Fixture personallity needed

Dear Price,

Not having the actual Elation fixture here to play with, what kinds of problems are you running into?

The fixture cut sheet had a good channel by channel description of the control channels, which may be helpful.

(available here: http://www.elationlighting.com/ProductDetails.aspx?Category=&ItemNumber=1667 I downloaded the PDF cut sheet) 

You can also call ETC tech support at 1-800-688-4116, and talk to a tech live.

Betsy

I am having trouble with some of the DMX channels when I try to build a personality myself.  IE: The dimmer channel  (Ch 10) won't turn the light on (even before I assign it to a channel on the console.  Also, I can not find the "home values" for the fixtures... I can figure out some (gobo, focus etc), but I would prefer to just have the actual value. 

Gonna try to make one again in a few... ugh... wish I could just get a pre-made personality.

Here are a few things you can try for the personality issues:

According to the cut sheet for the fixture there are two modes for the E Spot LED, Standard (14 channel) and Basic (12 channel). The fixture defaults to the Standard mode which has 14 control channels. Unless you have changed the mode of the fixture to Basic, your personality should account for 14 channels. Assuming we are using the Standard mode the channels should control:

1 0 - 255 Pan movement

2 0 - 255 Pan fine

3 0 - 255 Tilt movement

4 0 - 255 Tilt fine movement

5 0 - 255 Color wheel

6 0 - 255 Rotating gobos, continuous rotation

7 0 - 255 Rotating gobo index, & rotating gobo rotation

8 0 - 255 Rotating prism, prism/gobo macros

9 0 - 255 Rotating prism index, & rotating prism rotation

10 0 - 255 Focus

11 0 - 255 Shutter, strobe

12 0 - 255 Dimmer 0-100%

13 0 - 255 Speed pan/tilt movement

14 0 - 255 Reset, internal programs.

The E Spot LED DMX traits pdf (available here: http://www.elationlighting.com/ProductDetails.aspx?Category=&ItemNumber=1667 ) has a specific breakdown of what dmx value corresponds to what action for each control channel. Page 38 of the fixture's user manual has a visual table of what is being described in text in the DMX traits document. (manual is also available from the link above) In deciphering the home values, these documents could be helpful.

Troubleshooting the dimmer channel : Assuming you are in standard 14 channel mode, channel 12 should be the dimming channel (corresponding to intesity on the SFML). But this light also has a shutter strobe; and according to the DMX traits document the shutter(channel 11) needs to be at DMX value 32-63,or 96-127, or 160-191, or 224-255 in order to be open. Meaning that channel 11 has to be at about 13%, 40%, 69% or full in order for you to see any action on the dimming channel 12. This would also mean that in the personality channel 11 needs to home at value in one of these ranges: 32-63,or 96-127, or 160-191, or 224-255 .

If you are running in Basic 12 channel mode the same would be true for the shutter function except the dimmer would be on channel 10 and the shutter strobe would be controlled by channel 9. Same as above, Channel 9 would have to be at about 13%, 40%, 69% or Full in order for you to see any action on the dimming channel 10.

A bit about other control channels when making your personality: the "Rotating Prism" and "Prism Index" can correspond to GOBO 2 on [Param 1] on the SFML. The Gobos and Prism function similarly. The "Speed pan/tilt movement" and "Reset, internal Programs" control channels (13 and 14 in Standard Mode; 11 and 12 in Basic mode) can correspond to User Attributes in [Param 2] on the SFML.

I hope this helps,

Betsy

Betsy,

That helped greatly, thanks!!!  Yeah, it was the strode/shutter channel that needed to be @30% (open).

Now I am having trouble with the focus.  I have tried a variety of "home" values (0, 127, 255 etc), but the fader only gives me a range of about 10% of the focus ability that the fixture has.  Any idea on how to fix this?

Thanks again for all the help!!  I was about to put my head through the wall!! :>)

What parameter are you using on the SFML to correspond to the focus control channel on the E Spot LED fixture? You may want to try corresponding this control channel to each of the "Beam" Parameters in [Param 1]' for example Zoom or Edge, to see if it improves control.

Keeping in mind however that according to the cut sheet the fixture has a fixed beam spread of 15 degrees. For this fixture the Focus control channel will control the sharpness or blurriness (is that a word?) of a GOBO or edge of the beam. Some moving lights offer a variable beam spread (for example from 15 - 30 degrees) but that does not appear to be a feature of the E Spot LED.

Betsy

Yes, I have tried putting it on edge and zoom (even tried on iris), but getting the same results.  And, yes, I am trying to assign the beam "focus" (used to get rid of the gobo bluriness).  Seems like anywhere I set the "home" value has the same problem... when I bring the fader up to focus the gobo, it sounds like the focus is trying to run out, but its already a "full" and trying to go beyond the fixture's capability (can hear the gears knocking and see the beam stuttering).  This fixture does has a fix beam angle, but I just cant get this focus to work.

Also,  why do I have to set my shutter/strobe channel at "open" percentage to get the intensity to work... even after setting the "home" value when I built the personality?  Shouldn't that end up being the "zero percentage" when programming?  Kind of annoying to have to keep the shutter/strobe channel up all the time.

The noises you are describing when adjusting the focus make me think there may be something wrong with the fixture, instead of the control.

Setting a value to home is not exactly like setting the Parameters to a "Zero Percentage." Rather, Home is a term used to describe what the fixture should default to. For example, in a User created Personality a user could set the Tilt control channel home DMX value so that the fixture is pointed straight down; meaning that the Tilt channel has a home DMX value of about 127 (depending on the fixture). 

If the shutter personality is set to home at ~30% then when setting the devices to Home you should be able to bring up the intensity fader and see the fixture dim on. By "Home-ing" the fixtures you have asked them to return to the defaults set in the device personality.

To Home a fixture in key strokes:

[Device Select] [E Spot LED's device #(s)] [Home][Home]  This sets all the Parameters of the fixture(s) to their Home DMX values.

You can also Home a specific parameter by pressing one of the "Palettes/Parameters" next to [Home].

For Example: [Device Select] [E Spot LED's device #(s)] [Home][Focus] will home only the Focus Parameters, Pan and Tilt. In your case, with [Param 1] selected pressing [Device Select] [E Spot LED's device #(s)] [Home] ["Strobe/Shutter" Parameter button (#10) ] will Home just the Strobe shutter function. For a more in-depth description, page 48 of the SFML manual describes the Home function (found here: http://www.etcconnect.com/product.downloads.aspx?ID=20338 )

After setting the E Spot LED to home, the intensity fader should just fade up the light without having to adjust the Strobe/Shutter to an "open" percentage.

So, after I repatched my fixture, the shutter home and intensity fell into line and are working fine.

I def understand the home values.  I was just having trouble figuring out where to set the gobo focus parameter home... seems to be ok now, funny enough... home set to zero.  It's still not perfect, but i can focus my gobos at least.  Still hoping for a personality to come from ETC.

Thank you sooooo much for your help Betsy, couldn't have done it without you!!

So, after I repatched my fixture, the shutter home and intensity fell into line and are working fine.

I def understand the home values.  I was just having trouble figuring out where to set the gobo focus parameter home... seems to be ok now, funny enough... home set to zero.  It's still not perfect, but i can focus my gobos at least.  Still hoping for a personality to come from ETC.

Thank you sooooo much for your help Betsy, couldn't have done it without you!!