Gen3 Firmware Update

[dqhall]

Has there been any mention if the new Gen3 firmware been released yet? This is the firmware needed for preGen3 boards such as the CTB16D or CTB16PC that can take advangtage of the S3 LED dimming curves.

[-klb-]

I have not seen any yet.

[JBullard]

Not released yet

[dqhall]

Do we know if it will be released before Thanksgiving?

[JBullard]

dqhall wrote:

Do we know if it will be released before Thanksgiving?

It will be released when it is ready.

[trankin79]

http://www.lightorama.com/Firmware.html - so the newest firmware (Oct. 2011) listed here is only for the G3 controllers or will it work on the earlier models?

[Guest guest]

As written, would appear it is the G3 controller firmware only for use with a G3 controller.

You'll note the model number mentioned is different, and an emphasis on "Generation 3"

I would expect G3 feature firmware for a G2 controller is a somewhat different firmware load from what is being used in the G3s, but that is purely conjecture, nothing based on new information from LOR.

[hirsch014]

You should be able to use the newest G3 firmware in older boards. I havent personally tried it yet, but in a response from the help desk, they said:

"The latest G3 firmware will work on older boards"

FYI, theres also a recent update to the software.

Thinking about updating the firmware... mid-season makes me nervous, but I'm trying to fix a flicker I get on incandescent strings while doing a slow fade.

[-klb-]

hirsch014 wrote:

You should be able to use the newest G3 firmware in older boards. I havent personally tried it yet, but in a response from the help desk, they said:

"The latest G3 firmware will work on older boards"

FYI, theres also a recent update to the software.

Thinking about updating the firmware... mid-season makes me nervous, but I'm trying to fix a flicker I get on incandescent strings while doing a slow fade.

That is the absolute first I have heard of such a thing about the firmware here.

Plus V1 & V2 PC controllers don't accept the same firmware as each other, due to differences in how the micro controller pinouts are mapped to hardware function.

I know there have been plans for gen 3 firmware for gen 2 hardware, and S3 works the same with Gen2 or 3 firmware. But new firmware features like custom dimming curves only work with the new firmware.

[hirsch014]

now that the season is over, i wanted to try updating the firmware as an attempt to fix a flicker during fade. i asked the help desk about the gen3 firmware working on the gen2 (or is actually called v2?) controller a while back, and their response was in my post above (saying it would work). because of everyone else seeming to say otherwise, i just asked again today to confirm. He did.

so i went to do it, and it gave me the error "Load Failed: Not correct firmware for controller".

So, no it doesnt work, even though the help desk thinks it should. Thankfully it refused to load the firmware instead of bricking the thing. I guess my lights will just flicker next year too. ugh!

[-klb-]

Hopefully the gen 3 firmware will eventually come out for gen2 controllers. But, why do you think it will fix your flicker issue?

[hirsch014]

-klb- wrote:

Hopefully the gen 3 firmware will eventually come out for gen2 controllers. But, why do you think it will fix your flicker issue?

I have a pretty simple set-up and everything was new or used 1 season. Everything that was used 1 season had no issues before. This season, a simple 2-second fade from one color to another caused the two colors to flicker only during the fade (they're incandescent btw). the suggestion for how to fix it was to reset the board and try a firmware update. Its already running 4.40, so wanted to see if i could get something newer. I couldnt find any physical problem anywhere and all my sequences worked fine all season except for this single-instance flicker thing. I mostly left it alone for the season for fear of screwing something up mid-season. Was going to try the update before I packed the controllers away for the year.

In case you might have another suggestion, heres a little about my setup:

2 controllers. one i used last year. this year i added the second. on each, there were incandescents on 1-8 and leds on 9-16 (leds i used last year with no problem). on the first controller, among 1-8 was one rgb and the r of another rgb. i had no issues with any of those. on the second controller, 1-8, i had the gb of that split rgb, as well as two more rgb's. the flicker i got was only from the rgb's on the second controller. i only noticed it when, for example, just the greens would be on, then they'd slowly fade to reds, both colors would flicker only while they were fading. i used it all season like that and didnt notice any other issues in any other sequences, although i didnt do slow fades like that anywhere else. i had a 100' network link between the two controllers, which was a new cable too. the first controller was inside, the second out in the cold, but well protected. and call me crazy, but i swear the flicker was worse earlier in the evening than later. i made the sequences using i think 2.9.4 software, and mid-season upgraded to 3.1.4 hoping it might help, which it didnt. I'm just baffled.

[-klb-]

hirsch014 wrote:

-klb- wrote:

Hopefully the gen 3 firmware will eventually come out for gen2 controllers. But, why do you think it will fix your flicker issue?

