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Strange Happenings Tonight


Mark J. M.

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Well, after running fine for three weeks we had wind and rain storms come through and they knocked over my mega tree, Mud was everywhere due to the weather. Took a week to clean out the plugs and test out the controllers even though the controllers did not get wet. All worked fine. I have a mix of gen2 and gen 3 controllers, running LOR 3.8.2. Tonight things are not going well. When my mega tree is supposed to be doing its thing only a few channels of the forty eight are working. The channels that work change for a different song and the same ones are not on when the song is repeated. I had tested and reset all the controllers and changed the CAT5 cables from working controllers. Any suggestions? I have never had this happen. It seems strange since I tested them prior to setting them back up.

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Your problem sounds very similar to what I have been through several times this year now. Here's how I problem solve.

1) check the last box in the chain of controllers (physically look at the box) and see if LED status light is solid - I have all Gen2 controllers so if it is solid I know my Cat5 and power are all structurally good. If blinking, I start working backwards looking at the controllers until I find the last in the chain that is solid red. That narrows down the location of a bad controller, or bad power, or bad Cat5.

2) Water/moisture. The randomness of your problem is exactly what I see when water has gotten into one of my controllers, or one of my connections. I have found the "problem spot" to be either at the controller with the most randomness of lights, or 1-3 controllers before, or 1-3 controllers after. Once it was a actually a cat5/connector that had become frozen in a puddle, but usually it is condensation that disrupts any number of my connections.

I know that you tested the Cat5 and have reset the controllers, so perhaps the water/moisture thing is not your cause. However your description is exactly what happens to my display with even a drop of water or a nick in my Cat5 - so would suggest you double check. You might be able to isolate the bad box via hardware control panel too and then focus your problem solving there. It sucks because even though you are seeing the probs on your mega tree, the actual cause could be a box/cat5 before or after your tree too.

Good luck!

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