Lights on in sequence editor but not outside

[4hoogies]

Hello,

I have my show playing but there are certain areas of the show that the lights aren't coming on - but I see them on in my sequence editor. I have used the simple show builder over and over again after I have made changes to a sequence and saved it but not sure why it isn't showing up outside. Can anyone help and tell me if I need to reset something?

thank you,

T.

[kzaas]

Are all of your conrollers communicating with your computer? (IE no LED's flashing on the controller boards.) Are you sure you assigned your channels properly and the controllers have been assigned their numbers?

If all this has been done then try reseting the controller boards. To do this just shut off the power to the board, remove the jumper on the 18 pin header, reapply power for a few seconds then remove power again and replace jumper. Now plug your controller back in and see if it is working properly now.



Good luck.

[4hoogies]

I will try that tomorrow. thank you.

[George Simmons]

Are the channels that are failing all on the same controller? If so, be sure to check if your cat5 cable or the socket where it plugs into that board might have an issue.

Can you turn those channels on and off with the hardware utility?

[Guest Don Gillespie]

4hoogies wrote:

Hello,

I have my show playing but there are certain areas of the show that the lights aren't coming on - but I see them on in my sequence editor. I have used the simple show builder over and over again after I have made changes to a sequence and saved it but not sure why it isn't showing up outside. Can anyone help and tell me if I need to reset something?

thank you,

T.

what the other guys said, and also make sure all of your channels are labeled properly in your sequences IE: unit #1 channel 1 thru 16 and unit 2 channel 1 thru 16 etc etc if you didn't label your channels and controllers it won't work very well

[4hoogies]

The lights are coming on in other parts of the song (and other songs) It is mainly my mega tree. I will show for segments ON but only 2 or 3 segments come on outside. Also, the star on top (2 channels) is supposed to come on solo with Amazing Grace but it won't come on at all. But it will come on later on in the song. So was puzzled by this. Like I said earlier it isn't limited to just this song.

However, it does seem like it is only with the 1 controller box that I am using.



I will check the cat 5 cable. i have checked all of the channels, labellings etc.

T

[4hoogies]

I checked the cat 5 cable. Event turned controller box off, unplugged cat 5 cable and plugged all back in. Can you tell me what the jumper is and where to find it? I got a preassembled controller so not sure what you are asking and don't see anything about a jumper in the manual.

thanks.

[Guest Don Gillespie]

4hoogies wrote:

I checked the cat 5 cable. Event turned controller box off, unplugged cat 5 cable and plugged all back in. Can you tell me what the jumper is and where to find it? I got a preassembled controller so not sure what you are asking and don't see anything about a jumper in the manual.

thanks.

This is where I will leave you as this is beyond me however there are lots of others who have this experience who will step up to the plate to help you hope things work out

[George Simmons]

Can you control the lights in question with the hardware utility?

[4hoogies]

I will need to go check. It is currently set up with the showtime director mp3 (sd card). So I will need to hook it up to my laptop to see.

[4hoogies]

It is only reading 2 of the 3 controllers. I've double checked the cat 5 cable running from 2-3 and shut off power from controller 3 and turned back on again.

Will controller 3 still play the light show and music even if it doesn't read it in the utility hardware?

These are brand new controllers so I'm open to any other suggestions on what to try.

[basis21b]

I recommend you provide the folks here a bit more detailed information.

As of now we know you have three controllers and you are using a Showtime Director.

What are the models of all of the controllers?
Which controllers are seen by the hardware utility?
What is the red led inside of the case doing when they are all connected together?


The answers to these questions should help the people here help you.

[4hoogies]

I have the LOR1602w - 3 of them. The led light is on and solid. Controllers 1 &2 are showing up on the hardware, controller 3 is not. However, not sure if it makes a difference but I have the cat5 line that runs from one side of the house along the front of the garage (cars drive over it) and then to the other side of the house to connect to controller 2.

I hope this information helps. Please let me know if there is more information I can share to help with the problem. Sorry for not providing this information before.

[basis21b]

Is it possible for you to connect to the one that is not showing up and searching with the Hardware Utility? Completely isolate it from the other devices by having only it connected to Cat-5.

My suspicion is that device has not taken the address you want it to have so let's see if it will tell us what address it has.

Assuming it is not set to the address you want, you might want to power off the unit, spin the address dials a few times, set them to the address you want, power it back up and try the HU again to see if the device shows up.

No need to apologize, we all get excited (not in a good way) when things are not working and forget the people we are asking for help need to know quite a bit about the environment before they can help. For example the detail about having the Cat-5 running across the driveway would be a red flag if you have issues with controller 2 in the future.

