Help! LEDs aren't working

I am running the auditorium at my local high school.  We have an ETC element board.  We use about 30 dimmers for standard lights (on/off) and we have about 15 LED lights.  The standard lights come out of a DMX1 and the LEDs are coming out of DMX2.  The LEDs are addressed at 100 then every 13 after that (i.e. 113, 126, 139) etc.  I programmed the board with the proper TYPE in the patching (Slimpar 12) and it uses the next 12 addresses.  The setup menu shows each universe starting at 1 (which shouldn't be a problem because the standard dimmers don't get as high as 100).  

The LEDs are completely unresponsive.  Some are flashing like in test mode, others are randomly strobing, some are just off.

I've done everything I know to try to get these LED lights to work and I'm at a loss.

 

Any suggestions would be awesome?

TIA!

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  • They are both set to start at 1 but I did try it with DMX2 starting at 513 and didn't have any different result. If I did 2/100, can I leave the LED fixture address at 100 or do I need to make that 613?

    The LEDs were all working with the current address settings and the board got reset somehow, so I don't think that's the issue.
  • You can leave the LED fixture at 100.
    If changing the DMX output doesn't work - I would try disabling RDM. Ive known it to cause some random issues with LED fixtures.
  • It sounds like something could be wrong with your DMX cabling. A great test would be to bring one fixture into the booth and plug it into DMX2. With a really short cable there isn't much that can go wrong, but pick a clean un-bashed up cable.

    You might also re-think the 'starting address' and triple check the fixture type and mode. Chauvet makes several SlimPar fixtures with 12 in their name and none use 13 addresses. Some do use 12. "Type" means make and model but "mode" is a setting with-in the fixture. If they don't both match you've got similar issues.

    You might also need a "terminator" as that's the way DMX is supposed to work. You can often get away without one, but anything else will cause extra trouble.

    FYI You can not set a fixture to 613, don't try. That just doesn't exist at the fixture end. That's what we mean by a Universe, nothing else exists. The console is smart enough to know it has 2 DMX outputs and can make them do different things. A DMX cable is one universe and can't be anything else.

  • davidpm said:
    They are both set to start at 1

    What are both set to start at one?

    You sounds like you have two DMX universes. Universe 2 would have no effect on Universe 1.

    Your house dimmers can have the same address as long as they are in different universes.

    Also, verify your patched address. If your LEDs are set for address 100, that would be Address 612 in your console.

    (Or 2/100 by Port)

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