Spectacular Lighting Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 hi guys,has anyone else had issues this year with lots of triacs latching to 50% or 100%, just wondering,over 3 different sites (100 miles between them) with 4 controllers on each site, i have had on average 10 triacs on each site fail.i know it isnt a voltage issue as i have surge suppressors fitted, i know it isnt the lights as i am using high end commercial LEDs and have been doing so for over 2 years, all the boxes are approx 2 years old and ran fine last year on all sites.just dont like the idea of having to solder on approx 30 new triacs .any one else with a similar problem??ps i am in the UK so my voltage is 240V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Could it be caused by the rain when running a show? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kckomer2 Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I have had the same - I have had triacs go bad on 7 different controllers, purchasedover the past 3 years. . . . very frustrating. Was starting to wonder if I was doing something wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhammond1 Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 This year, first year in 6 years, I have channels that are on, even though no show is active. I even have the computer disconnected. I'm hoping it's just because the weather is around 10 degree's right now... The channels respond to commands appropriately during the show, but when the shows off, they are still lit. Only some..... And, it's not consistent. Last night it was a blow mold, this morning a deer, and about an hour ago some tree lighting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santas Helper Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 I unplug all the controllers and replug them back in when something wierd happens and sometimes that helps the hicups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhammond1 Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 i shut off the breaker at the panel. still happens... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Messer Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 I have several controller that have the channel burning at 50% and less. Some older controllers and some new G3's. My plan at this time is to remove the boards and send them in for repair or testing. Last year show I never had a issue but this year at least 7 channels and on different boxes.Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) I wonder if the triacs are the issues that everyone is having and not the optocouplers. They are triac based as well, but could be the issue.. Anyone investigate that possibly?Triacs are usually pretty robust creatures if designed in correctly. There are only a few things that will kill them from the outside...Exceeding the dv/dt or di/dt rating.Exceeding the Voltage or current rating.HeatExcessive gate voltages.from the inside, a bad batch from the manufacturer is another story.. Edited January 1, 2013 by plasmadrive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I think I may have one going. Haven't heard back from the help desk yet, too soon. Channel 15 is on at approx. 50% all the time , even when my show PC isn't powered up. Goes to full power when a sequence tells it to but goes back to 50% on when it should be off. Doesn't dimm below that when the sequence tells it to. I have the GEN 2 PC series with only 4 sets of 100 cnt. incans. per channel plugged in for my mega tree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I think I may have one going. Haven't heard back from the help desk yet, too soon. Channel 15 is on at approx. 50% all the time , even when my show PC isn't powered up. Goes to full power when a sequence tells it to but goes back to 50% on when it should be off. Doesn't dimm below that when the sequence tells it to. I have the GEN 2 PC series with only 4 sets of 100 cnt. incans. per channel plugged in for my mega tree.Yup.. most likely half the triac is bad and conducting in one direction all the time. Note: I only brought up the opto couplers just to give a secondary "could be" thing.. Most of the failures are surely triac related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevikester Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I had my first triac issue this year, gonna see how difficult it is to solder, if I fail, I'll send it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Well............ the Help Desk is NO help with this issue. Told them I did a reset, and what did they tell me to , "lets do a controller reset this should fix your problem" Ticket Closed.Is the help desk not authorized to ...nevermind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Messer Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Well............ the Help Desk is NO help with this issue. Told them I did a reset, and what did they tell me to , "lets do a controller reset this should fix your problem" Ticket Closed.Is the help desk not authorized to ...nevermind. Jerry, I shipped all the bad ones I had back in for repairs. I got the RMA number and hope to have them back in three weeks.Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Don't know how you got a RMA number. All I got was the run around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Jerry,Sounds like you got someone that didn't read what you wrote and not really the run around.. Try reopening the ticket and give it another shot.. That ticket will be closed again after every responce unless they don't think they have it solved. Then it will remain open.. One bad answer does not a bad company make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Jerry,Sounds like you got someone that didn't read what you wrote and not really the run around.. Try reopening the ticket and give it another shot.. That ticket will be closed again after every responce unless they don't think they have it solved. Then it will remain open.. One bad answer does not a bad company make.That's just what I feeel happened. I reopened the ticket and don't expect a response till next week with the weekend here. I'm sure Chuck needs to rest his eyes after a week of doing his job.Not sayin it's a bad company , just an ify product and poor customer support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmadrive Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 If it is of any help... I used to design, build and sell DMX interface boards, dimmers and so on.. we actually looked at competing with LOR... But then we tore into their controllers and after testing and thnking and scratching at both ends, we decided we could not offer anything better for the money. They are actually built quite well. I am not sure why the triac issues this year, but considering they must go thru tens of thousands of triacs, the fail rate seems somewhat reasonable, but I don't have theiir failure statisics.... add on top of that the fact that they now have to deal with loads that are non linear and sometimes down right bizzar .... I think the product is still pretty sound. I buy them, and I can make my own if I wanted to. I have had only one failure (partial failure) on 18 controllers over two seasons. My failure was a weird one too! Still don't know what failed but LOR took care of it... and quickly!Their service and support is normally very very good. Hopefully you will get a bit better shake this time around.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Messer Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 If it is of any help... I used to design, build and sell DMX interface boards, dimmers and so on.. we actually looked at competing with LOR... But then we tore into their controllers and after testing and thnking and scratching at both ends, we decided we could not offer anything better for the money. They are actually built quite well. I am not sure why the triac issues this year, but considering they must go thru tens of thousands of triacs, the fail rate seems somewhat reasonable, but I don't have theiir failure statisics.... add on top of that the fact that they now have to deal with loads that are non linear and sometimes down right bizzar .... I think the product is still pretty sound. I buy them, and I can make my own if I wanted to. I have had only one failure (partial failure) on 18 controllers over two seasons. My failure was a weird one too! Still don't know what failed but LOR took care of it... and quickly!Their service and support is normally very very good. Hopefully you will get a bit better shake this time around.. I have to agree on the support. Two days before show time a controller when out and I called LOR had one the next day ready for show time. I am almost sure that nobody else could have pulled it off. So all four of my singing faces were a hit !!!Jeff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Burton Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I have not had a chance to test out my controller yet, but think I might have 2 triacs on one controller that went out. Not sure....Gen 1 or Gen 2. Just curious. In the years I have been on the board, I haven't seen this many that many triacs go out or mentioned that they have gone out.Ok, I am just stupid... could the software be causing this many go out? Something maybe with how the software covers dimming and such. Again...just a pie in the sky though ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Al Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I had a few go out right before Thanksgiving. I got the Mouser part number from the LOR help desk and ordered replacements and some spares. I had some spare channels so I updated my sequences and got through the season. On teardown I replaced the bad triacs and tested the controllers overnight. I would say the higher failure rate would be from defects in the triacs from the electronics manufacturer not LOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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