Lights not working while playing sequence(resolved)

[Guest guest]

Hi, I just rec'd my first LOR board and am excited to play!

I have everything connected, and the hardware utility allows me to test the unit, and all channels are working.

When using the sequence editor, I created a simple thing where all channels are all on for 2 seconds.. .when I play it, the lights do not turn on ? I Have assigned the channels in the editor to the LOR board with the corresponding channels on the board. I have the option selected that says "control lights" under the play menu bar.

I assume I am doing something wrong. ??

[Guest guest]

Nevermind, I believe I figured out my problem... I didn't assign an ID # in the hardware config program... seems to work great now! WOOHOO

[Guest guest]

Did you select the "Device Type" and set it to LOR controller?

[Guest guest]

I did do that, thanks for your help John. I believe my problem was that I didn't set the unit ID with the hardware utility. I appreciate the response

[Guest guest]

hopkinsg wrote:

I did do that, thanks for your help John. I believe my problem was that I didn't set the unit ID with the hardware utility. I appreciate the response

Can I ask which controller you are using?

[Guest guest]

Don wrote:

hopkinsg wrote:

I did do that, thanks for your help John. I believe my problem was that I didn't set the unit ID with the hardware utility. I appreciate the response

Can I ask which controller you are using?

Sure ! It's the CTB-16D with heatsink.

--Gary

[Guest guest]

hopkinsg wrote:

Sure ! It's the CTB-16D with heatsink.

--Gary

Then you shouldn't have had to set the channel with the hardware utility. It's hardware based, right there on the board.

Simply chosing channel one via the dials should have worked for you.

[Guest guest]

Don wrote:

hopkinsg wrote:

Sure ! It's the CTB-16D with heatsink.

--Gary

Then you shouldn't have had to set the channel with the hardware utility. It's hardware based, right there on the board.

Simply chosing channel one via the dials should have worked for you.

Hey Don,

I had a simular situation when helping bridegirl (Susy & Doug). Nothing would work after making all connections & settings but when Doug clicked the "auto configure" button for the "setup comm port" on the hardware utility, all of a sudden everything worked perfectly. I'm not sure what that hardware utility does or doesn't do as I was told before that hardware utility didn't have anything to do with setting up the units, but it did in Doug's case. That's the only part of LOR I don't understand.

Just my thoughts,

Tom

[Guest guest]

Santas Helper wrote:

Don wrote:

hopkinsg wrote:

Sure ! It's the CTB-16D with heatsink.

--Gary

Then you shouldn't have had to set the channel with the hardware utility. It's hardware based, right there on the board.

Simply chosing channel one via the dials should have worked for you.

Hey Don,

I had a simular situation when helping bridegirl (Susy & Doug). Nothing would work after making all connections & settings but when Doug clicked the "auto configure" button for the "setup comm port" on the hardware utility, all of a sudden everything worked perfectly. I'm not sure what that hardware utility does or doesn't do as I was told before that hardware utility didn't have anything to do with setting up the units, but it did in Doug's case. That's the only part of LOR I don't understand.

Just my thoughts,

Tom

I had this happen again last night. I went to play with the sequence editor, and none of the lights were flashing. I made sure I had all of the channels set properly in the seq. editor. I had to load the hardward utility program, set it to channel 1, close that, open the seq editor and then it worked again. ( I can't recall if the red light on the board was steady or flashing at this time)

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I might have a bad board?? I have not changed the dials on the board itself, they are set at 01.

-Gary

[Guest guest]

hopkinsg wrote:

I had this happen again last night. I went to play with the sequence editor, and none of the lights were flashing. I made sure I had all of the channels set properly in the seq. editor. I had to load the hardward utility program, set it to channel 1, close that, open the seq editor and then it worked again. ( I can't recall if the red light on the board was steady or flashing at this time)

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I might have a bad board?? I have not changed the dials on the board itself, they are set at 01.

-Gary

"They?" How many controllers to do you have? Perhaps it's just me reading in more than what you typed. Though it sounds like you have more than one controller, and they are all set to channel 1. If this is true, then we might be on to the problem.

[Guest guest]

Don wrote:

hopkinsg wrote:

I had this happen again last night. I went to play with the sequence editor, and none of the lights were flashing. I made sure I had all of the channels set properly in the seq. editor. I had to load the hardward utility program, set it to channel 1, close that, open the seq editor and then it worked again. ( I can't recall if the red light on the board was steady or flashing at this time)

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I might have a bad board?? I have not changed the dials on the board itself, they are set at 01.

-Gary

"They?" How many controllers to do you have? Perhaps it's just me reading in more than what you typed. Though it sounds like you have more than one controller, and they are all set to channel 1. If this is true, then we might be on to the problem.

Hi Don, I probaby misphrased that. I only have one controller. I'm not at home right now, but I believe there are 2 dials on the board. The first one is set at 0, and the 2nd one is set at 1, making it "01". When I said they I was refering to those two on the same board. Hope this makes sense! Thanks

-Gary

[Guest guest]

hopkinsg wrote:

Hi Don, I probaby misphrased that. I only have one controller. I'm not at home right now, but I believe there are 2 dials on the board. The first one is set at 0, and the 2nd one is set at 1, making it "01". When I said they I was refering to those two on the same board. Hope this makes sense! Thanks

-Gary

Perfect sense. Still doesn't explain why you had to set the channel via the hardware utility. Dan, John, Ideas?

