24 channel desk locked up

[kgallen]

8 minutes ago, sunray said:

My apologies

No worries I was just being cheeky! 🙃
Yea flat batteries seem to cause all sorts of mayhem. Hope you get it behaving again!

[sunray]

3 minutes ago, kgallen said:

Ah so you didn't actually read the manual I posted 😁

Section 2.7, page 13 [2.7 Return to Default Settings (Factory Settings)]

That 1668 thing is enter Record Mode, 1423 is then the Factory Reset. Weird I know...

Guess it's academic though as your front panel is dead... Jim...

I glanced at it but I'm in faultfinding mode as opposed to programming so that's my blinkered fault🤬.

 

22 minutes ago, Kazeja said:

Hiya.

From what I can see, spec quotes 12-20v, 500mA. 

What does your DC adaptor claim to be?

Do you have the means to measure the voltage coming out of it (preferably whilst connected to the console)?

Do you have an alternative DC adaptor you could try?

 

K.

 

Currently waiting for my car to return for meter and soldering iron.

As it happens I have 3 desks here currently and PSU's have been swapped around so I can get lights focussed, 2 desks are working fine so I guess PSU's are OK

[ianknight]

8 hours ago, ianknight said:

It looks to be a clone of the original Botex Showmaster that shows up in various brands but started life as the Showtec Showmaster.

Have a look at the manual here Showtec Manual - page 13 shows how to do a factory reset from the front panel. If the FP is responding - worth a shot.

The firmware isn't likely to vary much - it's often copied along with the PCB's 😞

 

1 hour ago, kgallen said:

Sorry I might be right off script here!

These desks have a weird reset (that I never understood from the manual). This seems to be this sequence:

RECORD+1,6,8,8 then RECORD+1,4,2,3 then SHIFT+REC/EXIT

Does that help or have I missed the point completely!

@kgallenand there was me thinking I was going senile? 😉

[sunray]

7 hours ago, ianknight said:

 

@kgallenand there was me thinking I was going senile? 😉

A I mentioned I wasn't looking reprogramming and sorry I got at crossed pursose with you an Ian😒.

voltages are fine 15.3 and 4.96 after reg. Battery shows 3.57/3.61 on charge.

Removing battery allows most of the buttons to do something, basically the left section in 'nearly there' but the channel LEDs  are still lit and flickering. I don 't currently have any lights at home so can't see whats happening on the O/P.

Edited June 16, 2022 by sunray

[ianknight]

7 hours ago, sunray said:

Removing battery allows most of the buttons to do something, basically the left section in 'nearly there' but the channel LEDs  are still lit and flickering. I don 't currently have any lights at home so can't see whats happening on the O/P.

It sounds as though the processor itself might have died or isn't resetting properly 😞

It might be time to call it a day and propose replacement, the cost isn't going to be outrageous if you go "Like for like" (I would look to HighLite - they will likely have stock in Holland).

[sunray]

15 hours ago, ianknight said:

It sounds as though the processor itself might have died or isn't resetting properly 😞

It might be time to call it a day and propose replacement, the cost isn't going to be outrageous if you go "Like for like" (I would look to HighLite - they will likely have stock in Holland).

I've been playing again and it is outputting random data on all channels (according to 4ch dimmer packs) unless 'Dark' is pressed, the only other working function is 'Full On'. Sadly I agree it may be time for replacement. A quick discussion with interested parties seems to point to something like a 'Showtec Easyfade 36' to reduce the button count and difficulty of operation.

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by sunray
Of course we still don't know if this was locked up by the user.

[sunray]

On 6/14/2022 at 5:18 PM, Tomo said:

I'd guess that the SRAM is corrupted.

In the absence of an actual "hold this button during boot to clear the memory", you could try unplugging it, then removing the battery or shorting the supercap (via a resistor) for 20-30sec.

That would of course wipe absolutely everything - not that it matters if it won't run anymore!
Doesn't look like this has any way of saving a showfile, so hopefully all the important stuff is written down somewhere.

For reasons I'll not go into this has been addressed again.

It has been sitting untouched for 10 months without a backup battery and powering up it behaves very slightly differently.

Glancing at the manual:

 

Although the button is not marked as such

Whereas my Chauvet Stagedesigner 50 looks the same apart from that button is marked:

Opening both units they look identical and swapping chips around proved the 'fault' went with the SRAM chip. At that point I thought I'd cracked it, however I then tried the RESET (thanks Kg) function in my Chav desk and it worked, Placing the SRAM back in the Cobra the fault returned but the RESET did not. Tests showed flash buttons 2, 11 & 14 are faulty (button 2 required for RESET).

Replacing SRAM (S/H £5 guaranteed on Ebay) and 3 tactile buttons (10 for £2.30) and maybe 4 hours of  learning curve has it back is service. I will replace the backup battery (and those in my desks too while I'm at it).

 

Has anyone simply replaced the NiCd's with Ni-MH versions??

 

Thanks for the help from all.

[paulears]

Not sure what happened here - but the post sort of replicated itself multiple time - I've removed all the duplicates.

[sunray]

3 minutes ago, paulears said:

Not sure what happened here - but the post sort of replicated itself multiple time - I've removed all the duplicates.

Apologies, I clicked on submit several times as nothing seemed to be happening, ie the blue button didn't even change until the final time.

[DrV]

3 hours ago, sunray said:

Has anyone simply replaced the NiCd's with Ni-MH versions??

As a general rule you can replace NiCd with NiMh in low power situations like this.

[sunray]

5 hours ago, DrV said:

As a general rule you can replace NiCd with NiMh in low power situations like this.

Thanks,