Lisa Kennedy Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I am trying to run a test to be sure that my computer can find all 15 of my LOR controllers and each time I 'refresh' there is a different number of controllers 'found.'I initially went through and changed the IDs on all 15 boxes individually and all was good with each one. Now that they are all run together, only 0 units to 6 units is coming up found. And my controller 1 box has the red LED sometimes solid and sometimes flashing.Please help as I have tried new CAT5 cables from my computer out to unit 1 and refreshing/rebooting the computer. Also, all the boxes have flashing red LEDs initially so they all are getting power -- seems to be something in the communication.Any help is much appreciated.Thanks,Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hans Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Sounds like a cat 5 problem to me. Hook up one controller, refresh HU. If it finds it add #2 in and refresh. Finds both? Keep going until you find problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Ok solid LED is when you have the little refresh ping from the computer. Broken Cat5, dirty connector or maybe noise on the comm line.Do you have your cat 5 running right next to any of your power lines? If so, separate the comm lines from the power lines by at least 6 or more inches. Do not bundle comm lines with power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Kennedy Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 Thanks for the suggestions -- we were able to test each individual box with their respective CAT5 jumpers and determined that there were connection issues within two of the boxes that were sending false signals back to the computer. For now they all seem to be communicating properly so we will see how the 'test run' goes tonight.Fingers crossed!! Thanks again for all the input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hans Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 Great! Hope you are now good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Kennedy Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 Hate to have to repost, but need help again and getting frustrated, which is not good...So we did our test run with the lights and everything worked fine for the first round of three songs. Then all of the sudden when it went to run again there were lights stuck on, coming on when they should not come on, etc. We have checked all the CAT5 lines, removed them from running near the power cords and still don't know what the problem seems to be.In HU, it is finding all 15 boxes as it should. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.Thanks again LOR family!!Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Attach the problem sequence here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa Kennedy Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 wbottomley wrote:Attach the problem sequence here.Unfortunately it is not just one sequence having the problem -- it occurs at various times during any of the three songs 'sequences' that I play during the show. There is no set time or point where the randomness and locking occurs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Have you tried running the LOR Verifier against the scheduled shows? It's possible that you have two or more channels trying to control the same circuit simultaneously, which could cause behavior like you describe. If so, the Verifier would tell you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonB256 Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 I seem to do exactly that each year and get concerned. I'll created an animation sequence (not musical) and it will let you have longer total times on different tracks and then I'll get channel overlap. Annoying, but my own fault two years running.Not this year. Yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanward Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 What is the max distance that you can run the cat-5e between 2 controllers?Is there a total max distance that you can run cat-5e between the computer and the last controller on that particular string? If so, what is the max distance of the total length between computer and last controller?I am having that problem as we speak tonight, (not able to find the last controller on the chain). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Far ends of the daisy chain can be at least 1,000 feet apart, and likely 2,000 while still in spec. They can be the only two devices, or there can be others along the way. I now have some really long first runs in the show this year. Probably over 300 feet.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Stanward,How you doing my old friend. Got a question about the last controller. Have you added any new controllers? Is this last controller the new one? If so, then you might need to check in the HWU the max controller address box and up it to a higher number than the last controllers address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanward Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Hi Max,Nope, not a new controller. In fact, I am using the same cat-5e cable that I used last year. I re-routed the cat-5e cable and unplugged and re-plugged them in.That seemed to work. But I'm afraid that this situation may haunt me again.I'm not sure if the humidity had anything to do with it. The moisture in the air, plus the temps, created a lot of condensation on everything outside. Keep in mind I could not conformal coat the RJ connectors, but almost everything else on the PCB is conformal coated.If this problem arrises again, I may need to use my pair of ELL or use a brand new Cat-5E cable, or put some dielectric grease into the RJ45s.Max-Paul wrote:Stanward,How you doing my old friend. Got a question about the last controller. Have you added any new controllers? Is this last controller the new one? If so, then you might need to check in the HWU the max controller address box and up it to a higher number than the last controllers address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Well none of us can conformal coat the RJ connectors. So we are all at the same disadvantage there. I would think that the wires in the RJ-45 sockets are gold plated. But I see now you are concerned that there might be some moisture bridging across the terminals.I bet as long as you keep your cat5 cables at least 6" or better away from the AC wires Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanward Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Hi Max,The harps in the RJ45 connectors are not gold plated. They look brass or copper.I had corrosion on 2 of my controllers (not the controller problem I have here) but fixed the bad connection with a small brush used on dremel tools (to scrape the corrosion away).Corrosion was green, so that indicated to me it is either brass or copper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 As much as I don't generally like the idea of having dielectric grease on cat 5 connectors, because it may pick up grit, in your case, I think that is likely easier to deal with than the corrosion. Try using some on the connectors and see if it reduces your corrosion problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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