petek157 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I have a sequence that shows perfectly in the visualizer and when I start the show outside, its all messed up. By messed up I mean channels randomly will turn off, timing goes off, some channel dont turn on when they are supposed to, just really quirky. And its not the same every time, one time a channel will shut off for 3-4 seconds (when its not supposed to turn off at all) and the next time around it shuts off for just a split second. Other shows work just fine. The show that is acting funny is heavy to my CTB16PC controllers vs the others that are more CCD's and E131 DMX.If you have questions or need more info please ask.Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.Thanks,Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 First was the MP3 setup for a Constant Bit Rate, are you sure your channels outside are assigned properly to what they should be on the Visualizer. Have you run hardware panel to test channels for location as well activity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petek157 Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 I ran my mp3's through audacity to a CBR. Would the mp3 have an effect on how the lights turn on and off? The lights as a whole are in sync with the music, they just act all crazy during playback.I will re check the channels in this sequence, but I am using a saved channel config that works in other sequences. I will also run more testing using the HU.Any other suggestions welcome. I will post back after the above testing.Thanks,Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamS Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 If the song is not a CBR the software still reads the timing based off the bitrate. So as the bitrate drops perhaps for a lull in the song, the speed of the sequence stays on speed of the bitrate the song started at. Not impossible to explain but im not the brightest bulb. Regardless the constant bit rate helps tons with timing errors on the song when played on the equipment.As for testing the hardware, make sure you check each channel vs where it is in your sequence. As well check the sequencer to make sure the channels are assigned the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petek157 Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 The thing thats confusing me if it is in fact a channel issue is, why does it work perfectly in the visualizer. And why do other sequences using the same channel config file work in both the visualizer and the show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petek157 Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Running a chase in the HU shows the mess.A brief description of my system chain. Controller 1 inline is 16pc -> Controller 2 inline is 16D -> Controller 3 inline is 16pc.Controller 3 inline is the issue. I run a chase on these channels and its messed up. It works for a pattern then is messed up (not turning on, turning on out of order etc) for what seems like a couple patterns. Then it will work for 1 or 2 then messed up again.I read a few different posts about a terminating resistor. Seen as this is the last controller in the chain, I am going to try that. My question is does it have to be a 120ohm resistor? I live in the middle of know where and getting one last minute is iffy.I have some resistors here but am not sure if they will work. I have a 22ohm, 1000 ohm, 100k ohm. Are they of any use for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basis21b Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Based on the fact you see the problem show up at controller 3 I would suspect the cat-5 cable. Use your cable tester to check it. If you don't have a tester find another good cable and see what happens (and then get yourself a tester - you will not regret the purchase.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petek157 Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 OK put new ends on all my cables confirming proper wiring...No help. Ran new cable... No Help. Unless someone has any new suggestion, I will try and find a 120 ohm resistor tomorrow morning and make a terminator.Will just have to have it on tonight with the glitches in the system.Let me know of any other thoughts that any one might have.Thanks, Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I hope I'm wrong, but adding a terminator doesn't sound like the answer. That will help if you had LED channels that were'nt fading properly, but I don't believe it will affect your situation.What you've done with your cables should have ruled them out, although you can only know for sure with a tester. Is it possible that the comm port that receives the signal on unit 3 is loose? Have you or anyone else tripped on a comm cable to or from that box either this year or in year's past?The other option I see, presuming there's no debris in the sequence causing the lights to flash, is a network traffic issue. How many networks are you running? What's the channel count per network?If the HU shows the same issues as the sequence does, have you checked the wiring of the controller? It wouldn't be the first time that someone wired a board wrong, especially if you bought the controller from a private party who wired it themself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petek157 Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 I bought some resistors and for the heck of it I am going to put them in, as Ive seen a bunch of posts that say that this is recommended for 485.As for the networks, I have 2 LOR and one E1.31. Network LOR Reg has 2 - CCP's and 2 - CCR's. LOR Aux A has 2 - 16pc's and one 16DC. The E1.31 has a 2 universes with 108 channels on each.I have not check the wiring on any of the controllers, I bought them direct from LOR. But I will wiggle them to see if any are loose.All the being said, out of now where, they seem to be working fine....WHAT? After everything that I tried that didn't change anything, just like that I close the store to go home sit and watch a round or two of the show and every thing (except a half a light string out) is working fine. It will be interesting to see if it stays working.Thanks for everyone's help.Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggyl Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I had a similar problem - imported configuration, ran fine in sequencer animation, all other sequences worked with lights, but one was doing strange things on one controller. Turns out there were multiple tracks in the sequence file and that was screwing up the whole sequence. Once I got it down to the main track, all worked great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petek157 Posted December 15, 2012 Author Share Posted December 15, 2012 I am not sure exactly what my issue was, but "this" issue seems to be fixed. I ran some test to track it down, nothing work. Ran the show and poof...worked perfect. Figuring bad connection somewhere that by unplugging and plugging back in connected better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmturner54 Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 I added 2 new elements after i started my show this year....just 2 simple channels, right? Inserted above the DMX channels in the sequence. Manually added them to the first sequence, programmed etc.....tested ok. Saved and exported new channel config. Went to next sequence and inported new config. Holy moly!!!!!! It's a good thing I scrolled acroos the entire sequence before programming. There were blocks of time on the 2 new channels already turned on in places. Not to mention the first 2 DMX channels were also afected. Not sure whats going on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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