Channel fading problems

[Lee Maxfield]

In my musical sequences, I like to use a lot of fades. However, when I use fades on some of my channels, other (non-active) channels also come on as a fade at the same time, when they should not be coming on at that time.

Lee:?

[Randy]

Hi Lee,

What type of lights do you have on both of these types of channels? I had something like that happen with some LED lights I had on my channels and the problem went away when I put a snubber at the end of each of the circuits.

You can search on more information here on the forum about snubbers, but I built mine with a resistor across a small plug that I put at the end of the offending light strings.

Sometimes these snubbers are also used to help LED lights fade better on LOR AC controllers...

Thanks, Randy

[rstately]

One other thing is to check the polarity on the plugs.
If the plug on the lights is in backwards, it can cause problems.
It is more likely that you need the snubber, or to use different lights.
Just wanted to share another possible fix.

Good Luck

OH, I am assuming you're using LED's?

[LightORamaDan]

Lee Maxfield wrote:

In my musical sequences, I like to use a lot of fades. However, when I use fades on some of my channels, other (non-active) channels also come on as a fade at the same time, when they should not be coming on at that time.

Lee:?

Hi Lee,

What type of controllers, what type of lights?

How many channels and controllers in the network?

Does it happen every time in the same place in the sequence?

Do two or more channels seem to be tied together (that is supposed to happen on either channel also happens on the other at the same time)?

Thanks... Dan

[cmoore60]

Do you use compact floresent lights in your home? The CFL bulbs have been known to cause irratice problems. CFL bulbs create alot of electrical noise on the line.

Chuck

[Lee Maxfield]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the reply.

I have two LOR1602W 16 channel controllers, and were using a combination of string lights, rope lights, a couple of LED lights and a rope light with a controller. I have now done some more testing and have isolated the one rope light with the controller that when activated in fade mode, also activates all other channels. When this is not active then the lights fade as they should do. So this is great news.

I am however getting some flickering on some lights when they are inactive, and when other channels are in fade mode.

I will however do some more testing over the weekend to see what happens with other lights.

Lee

[Lee Maxfield]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for your suggestion on snubbers. I did do a seach on this topic, and it seems like they can help quite a few fading issues. In most situations, it appears that snubbers are made of C7 or C9 bulbs, however I am in Australia on 240 volts, and I am not sure of the equivalent to C7 or C9 bulbs. I was having some issues with getting more info on what C7 and C9 bulbs consisted of, so it is hard to ascertain what may work in their place.

I did do some testing of my lights, and have isolated one channel that has a controller rope light on it, and this seems to cause all other inactive channels to fade when this channel is activated on a fade. So all I need to do now is see if I can make a snubber to add to this controller rope light.

Thanks for all your help.

Lee

[Lee Maxfield]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion. I do use a combination of string lights, rope lights and LED lights. These are all store purchases lights, so I would have assumed that the polarity should be fine (although some of them are indoor lights - so not sure if this may be a problem). Do you know if it is possible to have polarity problems on store purchased lights, and if this is the case, how does one know or test for this.

Thanks.

Lee

[Lee Maxfield]

Hi Chuck,

No, I do not have any CFL lights, but it is good to know that they can cause problems, so I can avoid using them.

Thanks. Lee

[George Simmons]

Lee,

The problem might be that rope light controller itself. Most lighting controllers don't respond well to fading or shimmering - they need full power all the time to do what they were originally intended to do.

[Brian Mitchell]

Do a reset on the controllers. That will often cure random flickerings.

[stanward]

This is the first I have heard of CFLs causing problems. Anyone else experience this problem?

I am worried, as my entire house is now on all CFLs.



Stan



cmoore60 wrote:

Do you use compact floresent lights in your home? The CFL bulbs have been known to cause irratice problems. CFL bulbs create alot of electrical noise on the line.

Chuck

[cmoore60]

I just did a search on the forums simply by placing CFL in the search window. I came up with 22 hits. Might be worth your time to take a look.

Chuck

[Greg Young]

stanward wrote:

This is the first I have heard of CFLs causing problems. Anyone else experience this problem?

I am worried, as my entire house is now on all CFLs.



Stan

Stan I have quite a few CFLs. I plan to switch to LEDs when the price on household LEDs become more reasonable..

I have no problems running LOR or X-10 in my home/display, even with all the CFLs.

Greg

[-klb-]

stanward wrote:

This is the first I have heard of CFLs causing problems.  Anyone else experience this problem?

I am worried, as my entire house is now on all CFLs.

 

Stan

 

cmoore60 wrote:

Do you use compact floresent lights in your home? The CFL bulbs have been known to cause irratice problems. CFL bulbs create alot of electrical noise on the line.

Chuck

The only times I have had issues so far with CFL is if they have been connected to the controller, or occasionally on the same circuit as the controller. If your controllers are on dedicated circuits, and you don't have CFL plugged into them, you should be fine. Most of the lights we have on more than a small amount of time in the house are CFL, and were back in December. But having CFL on a LOR controller, or even the same circuit has caused some really interesting issues for me.

[-klb-]

George Simmons wrote:

Lee,

The problem might be that rope light controller itself.  Most lighting controllers don't respond well to fading or shimmering - they need full power all the time to do what they were originally intended to do.

I agree, this is quite likely.

Also, it can't hurt to try resetting your controller.