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Random channels turning on when show is not running.


Joecap393

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Ok...I am sure someone must have seen this before. I have a simple setup with 2 controllers for a total of 32 channels. I had the same setup last year, the only change this year is the addition of a couple of new songs and some arches.

Been runnning since the day after thanksgiving, with no problems until a couple of days ago. My wife called me and said the strobes were on, at 10:00am in the morning. Ok, rebooted the PC and the the problem went away. This morning at 3:00am I was up and noticed one of my multi channel arches was on. Absolutely no show was runnning at either of these times, and the last show from the night before ended properly. Another reboot of the PC and they went off. I can say that the channels that came "on" have all been from the same controller. I did not have any issues with this controller last year.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Joe

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Last year, we had some power glitches from the utility company and saw similar in my display for a few nights. One was the strobes one night.

If you have a very small power glitch, the controller might not reset correctly and you will see it as a stuck channel.

I keep my controllers powered on 24/7 now and also keep the communication line operational also to prevent any noise as being interpreted as a command.

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Thanks for the suggestions. I have reset the controllers many times and have verified the cat5 cable is not close to any main power lines, nor are the boxes wet. I had some more time to spend on it today, and let me tell you what I found. As I said before, I only have two controllers, and since the problems were with the second controller I was not looking at the main controller as the issue.

Well, I opened the number 1 controller this morning, and am certain I found the issue. The network port that has the cat 5 that runs from box 1 to box 2 was hanging by a thread. I touched it, and it came off in my hand. It must ave been making just enough contact to allow the show to run, but was then sending garbage now and then when the show was off.

So, for now I flipped the cat 5 cables around and made box number 2 the primary and have the broken box 1 daisy chained off of it. Utilizing the one good network port. I ran the show and everything seems fine.

That should be ok, right? Any idea how I would go about fixing the broken port, after the season of course?

Thanks,

Joe

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If you are good at soldering you can get the replacement parts. Or you can contact LOR. They are usually very reasonable on taking care of issues on items like that.

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I had this happen last night, although it was one of two channels randomly throughout my sequence, this also happened with the hardware utility.....I was checking my lights, turned all off and one strand was still on.... A quick reset of the power to the box and it was good before it happened again 3 times :( However mine then stayed off after my show finished

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I'm having a similar problem with something else. First, my second controller has channel 5 not working. The extension cord and prop have been checked and all is fine there. That's the first problem. Second problem I noticed this morning as I was leaving for work. Channel 3 is staying lit at about 50% (guesstimate). I'm a newbie, so I'm confused. I reset the controller and still had the same problem. I will reboot the PC and both controllers tonight when I get home. I'm no electrician or Electronics guru, but I have had a little experience in both areas so I'm not a dummy with them either.

Any help would be appreciated from you experts. Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas to all.

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