CTB16PC - power in. detected. no triggers

[JohnDArc]

Hey guys,

My family and I do a light show every year for Fort Sam Houston and the Wounder Warrior Project. This year we hooked up our two controllers at home and had a few lights plugged in to each controller for a test and the PC detected unit 1 and until 2 we ran a sequence or two and lights came on and went off and "danced" as they should.

To day we packed up and went on base and setup our show. We hooked up our controllers PC>Unit 1>Unit 2. Both units have power (red LED is solid) both units get detected by the hardware GUI. We send a "100% On" signal to unit 1 and get nothing, send the same signal through unit 1 to unit 2 and unit 2 turns on as expected.

I am at a loss, our show is scheduled to go on at 4PM Monday December 3rd 2012 and now half of our show is not working.

Here is what I have tried:

I followed the troubleshooting guide found here WoWLights.com.

I checked both fuses in controller 1 (the controller with power in but no power out.)

I re-installed the firmware (both controllers are 4.40)

I smelled the circuitry thinking maybe a capacitor or the like might have gone out. (smells fine)

I have to somehow get this unit to work, get it repaired, get a new one, rent a new one, or borrow one by Monday (December 3rd 2012). My hair is going grey and falling out over this (and I'm only 28), I am the most tech savvy one in my family so they immediately looked to me to fix this problem. Times ticking and I haven't a clue what to any help would be completely and totally appreciated.

If anyone knows of a retailer, rental, or willing to lend out a unit for this show, I'm in San Antonio Texas.

Sincerely,

John

[TJ Hvasta]

Did you use the same computer you used before?

How are you testing the controllers in the second location?

WHAT are you using to test them? (HU, Console or sequence)?

Are you using the SimpleShowBuilder to run the lights or the Seq Editor?

Is the Control Lights box checked in the SE pulldown menu?

There are no retailers or rentals. LOR is very specific You will not find any place that has them. Only thing you can hope for is someone lives nearby. but from your statement the LED is solid on, you have:

A) Units not assigned in the sequence.

2) Control Lights not checked in Play menu

Third) You are trying to play lights in SE with Control Panel enabled.

Edited December 2, 2012 by TJ Hvasta

[Orville]

I think I'd check all the cat5 cables and the cat5 connector in controller 1. Possibly may be a comm issue, but can't say for sure.

[JohnDArc]

Thanks for the reply guys. I was testing "all on" in the hardware program when I couldn't get it to work. I hadn't made it to the sequence editor at that point, using the same laptop as before. I double checked and triple checked my wiring. I found a few places willing to "loan" equipment for a 'courtesy fee'. We unhooked and rehooked everything a handful of times and it still didn't work so I went to bed -- woke up, rolled over to my desk pushed "all on" and the dang thing worked. The show went well, troops loved it, kids loved it.

This whole ordeal has given me an idea though. I wonder if (its got to be possible albeit difficult) if one can control multiple boxes in different locations for example a show at Fort Sam Houston and Camp Bullis and Lackland Air Force base at the same time from one PC over some sort of network. Before one can try for that thought I have to figure out how to make the unit communicate via my ethernet port rather than the RJ45-USB adapter. I'm guessing there are a lot of software work around needed for that. SOOOOO many ideas for next year.

[TJ Hvasta]

TeamViewer.. www.teamviewer.com its a remote access program, free, works on laoptops, Android and Apple phones and can be used to control either. Also allows file transfering. I have it on my phone, laptops, and all desktop computers. I use it specifically to start/stop/edit the show while im in the front yard. Load it onto each computer and as long as they have wifi (internet access) you can run the show at the same time from afar..

Edited December 5, 2012 by TJ Hvasta

[Don]

This whole ordeal has given me an idea though. I wonder if (its got to be possible albeit difficult) if one can control multiple boxes in different locations for example a show at Fort Sam Houston and Camp Bullis and Lackland Air Force base at the same time from one PC over some sort of network. Before one can try for that thought I have to figure out how to make the unit communicate via my ethernet port rather than the RJ45-USB adapter. I'm guessing there are a lot of software work around needed for that. SOOOOO many ideas for next year.

One thing to keep in mind is that you are not dealing with Ethernet (TCP/IP) but rather RS485. This is why you need the USB485 adapter, so that you can talk to the controllers. I don't recall an option in TeamViewer to connect to a report com port, but then again, I haven't looked.

[TJ Hvasta]

Right, you arent connecting to a com port, you're connecting to the teamviewer client on another computer, thru a network, be it cat5 or wifi.. John, if you cant provide an internet connection (hardwired or wifi) then TeamViewer wont work for you in this instance.

Edited December 6, 2012 by TJ Hvasta