Music plays. Lights stay all on

[Dale W]

Using a DC-MP3 player, We can hear the music, but the lights are all on and not following programming. Looking for long distance trouble shooting advice.

[Orville]

My first question is: Do you have any LOR software programs open on your computer AND the USB485 connected via cat5 cable to both the Director and the computer?

 

If you have ANY LOR programs open, Sequence Editor, Hardware Editor and try and run a show on any Director unit, you may get very sporadc results, lights all on, lights randomly turning on/off.   You can't have the Director connected and running at the same time as any OR software on a PC.

 

If this is not your issue, then it could be one of 4 things:

 

#1. Your cat5 cables may be too close in proximity to your electrical wires.{6" minimal spacin of cat5 and electrical wires}

 

#2. Update to the latest firmware for your Director unit.{may or may not help resolve the issue}

 

#3. Your sequence may have something in it telling the lights to come on and stay on.{operator error in sequencing}

 

#4. Your Director may be defective and need to be replaced.{unusual, but possible}

 

For #1: Move your cat5 cables at least 6 inches at a minimum away from any light, prop or controller power wires.

 

For #2: Just go to the main LOR website, locate support, and find the area to download the latest firmware for your device{s}, you may need to update both your controllers and your Directors firmware.

 

For #3: Run the LOR Verifier on your sequences and see what errors show up, although all lights on is not an error per the verifier, that would be the the person doing the sequencings error.  But the verifier can show you what channels are off or if there is some other issue with the sequence{s}.

 

For #4: Unless your Director has developed some other issues in reading your SD card, something has gone bad in the unit, or may just be defective and in need of replacement.  Open help ticket and send back to LOR for repair/replacement.

 

If there is anything I may have missed or didn't think about, hopefully someone else will chime in here with additional info to help you get this resolved.

 

Although the most common issue I encountered when using an DC-MP3 Showtime Direcot was when I had the SD Card inserted and the Director was running a show and I had one of the LOR programs open on the PC with BOTH my PC and Director connected to my USB485B, then I'd get all lights on and stay on, because the Director got mixed signals, one from the computer via the USB485B and from the SD card in the director, so it would either turn all my lights on and keep them on, or other times, it would randomly turn on and off lights in my display.

 

Once I removed the connection from the director to the USB485B and the PC, my issues disappeared, but I also did have to update the firmware in my Director and my controllers.

 

Good Luck and hope this may help you get things going in your display.