ColorSource PAR for no reason Flashes RED.

Hi Jeff, I have seen this happen in the past.  My situation was that a Preset was playing on the fixture "in the background".  When DMX is present, DMX controls the fixture, but when DMX goes away for some reason, it falls back to the Preset.

So, I suggest that you check to see if a Preset is playing on those fixtures, and if so, turn it off.  That way, the behavior when DMX is lost is just to Hold Last Look, which will match the DMX levels that had been coming in.

Our School PAC is just 3 years old & I've been learning the ETC EOS ION Lighting Console for about 7 weeks now. I've taken this issue up since our Director is in the final week of prep for their Fall school Play this weekend.

How would I check to see if a Preset is playing as you suggest? If its just opening the "Presets" tab & looking at what there is. There is nothing showing in the "Presets" tab

The Red flash can happen several times during the performance. 

I apologize, I'm thinking about a built-in behavior on the light itself, not something the Ion is doing.

It sounds like this issue: ColorSource Par is flashing briefly when DMX is present - Electronic Theatre Controls Inc

If you have physical access to one of the lights that is doing this flash, get to where you can see its 7-segment display (typically showing its DMX address in form like 001 or 432).  If you remove the DMX input to that fixture, see if it turns to the red color you noticed, then look for something like P:03 on the display, which indicates it's playing Preset 3 when it loses DMX. 

If that is what is happening, you can press the Mode button once to stop it playing the Preset when DMX is lost.

According to that support article, this is a bug from at least v1.4.0, but is fixed in current software 1.7.2.  The software version is shown on the display when the fixture is booted up (power is applied).

How would you update the software if its still v1.4? Ok, This gives me something to look into. These Pars were installed sometime the first half of 2018 & the Document you reference to says a fix rolled out in Dec 2018. 

ETC fixtures (and other ETC stuff) is often updated via a software program called UpdaterAtor.  Your Ion console may already have UpdaterAtor installed, or you may have to add it. 

From there, the instructions depend on how your Ion is connected to the fixtures - whether they are connected directly to the back of your Ion through DMX cable, or if they're over a network to some ETC DMX/RDM Gateways.

If you'd prefer, it may be faster to give your local ETC Technical Services a call and walk through the process with someone over the phone:  Technical Support (In the Americas, 800-688-4116)

Otherwise, you're welcome to email me directly at mattp (at) etcconnect.com to go through the particulars for your system.

ETC fixtures (and other ETC stuff) is often updated via a software program called UpdaterAtor.  Your Ion console may already have UpdaterAtor installed, or you may have to add it. 

From there, the instructions depend on how your Ion is connected to the fixtures - whether they are connected directly to the back of your Ion through DMX cable, or if they're over a network to some ETC DMX/RDM Gateways.

If you'd prefer, it may be faster to give your local ETC Technical Services a call and walk through the process with someone over the phone:  Technical Support (In the Americas, 800-688-4116)

Otherwise, you're welcome to email me directly at mattp (at) etcconnect.com to go through the particulars for your system.