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Strange channel flashing during sequence


progressivetek

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hankp123 wrote:

Same thing here, moving wires around did nothing, I also remade these sequences last year, lots of copy and pasting, But i went to the spot on the songs and made sure there were no timings in place, i even went as far as going to the channels that are flashing and made sure they were off by turning that area off,(even when it showed no timings) and it still does it, I'm thinking of pulling out all my beat channels in case it is crossing over some how.


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I did exactly the same thing and there were no events (even an old fade not completely erased) Here is whats new; I ran an old sequence that ran perfectly 3 years ago and the channel I have the most problems with is even worse. This channel is a common white with 18 trees and a large star so it is very prevalent. When fade-downs occur, it flashes on the way down like a noisy fade. I created a fade-down sequence with just that channel with 1/2 second, 1 second and 1 1/2 second fades looping. These fades all work perfectly.

Bob, is there a firmware update for the controllers I should be concerned about? I am using the same controllers (mounted on a board) and the same software revision I used last year without issues. I'll see if I can get some video tonight to send you (along with the sequences)

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the only thing i can see in the sequences is that there are a few spots that have been pasted with light commands without timmings, i dont think that should make a difference as i have done this to many songs

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the only thing i can see in the sequences is that there are a few spots that have been pasted with light commands without timmings, i dont think that should make a difference as i have done this to many songs

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the only thing i can see in the sequences is that there are a few spots that have been pasted with light commands without timmings, i dont think that should make a difference as i have done this to many songs

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the only thing i can see in the sequences is that there are a few spots that have been pasted with light commands without timmings, i dont think that should make a difference as i have done this to many songs

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jeffl wrote:

Are your 18 trees and star all LEDs?


That channel has some incandescants (9 tiny little trees), the rest are LED. I even tried unplugging the incandescants from the channel and it still flickers on fade downs. I have another channel on another controller that does the same thing.



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hankp123 wrote:

the only thing i can see in the sequences is that there are a few spots that have been pasted with light commands without timmings, i dont think that should make a difference as i have done this to many songs

I, too, thought this may be an issue until I went through the tips and tricks page and found the use of the chase button (this would have saved me many hours of sequencing had I known about it...) It will create an evenly spaced chase over a selected time period regardless of timing marks.
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thevikester wrote:

Interesting...so Incandescents also on there, but i am guessing, and correct me if I'm wrong, its the LED's that are coming on oddly? And not the incandescents?

Sorry, missed this one. Both the LEDs and incondescants are glitching on the fade downs. The glitches are extreme enough that even the filaments of the incondescants are able to react to the problem.
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Update to anyone interested...Whil videoing the errors last night I noticed that the music (I have speakers outside) was distorting and actually slowing down in certain areas. Checking at the PC I could hear the music distorting and pausing during playback. Re-booted the computer (Windows 7) and the fade glitches appear to be gone (only checked one song) The other channel glitches still happen. I will check closer tonight after I replace the desktop PC with the clean laptop I used two years ago...

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Disregard my last post!!! It's still there and seems more prevalent! The fade downs on my all white 18 tree channel are stuttering as the intensity decreases. I even tried a new laptop with clean OS and older LOR software and nothing has changed! My cat 5 cable is 24"+ from power cables.

One difference from my other house is that the FM transmitter antenna is directly behind my controller mounting board with three controllers on it. Are LOR controllers susceptible to RF radiation (25mw)??? I guess I'll try that next... AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

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I'm going crazy with this, it only does it when the lights on my mega tree have no job at the time, and i hard beat with lots of bass is kicking in, and only on two of my songs, I think i may have seen a flash on my newest one also. i'm going to recheck all all the power to make sure nothing is crossed lit a neturel, also on my mega tree has led and regular lights on it and they all flash,

Any one out there have a fix ?

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I think I have this exact same thing going on. I seem to have one errant channel on one specific controller during 2 specific sequences.

I have 3 shows....
a "pre-show" with just static lights at dusk
the "show" which loops for 4 hours
and a "post show" (aloows me to run statics later, with out giving the neighbors the "cop with lights flashing parked on the front lawn" feeling when it gets late.

so of the 3 shows, I have about 22 unique sequences.
only 2 sequences have this issue, and they are back to back during the main show. At the end of each sequence, this one errant channel turns off, and everything is normal again, until these 2 sequences come back up in the rotation. The other 20 sequences run as perfectly as my bad programming will allow them to do.

In one of these sequences - this one errant channel is not even used!! It should be "off" the entire time.

Since other sequences work fine, I don't think it is a cabling problem (enet nor power). It would seem to also mean that the controller is fine, but I am not the expert there. This issue also happens if the bad sequence is played thru sequence editor as well. One of the sequences is Frank Sinatra "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - fades, on solid, etc. No booms/flashes/rapid blinks going on here.

Bob - let me know if you want me to send you the sequence for review.

Thanks,
Noel

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I am having the same exact problem. I have a couple of channels in my arches that the same two sequences have random flashing, or sometimes just stuck on.

I've run the sequence in alone in the editor and during shows and it does the same thing. The channels are commanded off and they still come on.

Another thing to note is that they do this random flashing up UNTIL they are commanded to do something from the sequence, at which time, they, for the most part, act normally.

And I don't think its a power thing either because it only happens in a couple of sequences at the same time, with the same exact results EVERY time. I would think a power thing would be more intermittent.

I would be happy to send my sequences in as well to anyone that wants to have a gander.

-=CoasterBP

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I tried shutting off the FM transmitter thinking RF interference may be the cause and... of course...issues still there. I swapped physical channels (unit 3,9 with 3,10) and made appropriate changes to the channel property grid to see if it was channel specific (triac issue) but the flickering fades followed to the new channel.

So far, I have isolated:
Computer - Still happens with new computer
Software? - Still happens with older revision of LOR software and 3 year old sequence that used to work perfectly.
Controller? - Problems follow lights, not channel.
Lights? - No problems with lights when testing with a dedicated sequence. Also, issues only occur in certain places of certain sequences.

What's left?

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I have not sent any sequences to Bob since I haven't been able to analyze the timing of the errors to let him know where to look for issues inside the code. My skepticism of the problems being related to errors in the code stem from my testing the current light setup with an older version of LOR software and a 3 year old sequence that had no issues then, but does now...

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I just want to clarify:
1. You have LED's
2. You are getting wierd flickering

Do you have multiple controllers runing off from a T plug where the random issues are occuring. I had a similar problem with a frequency backfeeding from one box to the other and then trigering lights.

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