Channels stay on at end of show

[Paul M Krupa]

My show has been running for about three and a half weeks now. Last night and tonight three channels stayed on after the shut down(same three). I can pull the power plug on the controller and they go out and stay out when I plug the controller back it. When the show is running every thing seems to work fine. The three channels are led snowflakes and led sphere so are low load. The controller is new this year, G3?.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mike

[Guest guest]

Paul,

Do they function normally during the show? Have you watched to be sure they are going off, fading and doing everything they should be during your show?

Do they stick on between shows too? If yes, it could be the sequence at the end of your show list has those 3 channels on all the way to the very end of the sequence, even with the option to turn off lights at the end of the sequence, if I have the very last block on in a sequence, my lights don't turn off on that channel at the end of the show, but it also stays on between sequences too. I go back and make sure I have nothing (off) in the last block of all my sequences.

If that isn't it, then read on.

If they are only sticking on after the show on only those channels the only things I can think of to do are:

Next time they "stick on" after the show has run its course:

Go to the Hardware Utility and see if it can completely turn off or control those 3 channels that are giving you issues. If the HWU can't turn them completely off, you might want to try flipping the plug(s) around on those 3 channels. Some LEDs are strange and will work fine if plugged in a specific direction, the other way they exhibit behavior like your issue.

Again try controlling those 3 channels with the HWU again to see what happens, if they turn off completely then run the show and see if the same thing happens, if it does, you may have some Triacs going bad.


Seems some LED's are giving an early indication of Triac failure in the G3 controllers when this starts happening.

But I can't say for certain as I don't have any G3 controllers, just 1 CTB16PC G1 and 4 CTB16PC G2 controllers, but with all these Triac failures in G3 controllers I've been reading about on the forums of late, it leads me to beleive that is where your controller is, or may be heading.

Another thing you may want to try is resetting the controller, running the HWU to see how those channels react and then try running your show again and see what happens. If they are the only ones still staying on at the end of your show, may still be bad Triacs on those 3 channels.

I'm sure some others will also chime in here and give you some additional advice or tests you can do to check those channels out for possible other issues that could cause your particular issue.

I'm only going by from what I've read on the forums here, and of many of the posts in a couple threads here on G3 Controllers about Triac failures.

Good Luck.

[Paul M Krupa]

Yes they seem to work fine otherwise. Haven't had a chance to do qnything with the HW yet but have something else. My show runs one hour later on friday and saturday (the days the channels stuck on) than the rest of the week. The last two nights on the shorter schedule sverthing has shut down fine. I do know that it shuts down during a different sequence on shorter show than the longer one.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Keith Adams]

Wet leds do this. I also had a used extesion cord that had the end replaced from a garage sale and the guy had reversed the black and green wires and it caused this. It took a long time to figure that was the cause.

[David Rise]

Just FYI. I've seen several posts concerning this issue. One of them was me.

My problem appears to be a bad triac. Waiting on a final response from LOR.

[Bob Hall]

David Rise wrote:

Just FYI. I've seen several posts concerning this issue. One of them was me.

My problem appears to be a bad triac. Waiting on a final response from LOR.

Could you please update us with what happens and the cost?

[Guest wbottomley]

Paul M Krupa wrote:

My show has been running for about three and a half weeks now. Last night and tonight three channels stayed on after the shut down(same three). I can pull the power plug on the controller and they go out and stay out when I plug the controller back it. When the show is running every thing seems to work fine. The three channels are led snowflakes and led sphere so are low load. The controller is new this year, G3?.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mike

With the power cord still connected, what happens when you disconnect the data cable?

[Mark h2o]

I've had this happen several times, usually when my data cable gets moved too close to the feeders going into my breaker panel (my cord just lays on the garage floor). I think it causes the USB port to do some strange things as well as the some of the controllers.
Before I had the USB cable with ferrels it would lock up my driver and stop the entire show.
I also have had a bad cable that I made cause some of the same issues.

[Paul M Krupa]

As soon as it happens again I will try that.

[Steven]

Paul M Krupa wrote:

My show runs one hour later on friday and saturday (the days the channels stuck on) than the rest of the week. The last two nights on the shorter schedule sverthing has shut down fine. I do know that it shuts down during a different sequence on shorter show than the longer one.

That's your clue! I'm willing to bet that in the Musical tab of your show, you have "Turn used lights off at the end of each sequence" un-checked. (Unless you have animation sequences that control these channels, in which case you have that un-checked in the Animation tab.)

The last sequence that plays on Friday and Saturday must leave those channels on at the end.

The solution is to use a Shutdown sequence to turn them off,
on you can check the "Turn used lights off..." box (which may not be the behavior you want).

[Paul M Krupa]

Steven,

Thanks for the input but the box is checked.

[Steven]

Paul M Krupa wrote:

Thanks for the input but the box is checked.

Then it may be a hardware problem, as Mark h2o suggested, caused by noise on the cable. If this is the case, one solution may be an RS485 terminator on the end of your network. I had some random channels come on a few years ago, but since I installed the terminators, the problem hasn't happened again.

[Mark h2o]

Steven,

I know I could look it up but since you mentioned it what is the best way to make a line terminator?
I'd like to be sure that I've done everything possible to safe guard the network.

[Steven]

Mark h2o wrote:

what is the best way to make a line terminator?

Try this.

[Mark h2o]

Awesome, thanks Steven!

There should be an archive with communication troubleshooting steps and solutions on one list such as this, Besides the search feature.

Very helpful