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    Justin Hullinger
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ETC R20 Flicker

Hello All

I just installed two R20 modules, one in each of two 72 channel sensor plus portable racks. The relays were fine for the first few hours but they have begun "flickering," rapidly switching on and off. About 30 times per second. Its not consistent, it happens every few minutes for a fews seconds. Sometimes more then others. It appears to happen less when the DMX value sent to them is 90%. There is no change in the behavior when I remove the DMX feed to the racks. It is LED pars and LED moving heads on the circuits. They are not overloaded. I have installed this type of fixture on R20s before with no problem. I swapped out the modules and got the same behavior. The racks are pretty caked in dust. Thoughts?

  • 1. Clean off the racks! Dust acts as a blanket and can cause overheating. A fast blowout with a can of air can do wonders, but a more thorough cleaning may be in order. (power down and pull modules...)

    2. Call tech support. I can't imagine a normal, non-DMX(sACN) reason for that kind of action. I foresee a processor repair for you.
  • 1. As Rick said, definitely worth cleaning the racks. Obviously shut off the power and clean the racks as detailed in the manual.

    2. If you are comfortable with electrical troubleshooting, there is something that can cause this behaviour which is a missing neutral to the signal distribution card. If you are not comfortable or experienced working in electrical systems, contact your nearest ETC dealer for a service call. If you are, check the connection between the neutral bus in the rack and the lower pin on the signal distribution PCB on the right side of the rack. If there is a missing or intermittent neutral connection, that can cause relay chatter. The neutral is run with a blue or white wire from the PCB to the neutral block in the rack, check that it is correctly connected on both ends.
  • Hi Justin - did you get this solved? What was the issue and solution?
  • This eventually got solved. It wasn't the neutral sensing wire as ETC initially thought. They ended up sending me a fresh batch of R20 modules. That party solved the problem but certain things could still provoke the flicker. After that they sent me another batch. This one was a Rev D version which was hot off the factory floor at the time. They worked perfectly. Very appreciative of ETC for going the extra mile to get this worked out. Thats why I love specing their products, best customer service around.
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