LiamVR Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Hi there, Excuse lack of lighting knowledge I'm a sound engineer roped into lighting at the moment at my school but I'll try my best to explain the problem.. please don't laugh We have an Avolites Tiger Touch (recently updated and serviced all working great) we have a bank for 'Power' which powers the intelligent fixtures and pretty much everything on Universe 2.. I believe it's 'switched power' they receive?? In this power bank the power comes up as 4 fixtures called 'power' and they are all switched on by going into 'shutter strobe' and setting too (100%) ... allthough I'm not sure why.. They are completely unaffected by the 'clear' button they're effectively frozen unless you do anything with them manually they stay at 100%.. however over the past few weeks everything on Universe 2 has randomly being going crazy as if somebody has just unplugged DMXfrom one of the fixtures and the only way of stopping it is by 'powering off' the power banks. There is also a 2nd problem where the power banks are randomly switching themself off. (I checked that there was no Cue or Playback that had them switched off built into it and there isn't) the 2nd problem is more worrying for me as if I am using moving heads and they suddenly lose power when the power bank cuts out I'm running the risk of damaging the lights. I had 3 hours with no problems this morning, then 2 hours where this happened about 10 times, and that's just today. It seems to only be a problem on Universe 2 and the only way of stopping it is switching off the power banks to them and starting them up again. Then usually things are okay for a while, it's very temperamental. Everything is plugged in properly and I'm not sure what can be causing it. Any ideas??? Would appreciate any help whatsoever. I'm going to try the power bank over to a on and off macro and possibly re-patching the power banks in. Thanks Liam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 It is correct that clearing the attribute does not change its output. This is because all channels other than dimmer are LTP (latest takes precedence). From your description of what they are controlling I'm sure this is how it should be but if you really did want the value to go to zero then you could patch as dimmers instead. From your description of the problem I wonder if it is all related to a problem on the DMX line. This could be a bad cable, lack of or faulty termination, faulty devices on the line (either fixtures or DMX buffer/splitter if present) or a hardware fault on the console. Although it does not necessarily address the actual problem I would investigate options to permanently power the fixtures. This would help eliminate the risk of them accidentally going off. It would also help in narrowing down the fault in the short term. Of all the possibilities perhaps the easiest thing to try is changing the control end. Assuming you are not currently using physical outputs C or D on the console you could switch line 2 to one of these. Go to system (shift+disk)/[DMX Settings]. Under DMX Lines click on the [x] button next to DMX Output C or D if they are currently assigned to a line. Then under Available DMX Nodes select the output you want to use from the ExpertDmx section (for example DMX Output C) and then select Line 2 under DMX Lines. You should now see DMX Output B and C both assigned to Line 2. This means line 2 will now output over both the physical outputs. Finally physically unplug the cable from output B and put it in C. Operate like this for a while. If the fault continues then you can be fairly certain it is not a hardware fault on the console. You can also add a terminator quite easily if there isn't one already. This should be on the last fixture of each chain. Beyond that it is a case of changing cables, preferably one by one. If the fault persists using a new line from the console, with terminators and with all new cables then you are probably looking at a faulty device. The fact that the fault appears to be resolved by switching off the banks and then restarting is probably important. Can you explain exactly what you mean by this - for example, do you do this manually or from the console? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmeh2 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Hi Agree with what Nic said, although I would also add that it's usually considered bad practice to run movers off dimmer channels, which is what I presume you are doing. People may bleat on about digital dimmers having pure sinusoid waveforms or whatever, but I still wouldn't do it. If your dimmer output is fluctuating and/or there's some dodgy programming in there somewhere, turning your fixtures on and off several times a second could certainly send all sorts of noise and crap down your DMX lines. All the bestTimmeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamVR Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Thanks for reply, yeah basically whenever it goes crazy or just drops out I go into the power bank and turn off the power fixtures and then turn them back on again from the console. I think you're right along the lines of something dodgy on the DMX line, this may also help that the strobe has being playing up flashing constantly and slowly (very un-noticeable unless stood under the bar looking at the actual light) it's like the tiniest amount.. it does however work and responds to signals from the desk when it's being used etc. There is also no DMX terminator on Universe 2, I will put one on. I'm interesting in what options might be in permanently powering these fixtures? My school last week sent the desk away for repair as they thought this would solve the problem and the repair company checked all hardware/updated to latest software and the desk has come back with flying colours but I obviously still have this problem with power bank dropping out. Thanks for advice really appreciate it .. Hi there, Excuse lack of lighting knowledge I'm a sound engineer roped into lighting at the moment at my school but I'll try my best to explain the problem.. please don't laugh We have an Avolites Tiger Touch (recently updated and serviced all working great) we have a bank for 'Power' which powers the intelligent fixtures and pretty much everything on Universe 2.. I believe it's 'switched power' they receive?? In this power bank the power comes up as 4 fixtures called 'power' and they are all switched on by going into 'shutter strobe' and setting too (100%) ... allthough I'm not sure why.. They are completely unaffected by the 'clear' button they're effectively frozen unless you do anything with them manually they stay at 100%.. however over the past few weeks everything on Universe 2 has randomly being going crazy as if somebody has just unplugged DMXfrom one of the fixtures and the only way of stopping it is by 'powering off' the power banks. There is also a 2nd problem where the power banks are randomly switching themself off. (I checked that there was no Cue or Playback that had them switched off built into it and there isn't) the 2nd problem is more worrying for me as if I am using moving heads and they suddenly lose power when the power bank cuts out I'm running the risk of damaging the lights. I had 3 hours with no problems this morning, then 2 hours where this happened about 10 times, and that's just today. It seems to only be a problem on Universe 2 and the only way of stopping it is switching off the power banks to them and starting them up again. Then usually things are okay for a while, it's very temperamental. Everything is plugged in properly and I'm not sure what can be causing it. Any ideas??? Would appreciate any help whatsoever. I'm going to try the power bank over to a on and off macro and possibly re-patching the power banks in. Thanks Liam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niclights Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Anything that requires fixed power can be plugged straight into mains outlets. This could just be standard UK 13A outlets but usually you would have some sort of distribution system that is capable of handling the power required by your fixtures along with all the appropriate protection. This does not necessarily need to be particularly expensive but because of the danger you should get a professional to do this (preferably industry related). I wonder if you can find someone experienced locally who can have a look at all this for you? Tim? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Yeah... It was me that fixed the Tiger Touch for you. I'll see what I can sort out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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