W movers, we still use them, but only as for standalone things on sound to light, which they work very well at.

 

As for converting the roboscans, I couldn't comment, not my area of expertise, but there are lots of very knowledgeable people on here who should be able to advise!

 

 

 

[lukeyboi30]

what moving heads did u use to use + I was wondering if u could convert the roboscans into halogens rather than discharge bulbs as it would be cheaper to replace the bulbs

 

The heads were Merlin 150's from Batmink (Visage brand I think) but the pretty much the same as many many other cheapy Chinese 150W movers, we still use them, but only as for standalone things on sound to light, which they work very well at.

 

As for converting the roboscans, I couldn't comment, not my area of expertise, but there are lots of very knowledgeable people on here who should be able to advise!

 

 

 

 

ok thanks m8

[Lobster Lighting]

Cheers for the replies guys. I was aware that there was no dimmer as such, but as im using a Martin Desk with a martin fixtures using martin personalities I thought it might have dealt with this.

 

Solution for tonight is pull them out and replace with two acrobats which I know work but are obviously a different effect. I'm not sure If I can edit the existing personality but I can create a new one which is what I will do for future use.

 

Long term fix is to buy some modern kit!

[Lobster Lighting]

Actually had some free time tonight after having a sort out in the store. flightcase for the desk and 812s were easily to hand so thought id finally sort this one out.

 

simple fix once ive read the manual, I edited the fixture personality. For some reason Martin's default personality for these lights has colour and gobo wheels with a lowest possible value of 15. I've gone into the libary and edited that to value to 0 on the colour wheel. Still means they won't react to the blackout button but it at least means I dont have to program them shut on every scene I'm not using them. and if I operate them "live" once I hit clear they will go back to black.

 

No way round the Blackout button issue that I can see, so ive set a playback fader with them set to black and a scene button that sets them to black, so I can hit those a split second before I hit blackout button for the rest of the fixtures.

 

Thought I'd post this fix up in case anyone else had a similar issue using either 812s or xciter desks. unlikely I know, I'm just stuck in a Martin time warp! If only they hadnt discontinued Mac250 Kryptons id at least have some upto date kit, still fiind it odd they don't make the 250 krypton or entour anymore.