How is a channel actually 'turned off'

[Greg.Ca]

For the most part my show which consists of 450+ channels on 29 controllers is working fine however........ I ocassionally see several channels that are temporarily stuck on. Usually it is one of my arches (I have six of them and they all have three colors) that I see a few random channels that are stuck on when they should be off. The common demoninator seems to be when one of the songs is having it's grand finale and the show is going 'wild'. When one of these arch channels is 're-addressed' 5-30 seconds later, it then is 'freed up' and starts working normally again until 5-20 minutes later when I notice that something else is temporariy stuck on for a period of 5-30 seconds.

What I believe is going on is that there is too much activity on my network and somehow the 'off' command gets 'lost' in the shuffle because of too much data activity???? It's just a guess.

I am thinking about purchasing another USB-RS485 converter and running two seperate networks. If I decide to do this, what do I need to know about running dual controllers in my show. What do I have to factor in?? How will S3 know that it has 2 seperate controllers each running 15 or so controllers. Will this generally take care of the problem or am I introducing a cluster**ck that would just make matters more complex? Need to keep it reliable and don't necessary want to have two controllers. I am not using and 'smart strings, just 29 seperate CTBPC 16 channel controllers all on one daisy chain.

Thanks --Greg--

[Guest wbottomley]

I have 55 controllers on one network and no problems here. Check your data cables and reset your troublesome controllers.

[George Simmons]

What you describe is very similar to problems I've had, along with a whole host of other people, and almost every time it is a cable. William is spot on - check your cables.

If you don't have a tester, try replacing the cable with the incoming signal to the first controller that's screwing up.

[CKSedg]

Thanks for your suggestions on this. I have one controller that does this once in a while. I'll replace the data cable tomorrow!

[mb323]

I had the exact same channels getting temporarily stuck problem with one of my controllers. It wasn't always the same channel(s) but it was always the same controller. I re-uploaded the firmware and the problem went away completely.

[Tim Fischer]

What I believe is going on is that there is too much activity on my network and somehow the 'off' command gets 'lost' in the shuffle because of too much data activity???? It's just a guess.

The off commands are being missed, that's certain. Why is the question. As some of the others have mentioned - a bad data cable might be a culprit. 450 channels *should* be ok on an LOR network, but it kind of depends on how you sequence.

I am thinking about purchasing another USB-RS485 converter and running two seperate networks. If I decide to do this, what do I need to know about running dual controllers in my show. What do I have to factor in?? How will S3 know that it has 2 seperate controllers each running 15 or so controllers. Will this generally take care of the problem or am I introducing a cluster**ck that would just make matters more complex? Need to keep it reliable and don't necessary want to have two controllers. I am not using and 'smart strings, just 29 seperate CTBPC 16 channel controllers all on one daisy chain.

You just need to tell LOR you have one (or more) auxillary networks as well as the main LOR network. Then when you assign your channels, you will use a Network ID in addition to the usual Unit and Circuit ids.

But check your comm cables first...

[frozentundra52]

Tim

Heading your way on Saturday after the Holidazzle parade. Woohoo!

[-klb-]

Going to multiple networks is not a big deal.

In network preferences, enable show networks in channel configuration

Add the second adapter, and note what com port it shows up on.

Use network preferences to configure a network like "aux a" to the new com port.

Use channel config to move channels related to controllers you will cable to the new network over to aux A.

Test.

I run about 60 controllers across 5 networks. Some simply because of how the cable runs layout. Others because I want to limit how much goes dark if a network fails. Basically with two networks, a cable issue on average will affect half as many controllers as with one network.

[Tim Fischer]

Tim

Heading your way on Saturday after the Holidazzle parade. Woohoo!

Cool! I hope it's worth the drive (my display that is, Hollidazzle will be).

Need to figure out when to get to Hollidazzle myself...

[frozentundra52]

It will be worth it from what I've seen from your site. Plus my wife's friends down there see yours every year.

[rwertz]

I’ve seen a few channels stuck on here. It looks like it’s always the same channels on my highest unit ID CCR. It happens at the end of the first song where everything is getting commands at different times. The funny thing is, it only happens the first time through. The second loop of the show is fine.

It’s done it two years in a row now. I can’t say it does it every time the show starts. But I’ve noticed it several times each year. Since it appears to be start up related, I’ve chosen to ignore it