[Guest guest]

Don wrote:

hopkinsg wrote:

Hi Don, I probaby misphrased that. I only have one controller. I'm not at home right now, but I believe there are 2 dials on the board. The first one is set at 0, and the 2nd one is set at 1, making it "01". When I said they I was refering to those two on the same board. Hope this makes sense! Thanks

-Gary

Perfect sense. Still doesn't explain why you had to set the channel via the hardware utility. Dan, John, Ideas?

I have no reason why they would have to set the channel via the Hardware Utility.... With the LOR1602W if you set the unit ID via the hardware utility it will override the setting with the settings on the switches (eventually)... Some versions of the firware reset the unit ID every minute latest version only sets it when you turn it on.

[Guest guest]

I know this says (resolved), although I'm not quite sure if it is. Unless this is how it's supposed to work, then I think I may still have a problem.

I have been testing my lights the past few days with my laptop. After I unplug the USB cable from the computer, and then plug it back in the next day, the sequence editor will not control the lights. What I do is open the hardware utility, click the button at the top to find the controller, and after it finds it, I close the hardware utility, and then the seqeuence editor works fine until the next day.. I thought that since the controller itself has the channel set on it, that the sequence editor would work, however it does seem that the hardware utility program is somehow doing something with a setting somewhere.

Is this normal? I'm assuming most people leave it always plugged into a computer, which I will eventually, however I want to make sure that something is not actually wrong with the controller itself

-Gary

[Guest guest]

I ran into a similiar problem.

For some reason it does not store the comm port used or it does not remember what comm port to use. I had to disable the internal comm ports in the PC and then setup the USB port as Comm 1. When I did that, it worked everytime...

Another issue I had was using a thumb or flash drive with that PC. When I take it out, it severs the comminucation from the PC to the LOR's. So remember to reset your show if you remove a flash drive.

[Guest guest]

hopkinsg wrote:

I know this says (resolved), although I'm not quite sure if it is. Unless this is how it's supposed to work, then I think I may still have a problem.

I have been testing my lights the past few days with my laptop. After I unplug the USB cable from the computer, and then plug it back in the next day, the sequence editor will not control the lights. What I do is open the hardware utility, click the button at the top to find the controller, and after it finds it, I close the hardware utility, and then the seqeuence editor works fine until the next day.. I thought that since the controller itself has the channel set on it, that the sequence editor would work, however it does seem that the hardware utility program is somehow doing something with a setting somewhere.

Is this normal? I'm assuming most people leave it always plugged into a computer, which I will eventually, however I want to make sure that something is not actually wrong with the controller itself

-Gary

I have a laptop and a non-LOR supplied USB-Serial adapter that I use for testing. If the laptop goes into hibernate on me while testing (I tend to forget to bring it out of batt.saver mode) I have to sometimes go as far as rebooting to get LOR and the Serial adapter talking again.

I would suspect that if you left it powered on and connected, you wouldn't have any problems.

[Guest guest]

I'm having this problem now...

I had no issues running the hardware utility and sequence editor on my laptop...everything worked fine.

Then I put together a dedicated PC just for LOR so I could take my laptop to work and still have a light display.

The PC (Dell Optiplex, 800 Mhz, 256 MB RAM, Windows 2000 Pro) controls the lights just fine with the hardware utility.

But if I create a show in the sequence editor, I get nothing. Yes "control lights" is checked. Even tried unchecking it. Rebooting the computer, using the hardware utility first, then the sequence editor. Nothing.

Any other recommendations?

[Guest guest]

Russ wrote:

But if I create a show in the sequence editor, I get nothing. Yes "control lights" is checked.
Any other recommendations?

In the Sequence Editor click "Edit" / "Preferences" / "Network Preferences"
On the "Light-O-Rama Network" is the Comm Port set to the proper port for your device?
You can also set the "Dasher Emulation Network & X10 Network" to "None" if you are not using those devices.


This information is also listed in the "Help" file of the Sequence Editor.

Hope this helps! :tree:

[Guest guest]

hopkinsg wrote:

I have been testing my lights the past few days with my laptop. After I unplug the USB cable from the computer, and then plug it back in the next day, the sequence editor will not control the lights. What I do is open the hardware utility, click the button at the top to find the controller, and after it finds it, I close the hardware utility, and then the seqeuence editor works fine until the next day.. I thought that since the controller itself has the channel set on it, that the sequence editor would work, however it does seem that the hardware utility program is somehow doing something with a setting somewhere.

Is this normal? I'm assuming most people leave it always plugged into a computer, which I will eventually, however I want to make sure that something is not actually wrong with the controller itself

-Gary

Hello Gary,

I don't think it's normal. I ran my show all summer long (and now thru the holidays). Each night I disconnect and took my laptop home with me. I also used a external drive that has all the LOR files on it to run with it. The next day, I just hooked everything back up, powered it on and everything ran just fine. I didn't have to do nothing to get it started. The show started every single time on it's own.

I know that didn't help you but it does show that disconnecting it each night and reconnecting it the next day, you shouldn't have to do anything to get it to run. Or at least in my case I didn't.