LOR1602W

[TonyW]

I have gotten my display going this year and have a large crowd showing up each night. Yep, I got it up late this year because I travel so much. Anyway, I am having a very annoying issue and have tried several different things and can't seem to fix it so I am going to ask any of you pros!
I noticed the first night that one of my 6 controllers locked up. All 16 channels would stay on. I can not shut them off using the Hardware utility. I have even shut my PC down and they still stay on. The only way they go off is to physically turn the unit off and back on. The LED says its fine and the Hardware utility sees it and will operate it with no problems up until it locks up. Once I use my sequences it Freezes up occasionally and getting more and more frequent each night. Its not always the same sequence, it is very random but did notice it is usually like it reached the peak point of a sequence when I use all 16 channels at once. Now tonight the 5th day of operating the show I have had to reset it 20 times and now they don't fade anymore either. This is killing my show!
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
HELP!!

[TonyW]

Something else I would like to add is, this year I upgraded to S3. That wouldn't be an issue would it? The other 3 LOR1602W work fine and I added 2 new this year. Its one of my original units from about 6 years ago.
Just thought I would add that to see if it helps anyone with ideas.

I thank you for any advise available!

[George Simmons]

Tony - do you by chance use Zara Radio?

[TonyW]

No, I sure don't.

[TonyW]

After reading some other topics about similar problems but not exactly the same have always turned out to be the Triac Board. I guess I will be ordering one and see if I can get it UPS NDA so I can get running again.
If anyone things I am on the wrong path please let me know.

Thanks.

[TonyW]

Ok, I was just on the Website and was going to try and order a new Triac for my LOR1602W and it appears I can only buy the DIY kit to get the correct board. Am I missing something or is that the only way I can get the correct board?

[Guest guest]

In order to possibly save yourself having to ship a board back when it is a fixable issue, worth trying a few things:

1. when you say a reset, have you done an actual reset, and not just power-cycled the controller?

An actual reset is where you power down, set unit ID dials to 00, power up, wait 30 seconds, power down, reset unit ID, power back up...?

If you haven't actually done that, i would do so, and test..it may very well clear your issue.

2. open the enclosure, do a visual inspection...all connections tight? ICs (especially the microprocessor chip-top center of the board) pushed in tight?

LOR can help you out with a board swap or repair, but I wouldn't throw in the towel on this one just yet.

[TonyW]

Thanks for the information Don. I will try this and see if it fixes the problem.

[Max-Paul]

You said a few things that got me thinking on a different track. I am thinking that you are having a voltage drop. If I heard you correctly. This lock-up happens when you have all 16 channels on at the same time, right? So, if this is right, are you using icans or LED lights on this controller? Is this controller on its own breaker or is this on a daisy chain of power leads, and this is the last one on the chain?

I am thinking that if the voltage drop is just right, not to much and yet just enough. That the voltage to the PIC (brain) might be just right to lock it up, but not low enough to create a self reset. then too, I might be all wet.

[TonyW]

good point Paul. This is on its own plug in but does share a breaker with another controller. It is a 60amp Breaker. This breaker does not have any LED running on it either, but it is the last one in the daisy chain. Today I reset it like Don suggested and will see if it locks any tonight. If it still locks then I will switch the unit ID and swap with another unit location.

I appreciate you guys help. I will let you know what finally fixes it.

PS: I forgot to mention that the last three nights it will mysteriously come on, sometimes full bright and sometimes twinkling. Getting stranger! lol.

[Max-Paul]

TonyW,

Ok,voltage drop is when it have a large current draw (but not more than the rated breaker value) on a long extension cord. Or a medium length cord with multiple loads that would cause the cord to get very warm, but not enough to cause melting. So instead of 110V at the fuses, you might see it as low as say 85 volts.
Lets hope that the rest does the trick. Interesting that they just pop on by themselves or shimmer. Interesting, very interesting.

[TonyW]

Hello, everyone! I started this topic last year and never got it resolved because I was rarely home to look at it. I instructed my wife and kids to go outside turn it off and back on then go with it.

Well guess what, I screwed up! I set it up this year and now the harware can not even find it. It worked about 2 days and no more. The LED Flashes and then when I open the Hardware utility it does see the PC and stays on solid Red. I checked all connections to make sure they are all tight, looked for any burned curciuts, checked fuses and nothing.

This is my unit 3 out of 6 units. All the other 5 units work great.

I took the unit apart and still see no visible signs of damage. The thing still looks brand new. It's the CTB16D V7 16 CHANNEL with large heatsinks.

Now here is another thing that I never mentioned last year. I got this unit in 2008 and of coarse was in a hurry to get the diplay working and found that it would not work on any unit ID lower than 44 (hmmm), which I thought was odd but didn't really care because it worked fine as unit 44 up until last year.

Does any of this sound fimilar or does anyone have any suggestions?

Hope you all are having a wonder season with the displays.

[TonyW]

It just got even more stranger! I reassembled and hooked it up by itself and rest the controller and the harware still could not find it. So I incresed the unit search up to 45 and it still wouldn't find it. It said 0 units found. So I then manually typed unit 3 in because I had it set to 3 and still nothing. I went farther and set kept S1 on 0 and set S2 to 4 and then did another refresh and still nothing. So then with out changing anything I manually typed 44 in and the lights came on. I then selected old unit 44 and changed ID to say 3 and it found it as 3 but I have to leave the search at 45 or it will not find it.

If I turn the power off it loses it all again. I have to then turn each unit off and search 44 again and then rename it as 3, then go around and turn all the other units back on and the whole show works then.

Any Ideas or has anyone seen this happen before.