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1 controller drops data?


plasmadrive

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I have 16 CTB16PC in my LOR network and one of them acts strange.  Runs fine during sequences but.. when I have an all on sequence (which means no data change)... that controller, and only that controller will run for about 10 min and shut the outputs off.  It is in the middle of my data stream somewhere so I doubt it has connectivity issues. 

 

This is the same controller that is not found by my HU about 10% of the time.    Again, it works fine.. just shuts the outputs off when on 100% for any length of time.. about 10 mins or so.. I can turn them all back on my stopping the and starting the all on sequence again. 

 

Very strange..

 

Now that I think about it.. is there something in the setup config for the controllers that tells it to turn off the outputs after X time with no new data? 

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The firmware will usually shut off lights if no commands for a long time. The show player should send commands updating periodically. You could try changing long on commands to one min of full on cycling with 1 second of 99%. Or if you have a mix of commands, and things freeze, it could be a com issue.

The RS-485 chip may be marginal, or cable issues occasionally only affect 1 controller, depending on how the reflections line up.

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klb... I don't "think" that is the issue..

 

Of 16 controllers on the same network.. only this one shuts the outputs off.  I know that LOR's protocol only sends changes to the controller when something changes.  Unlike DMX that sends packets all the time whether there is a state change or not.  So I have a looped sequence that is ALL ON.  That means the sequence is still running continuously. Since it is running there is no "lights off" command and no state change commands for any of the controllers. 

 

It works perfectly during the regular sequences.  Even when I turn them all on via the HU this one controller will shut off after about 10 mins.  It is the weirdest thing.  Turns right back on when I tell it to..

 

If it is the 485 chip, it would be entering a state change to "ALL OFF" when none exists.  Not the usual failure mode for the transceiver chip.. could happen I guess.. but not as likely as perhaps other failure modes..

 

Any other ideas?  


klb... I don't "think" that is the issue..

 

Of 16 controllers on the same network.. only this one shuts the outputs off.  I know that LOR's protocol only sends changes to the controller when something changes.  Unlike DMX that sends packets all the time whether there is a state change or not.  So I have a looped sequence that is ALL ON.  That means the sequence is still running continuously. Since it is running there is no "lights off" command and no state change commands for any of the controllers. 

 

It works perfectly during the regular sequences.  Even when I turn them all on via the HU this one controller will shut off after about 10 mins.  It is the weirdest thing.  Turns right back on when I tell it to..

 

If it is the 485 chip, it would be entering a state change to "ALL OFF" when none exists.  Not the usual failure mode for the transceiver chip.. could happen I guess.. but not as likely as perhaps other failure modes..

 

Any other ideas?  

BTW... I could of course be wrong. It just doesn't sound right given the way it acts..

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What if you changed the max output for that controller to be 80%? That won't affect the actual brightness (based on my observations) but maybe you're reaching some threshold (in heat) and its causing something wired to happen?

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What if you changed the max output for that controller to be 80%? That won't affect the actual brightness (based on my observations) but maybe you're reaching some threshold (in heat) and its causing something wired to happen?

Heat is not an issue..  

 

It almost has to be data related or setup in the controller HU for that controller.  I am going to pock around the HU and see if there is a setting that I missed..

 

klb.. any other ideas?

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If you create a brand new animation sequence (don't even use an old one as a template) for just that controller do the lights still turn off?

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Hi Tony,

 

It shouldn't matter whether it is just for that controller or for them all.  Same data and no updated data passed the point of turning them on.. ..   and it does it from the HU as well.  That eliminates the sequence as a source..

 

I did poke around in the HU and found nothing.. This is a G2 unit and on year number 2 I think. 

 

I did time it this time and it is between 8-9 minutes before it shuts off the outputs. 

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  • 1 year later...

Oh yeah.. that was last year.. sorry, I thought I have posted the results.

 

It turned out to be the RJ45 jack. How it worked to pass the data and then not work was a head scratcher,   For that season I used an RJ45 "T" and plugged the short cable into the good jack.  After the season was over I replaced the jack and the issue was gone completely. 

 

This year I had a real strange one happen.  I use an ELL to talk to my controller string and the first one after the ELL had a bad comm chip.  Not only did it's LED not come on at all, but it caused two controllers somewhere down the stream to work intermittently.  Those two controllers were about 5 or 6 controllers (wire wise) later in the string.  I fixed the first one at the ELL and the rest straightened right up. 

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The firmware will turn off the lights if the watch dog timer does not sense a polling in X amount of time. The polling also checks to see if one of the inputs has changed state from on to off, or off to on.

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