EOS and AutoYoke and Fan Control

Hi Tim,

You've probably got a couple of options here.

1) You could as you suggest edit the fixture and expose these controls as a parameter rather than lamp control. Generally however that timed step is actually necessary for the command to take effect on the unit, so you'd have to be pretty clever with your cueing to make it work.

2) The better option! Create a few macros each of which change the fan to a different setting. You can then execute these from a particular cue when you want the change to take effect.

Dan

How would I do #1?  And if I could take the fan control out of lamp controls, this would make it super easy to write into cues, not harder...

I don't understand your #2 at all.  The problem with the lamp controls is that they don't stay in effect.  Yeah I could easily write a macro to trigger the Fan Off command, but it only lasts for a split second and then the fan comes back on.  That's not helpful.  I need to be able to leave the control channel at a certain level until otherwise cued.

Thanks,

-Tim

Hi Tim,

That doesn't sound right to me. That Fan Off command should tell the fan to stay off, that's why it's a lamp control rather than a parameter. If it's not doing that, it sounds like you don't have the right fixture from the library?! It's the same as the strike attribute of and arc light, the trigger is only held for a certain amount of time but the lamp doesn't douse when it ceases, that's a different trigger.

As far as #1 goes, If you copy the fixture, remove the lamp controls and then put a parameter in with ranges for each of the fan controls to match those in the lamp controls that may work for you, but I'd check out the fixture first!

Hope that's some kind of help!

Dan

I am thinking the fan control is more of a toggle state than a momentary command like a lamp strike.  When using a scroller fan channel in any normal capacity you must leave the fan channel at 08% for it to be off, not just turn it to 08% for three seconds and then let it go back to 00%.  Perhaps the AutoYoke has somehow overcome this and made it a momentary command.  I will have to investigate this further.  The biggest problem is that I can't really tell when the fans are on or not in the air, so I'm not sure if what I am doing at the console is working.  I made the assumption it would act like the normal fan channel, but you are probably right.

As far as #1, I don't want to remove the rest of the lamp controls, so that is why I was wondering how I could do it!  How to split one DMX channel over multiple parameters.  I think that is possible?

Thanks,

-Tim

EDIT: I was correct, the Fan Off command from lamp controls does only last 3 seconds and then the fan comes back on.  You can change that time by editing the library, but that still doesn't help you write on/offs into shows.

The AutoYoke is unique in that it is the only fixture I've ever used that requires the control channel to stay at a specific level. Really, it's not the AutoYoke, it's the scroller that requires that constant level. (On a typical wybron scroller, the fan channel needs to be at 08% to keep the fan off).

As such, this doesn't fit into the Lamp Controls paradigm on the Eos.

Tim, you have a couple of choices:

1) As Dan suggests, you could create a new profile exposing the control channel, allowing you to cue in the Fan Off level, but removing the lamp controls feature, making resets more difficult *and* increasing the possibility of sending the wrong level to the control channel (personally, I would't recommend this option).

2) Write macros to park/unpark the Address at the appropriate level. These macros can be triggered by cues to turn the fan off at the appropriate times during your show. I've done this before, and although it takes a little while to set up, once you've done so, it works fairly well. Just remember to unpark the address before you try and send a reset command.

Hope that helps. 

-M

I don't really understand what is going on here, I always thought the options on the Control channel for this fixture were just for initial setup rather than anything you'd do in a show.

The AutoYoke personality templates don't include the scroller (or the dimmer either).
You patch those as separate Parts using the type of scroller or dimmer fitted (eg Wybron Coloram II Scroller Fan Enabled).

I just did that in Eos 1.9.11 and the Scroller Fan Speed is on the Color encoder page in the usual position.

How do you have this fixture patched, and could you perhaps attach a show file?

So Marc's plan to park the control channel address at 55% is the only usable workaround I have been able to come across/think up.  It is messy, but usable.  

I've also tried editing the personality to make the lamp control that turns the fan off a Hold time instead of 3 seconds.  This works, but there are 2 problems: you then have to undo that before you can do anything else with the control channel (much like the parking workaround), and also that this is not writable into cues without even messier macros and is thus even less desirable.

To Richard, the fault here lies with City Theatrical, in how they implemented the fan control in their product.  You are correct that control channel functions are usually for initial setup and resets and such, but in this instance it is not, hence the problem.  With the Wybron scrollers, fan control is set at the RAM PSU.  There is no RAM PSU when using an AutoYoke.  The ETC library for a Wybron Coloram II Scroller Fan Enabled assumes you are using the Fan Block function of the PSU to assign the fan control to the DMX channel immediately following the scroll channel.  There is no such option with an AutoYoke.  The DMX channel immediately following the scroll is not fan control.

Thanks!

-Tim

I don't have a console or a Coloram II at hand. But page 36 of the current AutoYoke Manual says that you set the Control channel to 55% for two seconds to stop a Coloram II fan. Can anyone report specifically that this Manual statement is wrong? I mean with a Macro, not with EOS lamp control function.  (45% normal speed, 35% slow speed) All I can glean from this thread so far is that 08% definitely doesn't work as it would with regular Wybron power supply.

If the manual is correct, then you don't lose the other uses of the control channel.

Yes, the manual is correct.  No one is saying that it is wrong.  The problem lies with the fact that the control channel is only accessible through the lamp controls on a EOS (with the default library).  Secondly, the fan is only off as long as the control channel is set to 55%, just like under normal circumstances the fan is only off as long as you set the fan channel to 08%.  When using lamp controls to turn the fan off, it only turn the control channel to 55% for 3 seconds, and then goes back to 00% (because that is how control channel functions normally function).  So, in order to keep the fan off for a controlled time period, you have to park the actual address (the 7th address of the fixture if using 16bit pan/tilt) at 55%.  So long as the control channel is parked at 55% you can't do anything else with that channel, e.g. fixture resets.

I've learned quite a bit during this process, namely, how to "use" the fan control on an AutoYoke, but also, more importantly, never use AutoYokes.  Haha.  They are loud.  They are incredibly slow.  And very not user friendly.  I never thought I'd say this, but the ETC Revolutions I have on this show are a joy to work with!  Comparably. ;-)  Too bad they are huge and unsightly... 

Thanks to Marc for his helpful input.

-Tim