[TJ Hvasta]

4hoogies wrote:

The lights are coming on in other parts of the song (and other songs) It is mainly my mega tree. I will show for segments ON but only 2 or 3 segments come on outside. Also, the star on top (2 channels) is supposed to come on solo with Amazing Grace but it won't come on at all. But it will come on later on in the song. So was puzzled by this. Like I said earlier it isn't limited to just this song.

However, it does seem like it is only with the 1 controller box that I am using.



I will check the cat 5 cable. i have checked all of the channels, labellings etc.

T

I can see the problem is the channels are mis-assigned.. It's easy to fix... your third controller is auto-assigned Unit 1, so it's just going to mirror whatever your first Unit 1 is doing.. thats why you have 3 but only see 2..

First, you'll have to go thru and make a spreadsheet of your light strings. Go out into your yard, list your items, (megatree, minitrees, candy canes, arches, lawn lights, roof outlines, etc) Label them as to what you think the channel is that you plugged them into..

Second.. Open the Hardware Utility. Refresh and make sure it lists ALL of your controllers.. meaning, if you physically have 3 controllers, it says 3 found and lists 3 units.. it should not say, 3 found, but only has two in the pull-down list (2 controllers assigned the same unit number). If it does, then you'll have to plug each controller in singley, assign it a unique unit number, exit the HU, then daisy-chain them again. Open the HU, Refresh, and check you have the proper number of controllers found and units listed in the pull-down list. The 160x unit have the dials to set the address.. with everything off, spin the dials several times to clean off the contacts, then set them individually, making sure no two have the same setting.

Third, once your controllers are properly numbered, start with the first controller, in the channel select boxes (little check mark boxes), uncheck ALL of them (or select NONE), then check just the first (#1) box. Click the ON button, go outside and look what turned on. Write it down. Go back inside, click the OFF button. Uncheck #1, check #2, click ON button, go outside, look whats on, write it down.. and so on.. repeat for each of the channels you have..

Now, once you have complete that for each channel you have (16, 32, 48, 64, etc), open your sequences, one at a time.. go thru the channel list and make sure the sections you want to light up are properly assigned to those channels. If something doesnt light up when you want it to, or lights up at the wrong times, the channel isnt assigned properly.

Sounds like a pain in the tokus, it is, but its the only way to get the correct sections, or items (stars, trees, canes) to light when they are supposed to. You are just verifying, then assigning the channels.

That is what you do if you are using a shared sequence from someone that has more channels than you, just assign your channels to the parts of the sequence you want... ie: if someones arch sections are way down to the bottom of their sequence (say their units 7 or 8 or 10), then scroll down, assign your controller units channels (unit 1 or 2, ch's 1-8 or so on) to that section. Same with someone's minitrees, or megatree. Just because someone built a 160+ channel sequence, you can easily use it yourself. Just put your channels on the part you like.

I hope that helps... hoogie, if you still need help, I'm off Mon/Tues, and I'm sorta local (I'm at ValVista & -60). Call me if you need help. 602-740-7922 (cell)

TJ

[4hoogies]

Thanks TJ, I'll see if that works. OTherwise, you just might be getting a call. haha.

I do have all of my channels and extension cords labelled and have double checked they are plugged into the correct outlet on the controller. I've also double checked the sequences to make sure they are showing what I want it to show. So it does sound like it could be doubling up 2 controllers as one. I do appreciate the input.

[TJ Hvasta]

Tammy, yep, if you are having light/sections come on different from the channel labels, then it's simply a matter of making sure your channels are really tagged to go to the correct items, thats what the speardsheet would be for.

Really tho, if you draw/import your house and assign the channels in the Visualizer, it will tell you right off, sitting at the computer, where the boo-boos are.

Good luck!

teege

[JBullard]

Two questions:

Is your software at least Basic Plus or higher?

Have you run the Verifier program and what were the results?

[4hoogies]

Yes, I have higher than the basic plus but me being the idiot I thought the software was the place to assign the controllers. i didn't realize I needed to change it on the hardware as well. thanks to TJ who was my life saver today. We almost fixed that problem until all of a sudden once I switched controller 2's hardware unit # - the whole unit lost power. Now i'm trying to figuring out why controller 2 is not working. The red led is no longer coming on and have tried mulitiple options to try to fix. It doesn't seem to be the fuses as I changed them out with one that was working. unplugging and replugging hasn't helped either. i have all LED lights so a circuit wasn't tripped - also plugged something else into it to double check. checked the extension cord and it is working fine too. Not sure what to do next.

[JBullard]

Was the unit power on when the channel ID was switched on the 1602? The correct answer should be no.

If so, you might try resetting the controller.

To reset the 1600 series:

Remove power, Turn the dials to 00

Reapply power for approx 10 secs

Remove power

Reset the dials to the correct ID number

Reapply power