Lights turn on at shutdown

Our house just got an Ion to replace the Obsession we've had for twenty years. 

When we power off the console, sometimes lights will come up on stage.  The lights that come on have nothing to do with the last cue that was run.  Going to Cue 0 doesn't seem to help.

The racks are Sensors that were installed with the Obsession.

Any ideas?

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  • hello,

    Many/most consoles create this for reasons well explained in the replies on this thread.

    Get into the idea of turning off dimmers over-night, it's a good idea for lots of reasons.

  • Yeah, no.  We'll just suck it up and deal with the DMX stuff.  We're not throwing 5 sets of 400A breakers for the 5 Sensor racks every day, killing the house lights for all other users of the space, the janitor, etc.  I only gripe because the Obsession 600 Did. Not. Do. This.

     

    The thread can end.

     

  • But I think this is a real issue...and I think it probably has a hardware solution (though it may be software.)  I believet it has to do with the DMX drivers not being disabled before being powered down, resulting is last minute crap being send down the DMX line.   It would be nice if the board in fact disabled the DMX drivers with all levels at 0 before fully powering down.  Maybe a few caps to hold the driver's power rails up a little longer than the enable line is active.

    The fact is, customer don't like this "feature."  The simple solution is to disable the held levels at the dimmer rack.  Of course, not all dimmers allow that.  And some customers believe they "need" to have a hold-last-look just incase.....Also, there are installations that don't have the service size to bump all loads on at once....which can happen at power down.

    So maybe we see a fix sometime soon?

    Thats my 2.5 cents worth....

     

  • I go back to what David North states in another thread.  DMX continuously streams information down the cable.  On power down all consoles stop this stream.  When the data stream is disrupted mid stream it can sometimes cause dirty data which in turn will drive DMX levels up.  Think of it like blocking a stream with a log.  There is going to be a splash.  Where that splash happens depends on when you shut down the desk.  Things to try:  Bring down the grand master, enable black out, or manually select all the channels to 0.  This way if there is a splash there is a good chance it is a value of 0. 

  • I had the same problem with the combination of Expression 2X and Lepricon touring racks, but didn't really think anything of it since we shut the racks down at night.

    Perhaps there could be some kind of 'hold last look' momentary override.  That way when you shut down, if you get a dirty packet, the lights would flash for a moment but not stay on, and you'd still have the safety net if DMX goes out durring a show.  That would be a pretty nifty thing for Unison, or the like, to be able to do.

  • I don't believe the dirtiness (I know I'm making someone grone...) of the DMX is in its content (i.e.the data is garbage), but rather it is in the electrical. Specifically, the rs485 driver loosing supply power while still sending data.  If the chip was disabled before power down, I would think that should stop the electrical dirtiness.

    Now, as this applies to ION, i have no idea.  I do know that ION sends DMX when ever it is powered up...even when ION isn't running.

    so now I'm up to 5 cents

    Is this really a harder to solve problem than I thinking?

  • brucek said:

    Is this really a harder to solve problem than I thinking?

    Could be.  If the problem is that the rs485 driver is sending data up until the power is cut, what difference does it make at what point in the shutdown you power down the driver?  Wouldn't it still be chopping the power off in the middle of the datastream?  Also, how do you deploy a hardware fix to all of the systems already out there?

    I've had this problem with several consoles.  It's not just an Ion problem, it's a DMX problem

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  • brucek said:

    Is this really a harder to solve problem than I thinking?

    Could be.  If the problem is that the rs485 driver is sending data up until the power is cut, what difference does it make at what point in the shutdown you power down the driver?  Wouldn't it still be chopping the power off in the middle of the datastream?  Also, how do you deploy a hardware fix to all of the systems already out there?

    I've had this problem with several consoles.  It's not just an Ion problem, it's a DMX problem

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