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LOR CTB16PC acting oddly


Ohio Countryboy

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I have 5 CTB16PC controllers and 2 CMB24D controller hooked into my network. The 16 channel controller at the end randomly connects and disconnects from the network. I have connected it to the Hardware utility using the same CAT5 cable that it is currently using. All channels work fine. The LED "heartbeat" light is on and steady during the Hardware test. When reconnected to the network, the heartbeat LED randomly cycles between flash and steady on. I have tested the CAT5 cables and all are fine. The RJ's look okay, not loose, bent etc. Any suggestions?

 

Also I thought I read somewhere that it does make a difference on placement of CMB24D controllers. Should they be placed at the beginning of the chain with Unit Ids 1 & 2? 

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I have 2 cmd24's and 7 ctb16's. They are in no special order. In fact 3 are 100' away from the rest. No issues of disconnect.

My first thought is the cable.

But, order should not matter.

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Cables were my first thought also, but I did test them and they checked out okay. If I disconnect the end controller which will make the next one last in the chain, it will then act the same way. No matter which one is at the end. Makes no scene to me.

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Cables were my first thought also, but I did test them and they checked out okay. If I disconnect the end controller which will make the next one last in the chain, it will then act the same way. No matter which one is at the end. Makes no scene to me.

Also if I use a different computer which runs Vista, the hardware utility only locates 5 controllers. 

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Just a thought - Are you by chance using inline connectors to connect the CAT5 cables to the controllers? I used to use them until they started causing all kinds of issues for me.

 

Mark

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Ohio:

You might be working too hard and overlooking something simple. In the HU do you have the controller count set at 5 instead of 6 or more? just another thing to take a look at.

Z

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I have done more testing on my system. I found all the cables and connections are good. I did find a troublesome controller though. My newest CMB24D. When taken out of the chain, everything else works perfect. I hook the controller up to the hardware utility alone, it was found and works perfectly. Put back into the chain and becomes troublesome again. 

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Ohio:

If you got your problem fixed, good for you. If so what was the solution? Just in case one of us run into the same issue.

Z

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Actually I have not figured out the problem. Seems ppl want to state the obvious, being "loose cables". Well I have new cables now and still the problem is unsolved. If I take the two CMB24D controllers out of the loop, all other controller work fine. I'm close to point of giving up on it.

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So, just to be clear. You have a total of 6 controllers. The controller settings in the HU is set for 6 or more. 4 of them work fine, solid light in the box. When you add the other 2 the show goes down and the light in the boxes start to flash. If this is all correct (and the exact same thing happened to me) this is what I did. I took my laptop that I run the show with out to the controllers, unhooked all of the daisy chain and reassigned each of the controller numbers one by one back to their original numbers. I did them one by one so I could select any controller from the options. Daisy chained them back together, completely shut down the LOR program, then connected the converter to the cat5 and USB, set LOR to run at start up and restarted my laptop. Took care of the problem and it runs like a champ.

Z

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I have 5 CTB16PC controllers and 2 CMB24D controllers hooked into my network. Close to the same symptoms only my show doesn't go black. Certain boxes lose their heartbeat signal (flashing light in the box). I will try this though, sounds crazy enough it just might work.

Edited by Ohio Countryboy
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if you can just run a second network to the cmb24d and leave the rest on the first network.

seemed to fix my problem.

I'll need to research the "how to" for 2 networks. That may be my best option.

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You should not need two networks to make this work.   I had two CMB24D's that I bought and one was acting funny.  Working then not working  etc..  Measured the voltage from the power supply and it was low.  I removed it from the case it was mounted in by the vender, and found the 220/110 switch on 220 volts.  I could not see the switch when it was mounted in the case.  Once I got the 12 volts right it started working just fine.

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  • 11 months later...

Have you been having a lot of rain?  I had the same issue where part of one network would suddenly start blinking and many of the lights would remain in their last position.  Sometimes it would last for but a second, other times it would continue for a minute or longer.  I checked/swapped out everything I could.  I finally found a controller with a questionable comm port.  I was confident that was the problem.  I replaced the controller and it started happening again.  At about the same time the weather was changing, the rain ended, it got drier and finally dipped below freezing.  Without any further action from me, all of a sudden it all went away.  Hasn't resurfaced.  Don't know if this helps any, but wanted to share a similar experience.

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Sorry to hear your still having issues after two years.  Some food for thought.  I don't use any cmb24d's.  You said that the last "end" controller is your problem child.  That would imply that the one prior to it is the problem child.  Don't know if you've done any cable rerouting to make it the second, third, whatever as a means of testing.  You've never said anything about cable length between controllers?  This is RS485.  Since it appears the problem occurs when you plug in a cmb254d I'm wondering if voltage is being sucked down by the cmb24d???  Another fact that you've stated is that it works fine with HU controlling ALL of the controllers.  When running a show your going to be pushing a heck of a lot more data out to the controllers via those cables.   What speed are you running your network at?  And as others have discussed on these forums, which I've questioned, is there the possibility of interference (impedence issues?) if the cables are run near power cables.  Hope this adds some food for thought.

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