Dglass4321 Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 A few nights ago I was out in my yard checking the lights to make sure everything was functioning when I noticed string number one on my mega tree was coming on when it shouldn't. I observed the lights for a while and noticed that string one and segment 5 of my arches where coming on at the same time when they should not be on at all. They are controlled by different boxes. I also noticed that both strings came on when they should according to how I sequenced them but also lite unexpectedly. I checked the sequences and everything was proper. The next day I reloaded the sequences from my backup in case something had been corrupted. That night my program failed to start so I created a new program and got it started. Observing the lights again, the original problem had gone away but now segments one and two of my up-ray and one of my small trees was coming on when they shouldn't. And they were all coming on at the same time. I doubt that anyone would notice the problem but I know my sequences and it just pops out at me when something is wrong. It's really more of an annoyance than anything else. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Run the verifier utility and look for channel or ID conflicts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 24, 2017 Author Share Posted December 24, 2017 Sorry I didn't get back sooner but family activities had to come first. I ran the verifier utility and all I got was warnings about channels being completely off. So I went in to the hardware utility and each strand came on as it should. They responded when I told them to fade and to twinkle etc. I was out looking last night and I saw several other instances of strings coming on when they shouldn't. If I have time tonight I will verify all my sequences just in case I do have a goof which is probably a few isolated cases but a new sequence I just loaded a couple of night ago has the same two ray strands coming on. The really annoying thing is that I have an all white sequence that has one red tree coming on for a split second! I'm also thinking I may highlight and use the delete key to clear everything in non-illuminated cells. I figure it can't hurt. Could this possibly be the CAT5 cables? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcktpwrd Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 how close to power cords are the cat5 cables running? I have heard of issues if the cat5 and power cords are running parallel to and close to each other... might be worth a try to separate them as much as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 I've gone from bad to worse! Now I've got entire routines going on that aren't even part of that sequence! As an example, I've got nine smaller trees that are chasing and nowhere in that entire sequence do they chase according to the sequence I created. Last night I confirmed that all my sequences are correct. Today I am trading out the computer that I am using to run the show. I haven't mentioned it but my shows were created with the simple show builder. This morning I built another show with the show and schedule editors. This is extremely frustrating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 I do have one instance where the cat5 cable and a power cable are bundled but those are the last two boxes in my configuration and are not the ones causing the most notable problems. Next year when I put the lights up I'll fix that but it isn't an easy fix as the bundle is elevated over the driveway. It certainly isn't insurmountable but how much separation would be required? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 25 minutes ago, Dglass4321 said: I've gone from bad to worse! Now I've got entire routines going on that aren't even part of that sequence! As an example, I've got nine smaller trees that are chasing and nowhere in that entire sequence do they chase according to the sequence I created. Last night I confirmed that all my sequences are correct. Is the stuff that is coming on when not expected always doing it at the same place in the same way, or is it quite random? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Along the same lines as Jim's question, how do you sequence? What I mean is do you use keyboard commands with the "Select" button pressed in the tool bar, or do you use your mouse to press the tool bar button corresponding to the effect you want to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 This morning I changed out the computer with a different one, reloaded the sequences and audio (from my backups) and created a new show on that computer. Since it is still daylight I can't really tell if it is still constant with the old set up but I can see that I am still getting a chase routine that shouldn't be there and my arches aren't responding on the blue channel but they perform perfectly on other sequences. Tonight I am thinking about going out to buy new cat5 cables. I sequence using a mouse to select the cells and then right click to chose what I want them to do. I've opened a ticket with LOR. I don't know if they can help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 The point I was trying to ask about (that you did not answer), is if the extra channels come on at the same point in a sequence every time, the problem is almost certainly that it is in the sequence that way. One of the things to remember especially with LEDs is that they will light up quite noticeably at fairly low levels. This coupled with a channel that is just a few percent ON will be almost impossible to see in Sequence Editor or Visualizer. But that channel will light quite noticeably on the lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 28, 2017 Author Share Posted December 28, 2017 10 hours ago, k6ccc said: Is the stuff that is coming on when not expected always doing it at the same place in the same way, or is it quite random? 