Smart RGB lights will not stop blinking while Idle, no shows playing

[LOR Staff]

Please contact Holiday Coro as we have determined that the issue is not with the LOR Showtime Software, but with the firmware and/or the controller they are selling.  They did provide us with several captures that they assumed were incorrect, but as per the E1.31 specifications those packets are indeed properly formatted.

 

The field David pointed out should have no impact on if lights flash or not.  There are 2 reasons for this:

 

1. As per the ANSI E1.31 (2009), that particular field should be NULL terminated, and the S3/S4 software is correctly NULL terminating the field.  (Non computer geek: There are up to 64 characters available for the source name.  You don't need to use them all.  If you use 63 chars or less, the name ends with a NULL character.  When you find a NULL character it, and anything past it is to be ignored).  That means the packets with and without the extra garbage data should be treated identically.
    
2. The field referenced actually should not be impacting lights at all.  The field can be used by a device to decide if it should or should not use a particular value (something called 'merge and negotiation' if I remember correctly).  Even if the 2 packets for the same universe were setting the field differently (see #1 -- they aren't but lets assume they are),  both packets payload (the actual lighting data) are identical:0.  

We have ran multiple other E1.31 devices and none of them experience the same issue.

 

We have not heard back from them in nearly 2 weeks, so we assume they have found the issue with their hardware.

[LOR Staff]

David - I have hidden your reply for now.  Please reply back to the eMail that I just sent.  

[Liberty-Laser]

I hate to pile on, but I too have this issue and no pixel controlling software or testers , except the LOR Listener/control panel is causing my issue.  I've tried every combination I can think of and the issue only occurs with the LOR Listener running.  No sequence of any kind needs to occur to see this, just fire up the LOR Control Panel.

 

This may not be scientific or technical, but it's what I'm seeing.  I do hope SOMEONE finds a solution before October, or I'll have to shelf the ton of pixels I purchased this year.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Liberty-Laser

[proaudioman389]

did notice the same while sequence was playing hard to see it but for sure it was there. the only thing that works correctly is the test patterns with the alpha pix.

[dmoore]

Due to restrictions on posting in our competitors forum, we will be unable to answer additional questions in this location.  Please contact us at:

 

http://holidaycoro.com/contactus

 

Note that you would like to be notified when a work around for this issue has been completed (this will be well before the start of halloween) and we'll send you an email.  If you are on our mailing list, we will also be sending an update their additionally.

 

Thank you,

David

Holidaycoro.com

[dmoore]

Updated firmware to resolve this issue can be found at the following location:

 

https://www.holidaycoro.com/kb_results.asp?ID=114

[greenie95125]

Updated firmware to resolve this issue can be found at the following location:

 

https://www.holidaycoro.com/kb_results.asp?ID=114

 

That takes care of the random blinking for me. Thanks Dave!

 

--Mike

[CK57]

Updating to 1.04 Firmware has solved my issues as well with two long runs channels which had three nulls installed.  

[need lights]

Pixcon 16 controller, brand new, is having similar issues with random blinking on single pixels. Configured properly, ws2811 pixels being used. Issue happens even when no data wire is connected to the board(that is actually when I first noticed the problem during the first test to see the pixels). Powered the board from a clean dedicated circuit breaker. Used built in hardware test and did not notice any random blinking or abnormalities while in test mode. Took the controller out of test mode and random blinking occurs while in stand by mode. Then Connected PixCon16 to a lap top ethernet port(turned off internet), checked out configuration then loaded sequence editor. Random blinking occurs during sequence. At one point it stopped after opening the pixcon assistant utility, even while running the same sequence from earlier. When I thought the problem was gone and began closing some windows, it started again and I could not re create events to start or stop the random blinking. I just bought this equipment and am extremely disappointed. Now Thanksgiving is almost here. What is the fix Lightorama?

[dmoore]

This blog article might help narrow down the root cause of the issue as there are many things other than the controller that can cause random behaviour.

 

http://blog.holidaycoro.com/2015/10/how-to-troubleshoot-random-flashing-in.html

 

Thanks,

David

[fulldeck]

I tripped on this thread because I too had RGB blinking light issues that would begin randomly while the show was idle (came home from getting Christmas tree and house was going wild) and once the control panel was unloaded, it would stop.  So the symptoms are similar and may be completely unrelated but in my case I have 100% LOR controls and networks.  

 

This is my first year running 2 HS RS485 networks with 4 CCPixel 100 controllers on one COM and 1 CMB24D Controller and an older 16 channel legacy controller on the other COM.  I ran all the same hardware last year with 1 HS and one standard and did not have this issue.  In my case the issue seemed to only impact the CMB24D controller with the latest firmware.  For the LOR networks, I had set their speed higher in the network preferences but what I eventually had to do to get them to stop (at least I think it stopped) is turn off power save and hibernate options on the PC and then go to the System Panel and adjust the baud rate on the COM devices.  

 

As I said before, this may be completely unrelated but I thought I would throw it out there just in case it might be helpful to others.

Shane

[bob_moody]

If it's any consolation, I have seen the same issue with my J1Sys P2 controller...

Oddly enough, I turned the whole pixel tree on Red, then Green then blue and the problem did not persist.

However when chasing colors they would flash..

Eventually, the problem ceased and for the last 3 nights I have had no issues.

We loving it call it our Christmas Ghost... A couple of years ago he was picking on my MiniTrees which are incans and driven from LOR controllers...

For what its worth .............

Bob

Edited December 3, 2015 by bob_moody

[LOR Staff]

RF noise on RS485 is Voodoo  You may never find it, or go nuts trying.

[bob_moody]

Already nuts ... (I'm a decorator in year 14.....)

considering the weather, the lay of the cords, the phase of the moon .. etc .. RF noise wouldn't surprise me ...

Bob

[LOR Staff]

Already nuts ... (I'm a decorator in year 14.....)

considering the weather, the lay of the cords, the phase of the moon .. etc .. RF noise wouldn't surprise me ...

Bob

 

If you do a search, you can find a thread around here (from last year I think) about a poor guy who had the same 3 channels blinking when they shouldn't.  Turned out it was his electric fence.

[dgrant]

I see this happening on my P12S too but only when a sequence is actually running. Its not enough to make me take things apart and it was not doing this last year. I emailed Ed today about this and another P12S that has other issues (not in use). I'm using Cat6 throughout so should be very well shielded...still can't rule out noise though.

[LOR Staff]

I wish I knew more about the protocols that all these different pixel strings use (that is, the protocol of what goes up the data wire on a pixel string).  I am all too familiar with how E1.31 works.  I will have to dedicate some study time next year.