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    csolomon
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ION Not Outputting DMX

Greetings all. I am a technical director at a fine arts center on Wingate University's campus here in Wingate, NC. Have been having problems with our ION not outputting any DMX signal.

Let me explain our setup the best that I can so that all details are out there. 

It consists of our Ion (now running the latest software that was updated while troubleshooting), 2 x Strand CD80SV dimmer racks connected over DMX, along with a few various Strand control panels throughout the theatre, all of which is, for the time being, are controlling conventional fixtures. Has been running great since I started here nearly a year ago, no issues until just recently. 

Decided to do some cable management around the console with no issues afterward. Lights ran well, tested and were working just fine. Came back the following week with no changes and now nothing is working as it should. Channel numbers are showing they're at full, but nothing is outputting. Faders on the wing can be up, no changes. 

Here's where things get really weird, the Strand control panels throughout the theatre, all still can get control over the lights and the presets that they're set with (some house light presets and a couple have some over stage presets) all work just fine. This is how I know that there's nothing wrong with the dimmers themselves and that they're still outputting power to fixtures. 

Any thoughts or ideas to run through before I give ETC a call directly? I've expended my knowledge on the backend of lighting troubleshooting (I'm an audio guy moreso than lighting). I've also tried the simple stuff such as changing out the cable to a different one to test. 

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

  • 0

    First things first (and don't ask my how I know that this can happen sometimes ;) ): the ion has two DMX outputs. Are you sure you're still plugged in the correct one?
    Next step would be to get a DMX tester and connect it to the output of your console to see if anything gets sent.
    In the console there are some settings that could interfer with DMX output, and answering this first will get us closer to the solution

  • 0 in reply to ueliriegg

    I like "divide and conquer" troubleshooting. That means take different segments by themselves.

    • Take a DMX light (LED or mover) straight to the board on a short cable. Set to address 1 does it turn on?
    • Patch the board to all dimmers, or at least one universe, can you get anything on? Move plugs as ueliriegg suggests and try again.
    • If you have another DMX source then you can try replacing the Ion. If there are splitters or such try bypassing them one leg of the system at a time.
    • We know the dimmer racks work, can the Strand panels turn on anything else?
  • 0 in reply to ueliriegg
    Still plugged into the correct one, yes. Have made sure of that. Nothing changed dimmer side. Only around the board and everything was plugged back into the correct place.

    Will have to look into a sniffer.

    Have tried to reset settings to as basic as possible to try and get back to stock, but nothing just yet.
  • 0 in reply to RickR
    Will give this a try in the morning when I get in. Our LEDs are not typically patched in, just conventionals.

    Board was patched to dimmers as they're setup and even 1 to 1. No changes there.

    No other boards to try out unfortunately :\

    I'll check our under booth patch to make sure as well that it's not being split anywhere. I know there's no hardware split going on anywhere that I know of.

    The Strand panels can turn on their presets which range from controlling house lights to a few overstage lights to our entire cove (depends on the preset).

    Will update this tomorrow morning as I take a further look in.
  • 0 in reply to csolomon
    Just to update everyone. Got everything tested and spent a short afternoon with it. Called Tech Support (wonderfully quick btw!) and they had me test and mirror the DMX 1 addresses to DMX 2 and it ended up being a bad DMX Port/Chip. (I would have tried that but couldn't figure out how to mirror the addresses.

    Thank you everyone for your help in this thread. It's appreciated!
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