I have a pretty simple set-up and everything was new or used 1 season. Everything that was used 1 season had no issues before. This season, a simple 2-second fade from one color to another caused the two colors to flicker only during the fade (they're incandescent btw). the suggestion for how to fix it was to reset the board and try a firmware update. Its already running 4.40, so wanted to see if i could get something newer. I couldnt find any physical problem anywhere and all my sequences worked fine all season except for this single-instance flicker thing. I mostly left it alone for the season for fear of screwing something up mid-season. Was going to try the update before I packed the controllers away for the year.

In case you might have another suggestion, heres a little about my setup:

2 controllers. one i used last year. this year i added the second. on each, there were incandescents on 1-8 and leds on 9-16 (leds i used last year with no problem). on the first controller, among 1-8 was one rgb and the r of another rgb. i had no issues with any of those. on the second controller, 1-8, i had the gb of that split rgb, as well as two more rgb's. the flicker i got was only from the rgb's on the second controller. i only noticed it when, for example, just the greens would be on, then they'd slowly fade to reds, both colors would flicker only while they were fading. i used it all season like that and didnt notice any other issues in any other sequences, although i didnt do slow fades like that anywhere else. i had a 100' network link between the two controllers, which was a new cable too. the first controller was inside, the second out in the cold, but well protected. and call me crazy, but i swear the flicker was worse earlier in the evening than later. i made the sequences using i think 2.9.4 software, and mid-season upgraded to 3.1.4 hoping it might help, which it didnt. I'm just baffled.

1) Did you run the LOR verifier on the show PC? With the sequence in a show that is in turn in the schedule?

2) is it possible that some of your LED strings are being faded and flickering at the same time as well? If the LED flicker issue gets going, it will likely affect all channels on the controller, no matter if they are LED, or incandescent. The reason is that the LED flicker happens because the extra voltage not being drained on those strings messes up zero crossing detection, and the triacs get fired at the wrong times.

[hirsch014]

1 - yes, verifier found no issues
2 - you lost me on the zero crossing thing, but all the leds are steady on, and dont flicker, while the fading/flickering on the incandescent colors happens. this is just a looping "between show" sequence where most things are just held on, but the colors occasionally switch.

[cmoore60]

One input cord or 2? If one input there is a possibility that what is happening on 9-16 could be causing noise in the 1-8 side.

Why not try the sequence now, with the display down...on just that controller with just 1-8 doing anything. Does the flicker still occur. Also, you can always push the same version of firmware that is on the controller. On the outside chance something did not load correctly originally.

Chuck

[-klb-]

hirsch014 wrote:

1 - yes, verifier found no issues
2 - you lost me on the zero crossing thing, but all the leds are steady on, and dont flicker, while the fading/flickering on the incandescent colors happens. this is just a looping "between show" sequence where most things are just held on, but the colors occasionally switch.

Musical sequence, or animation sequence?

One track, or more than one track?

If animation, and more than one track, there are two possibilities..

The most likely one, is that the software does not force all tracks of an animation sequence to be the same length. If you have your channels in multiple tracks, of the same length, they will wind up getting out of sync, and sending the same commands at out of state times... And, I do not believe the LOR verifier catches this...

The other one, that I am not sure how it behaves, is multiple tracks, all the same length, do all tracks have the same looping structure? Not something I've looked at to be sure if it can get messed up that way, or not..

In either case, if you have multiple tracks in it, it may help to flatten back to just one. Also, it may be good to set up a visualizer for at least the channels in question. I'm pretty sure you will find that the visualizer will show the same thing.

[hirsch014]

chuck, 2 cords, although they go to the same outlet. i just set up the controller next to my computer with just a window candle on each output and I can't get it to flicker. But the lights/loads are different and i have it directly connected instead of through the other controller, so maybe the leds, even though they werent doing anything but being on, were a problem? although, the other controller was similarly set-up and didnt have an issue.

klb, animation sequence, one track, one loop that loops many times to keep the 2 minute sequence playing for a couple hours/until the next scheduled show. i've never done the visualizer, just the animation, which was fine. but now i have it inside and its not flickering, so maybe not the sequence that caused it? so the only differences between how it was set up when flickering and now i think are:

-its directly connected from computer to the second controller, instead of through the first

-the lights/loads are different on the outputs (no leds right now, and even loads across all channels)

-its inside and not being supplied through 100' extension cords

the leds i had on channels 9-16 were very light loads too, about 4 watts per channel, while 1-8 were about 120 watts each. i'll be replacing (hopefully) the incandescent rgb colors with led next year anyway, and (also hopefully) adding another controller. "just a little more" is what i seem to be saying each year.