performance/fixtures problems

hello again folks!

Here is the deal i have a rig that i am using which includes 10 mac2k prof., 6 xspots, and 35 lekos. it is for a hotel AV dept. I have been having issues with the movers and the ability to control them. What happens is that i power the rig up and the fixtures home alright but randomly as i lamp them on they will just drop off. I will have no control over themI first thought it was a cable issue so i switched out the dmx. i have the whole system properly terminated so i know that is not it. i have had problems with the console(hog 500) before but i tried clean starting it and also re-installed the software but to no avail.

Scott L.
:rtfm: :hogsign: :rtfm:
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  • 0
    Sounds like a bad DMX Cable to me,
    Do you have all those fixtures on the same DMX link?
    A bad cable can be very difficult to track down.
    Sometimes the only way to find it is to replace every cable one by one until you find the one that is bad..
    I have had a bad cable make 3 fixtures not work out of of 20, and it wasn't the just the last few lights, it was the 3rd fixture, and then the last 2..
    Unfortunately the cable that was bad was nowhere near the fixtures that were not working.
    To make matters worse, every time I unplugged any fixture, all the fixtures ahead of where I unplugged would start working fine.
    It was a impedence thing, the cable that was bad had a 1 signal wire loose, so it would work fine as long as there wasn't too many fixtures to cause the signal strength to drop.
    It took a few hours in a lift, but I eventually found the cable that had the bad wire.
    After that, I rarely put more than 10 fixtures on a single DMX run, and if I can I try not to put more than 5 or 6...
    Perhaps a bit of overkill, but DMX can work fine for hours, but as soon as doors open, the whole thing can go to hell..
    Of course your mileage may vary. Or I could be entirely off target... in any case Good luck!
    Joshua Wood
    Service Manager
    Ruehling Associates Inc.
Reply
  • 0
    Sounds like a bad DMX Cable to me,
    Do you have all those fixtures on the same DMX link?
    A bad cable can be very difficult to track down.
    Sometimes the only way to find it is to replace every cable one by one until you find the one that is bad..
    I have had a bad cable make 3 fixtures not work out of of 20, and it wasn't the just the last few lights, it was the 3rd fixture, and then the last 2..
    Unfortunately the cable that was bad was nowhere near the fixtures that were not working.
    To make matters worse, every time I unplugged any fixture, all the fixtures ahead of where I unplugged would start working fine.
    It was a impedence thing, the cable that was bad had a 1 signal wire loose, so it would work fine as long as there wasn't too many fixtures to cause the signal strength to drop.
    It took a few hours in a lift, but I eventually found the cable that had the bad wire.
    After that, I rarely put more than 10 fixtures on a single DMX run, and if I can I try not to put more than 5 or 6...
    Perhaps a bit of overkill, but DMX can work fine for hours, but as soon as doors open, the whole thing can go to hell..
    Of course your mileage may vary. Or I could be entirely off target... in any case Good luck!
    Joshua Wood
    Service Manager
    Ruehling Associates Inc.
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