DMX controller

[RPDSoundandlight]

I have a cheap chauvet obey 10 DMX controller. It was working fine but it seems to have cried enough now.I use it to control a pair of chauvet hemisphere mirror ball type effects fixtures. The fixtures do not have a slow rotate in one direction with white beams which I use quite often for wedding first dances. This was the main reason I bought the controller. The problem is now I have a total lack of control over the fixtures and all that happens when I move sliders around is that one of the fixtures leds flashes about twice a second.and thats all that happens. Have tried swopping cables out, using a different power supply and trying to control just one fixture with the other fixture disconnected completely. Does it sound like a bust controller to you? Fixtures work fine on all the other programs by the way. ( the built in non DMX ones).

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Bob

[Blue Room Admin]

Has the DMX polarity switch been knocked?

[RPDSoundandlight]

Has the DMX polarity switch been knocked?

 

I will check that but I very much doubt it as the controller is rack mounted and the switch is in a hard to get at position....but it is worth a check.

 

[niclights]

Have you checked the DMX address on the fixtures?

[RPDSoundandlight]

Have you checked the DMX address on the fixtures?

Yes I have there's only two fixtures to worry about and they are both set to start address 1.

[p.k.roberts]

It is possible to reset the unit to factory default; I've had to do that on one of these units before when it stopped behaving nicely. I can't remember the button combination (I'm sure it's in the manual), but certainly worth a try.

[ABlackmore]

It is possible to reset the unit to factory default; I've had to do that on one of these units before when it stopped behaving nicely. I can't remember the button combination (I'm sure it's in the manual), but certainly worth a try.

 

It is indeed, straight from the manual:

Reset to Factory Default

Action ·

 

1) Press the STEP UP and AUTO/DEL buttons simultaneously.

2) All LEDs will flash, indicating a successful reset of the controller.

[RPDSoundandlight]

Have tried the factory reset. When I try again the problem still exists unfortunately. I think its goosed to be honest..

Thank you for all your suggestions.

[AdrianW]

Are you handy with the soldering iron?

 

I had an intermittent problem with one of these... sometimes worked, sometimes it didn't. Turned out the DMX socket was never actually soldered into the PCB... just pushed into the holes! Over time, the PCB track oxidised and then......

[Don Allen]

Seems the Chauvet Obey 10 has an internal battery, as explained in this link so open the desk up and measure the battery volts. This is a common fault with Jands and LSC desks when they get old, but I thought a small desk like this might just use internal static ram.

[timsabre]

Seems the Chauvet Obey 10 has an internal battery, as explained in this link so open the desk up and measure the battery volts. This is a common fault with Jands and LSC desks when they get old, but I thought a small desk like this might just use internal static ram.

 

Static ram needs a battery - you'd use flash or eeprom to keep memory without a battery.

However in this case it sounds like a DMX issue, if it isn't a connection problem on the socket as suggested by Adrian then I would guess the DMX driver chip needs swapping.

[alistermorton]

Just to point out - static RAM is not necessarily non volatile RAM.

 

Static and dynamic refer to the need or not to continually refresh the memory. Static RAM retains the data once written, so long as the power is maintained. Dynamic RAM forgets after a while, so needs the data to be read out and written back.

 

CMOS static RAM has long been used as a non volatile store by keeping it powered with a small battery, and way back when, there were "non volatile" chips which had a small embedded battery..

 

"Proper" non volatile memory (as found in a USB thumb drive, or memory card, for example) uses a different technology to maintain the data.

 

EDIT : Tim beat me to it ;-)

[timsabre]

EDIT : Tim beat me to it ;-)

Your explanation was better though!

[DrV]

...

CMOS static RAM has long been used as a non volatile store by keeping it powered with a small battery, and way back when, there were "non volatile" chips which had a small embedded battery...

And Sirius 32k memory cards...

?

[sandall]

And Sirius 32k memory cards...?

Still got a couple (& a mostly-working Sirius) - I think they were about £65 each + VAT from RS (that's nearly £2500 / Mb !!).