1 hour ago, k6ccc said: The point I was trying to ask about (that you did not answer), is if the extra channels come on at the same point in a sequence every time, the problem is almost certainly that it is in the sequence that way. One of the things to remember especially with LEDs is that they will light up quite noticeably at fairly low levels. This coupled with a channel that is just a few percent ON will be almost impossible to see in Sequence Editor or Visualizer. But that channel will light quite noticeably on the lights. Sorry I guess I didn't answer your question. Yes, they seem to come on at the same point in the four sequences I've identified as having problems. It is not the same routine for each sequence; one has the chase sequence, one has arches issues one has two segments of my seven segment ray coming on when they shouldn't and one has the same ray segments not coming on when they should. This is not a power issue because all the string do light up correctly in other sequences. "the problem is almost certainly that it is in the sequence that way." no to this possibility. The worst offender is the chase sequence so I went in to the sequence editor for that sequence and highlighted all the cells that were not "On" and turned them all off just in case. It had no effect on the issue. I can understand that maybe an "oops" could happen but a chase sequence is too complicated for accidental creation at a low level of illumination. And I think I would certainly remember if I had scheduled a chase sequence at say 5% on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 28, 2017 Author Share Posted December 28, 2017 Forgot to add that the sequence with the chase routine was completed a couple of weeks ago. As I normally do when I complete a sequence, I sat outside and watched it to make sure it was what I wanted. There were no issues with the sequence. That issue didn't appear for a couple of days. I had not touched the sequence after it was added to my show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 Can you send me one of the offending sequences, and tell me when (timewise) the problem happens. jim at k6ccc dot org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whyintheworld Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 I have two different shows run per day. Yesterday, for the first time, I noticed that all my E1.31 boxes were running show #1 graphics and all my LOR regular network boxes were running show #2... All season long I never had a glitch that I couldn't explain... A reboot of the computer didn't fix it at first either... In fact when I rebooted the E1.31 props all just froze with the current lighting. I had to power cycle the yard in order to get everything back. That along with the reboot took care of it. No idea why other than it has been hovering around 0 degrees here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Say watt?? Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I had something similar happening last week. I unloaded and reloaded the LOR control panel and that fixed it. I also saw Chinese characters at the top of the log in the status window. Every few days I see the Chinese text and reload the control panel before weird stuff starts happening, so far it has worked. I'm running SE version 4.2.6, but will be updating when the season is over. Apparently updating to version 4.2.12 or higher will cure this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 Thanks for the suggestion. So far nothing has helped. Yesterday I completely changed out my cat5 cables and that did nothing. So I'll give it a shot and reload the software to see if that helps. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 15 hours ago, whyintheworld said: I have two different shows run per day. Yesterday, for the first time, I noticed that all my E1.31 boxes were running show #1 graphics and all my LOR regular network boxes were running show #2... All season long I never had a glitch that I couldn't explain... A reboot of the computer didn't fix it at first either... In fact when I rebooted the E1.31 props all just froze with the current lighting. I had to power cycle the yard in order to get everything back. That along with the reboot took care of it. No idea why other than it has been hovering around 0 degrees here... Thanks for the response. LOR help desk suggested something similar but it didn't help. It doesn't happen with every sequence. I know I have four sequences that are obviously affected. I have one sequence that is the worst so last night I started to recreate it from scratch not using any templates. I'll finish it this morning and see where it goes. This particular sequence was finished a few weeks ago and ran perfectly the first night. It wasn't until the second night that the "bug' showed up. We are hovering around 80 here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dglass4321 Posted December 29, 2017 Author Share Posted December 29, 2017 On 12/27/2017 at 8:40 PM, k6ccc said: Can you send me one of the offending sequences, and tell me when (timewise) the problem happens. jim at k6ccc dot org Jim, I'd be happy to send you the sequence. I may not be able to get it to you until tomorrow but I'll send it. Do you need all the peripheral files or just the LMS file? I spent last night recreating the sequence from scratch so when I get it done, I'm going to try it out to see if it gets corrupted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 13 minutes ago, Dglass4321 said: Do you need all the peripheral files or just the LMS file? Mainly the .lms. If you have a Visualizer file, that might be handy, but not required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Any updates on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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