One channel not fading. Same controller every year since day one.

[GriswoldStyle]

So every year since I've got lightorama   back in 2016 I have been having a problem with one channel not fading. It just happens to be Channel 1 on the 16 channel controller that came with the showtime starter package. it's very strange because the first two weeks of the show it works perfectly fine. Then out of nowhere the channel stops fading.

it has done this since the very first year and I thought maybe it was because I had too many lights on the channel. Well this year I decided to change it up I only have 9 strands of LED lights on that one channel. Last year I had 18. needless to say last night when I came home from work I see the one channel on the wall not fading AGAIN it just has simple on and off when it is at the part of a song where the lights are supposed to fade. However, every other color/ channel works perfectly fine on all the other controllers and that particular controller. It's just that one channel for some reason. it just happens to be the same controller that came with the package and this has done it since the very first year. None of the add-on controllers ever have a problem. it's extremely noticeable because I have my wall lights separated between 3 channels this year on my blues. now when two walls fade part of the second wall does not and it looks horrible to me.

Any suggestions on what it could possibly be? it's baffling me because for the first two weeks of the show every year it works perfectly fine... then all of a sudden out of nowhere it will stop fading that one channel. I will try to get a video later tonight I didn't even think to take a video last night.

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by GriswoldStyle

[TheDucks]

15 minutes ago, GriswoldStyle said:

So every year since I've got lightorama   back in 2016 I have been having a problem with one channel not fading. It just happens to be Channel 1 on the 16 channel controller that came with the showtime starter package. it's very strange because the first two weeks of the show it works perfectly fine. Then out of nowhere the channel stops fading.

it has done this since the very first year and I thought maybe it was because I had too many lights on the channel. Well this year I decided to change it up I only have 9 strands of LED lights on that one channel. Last year I had 18. needless to say last night when I came home from work I see the one channel on the wall not fading AGAIN it just has simple on and off when it is at the part of a song where the lights are supposed to fade. However, every other color/ channel works perfectly fine on all the other controllers and that particular controller. It's just that one channel for some reason. it just happens to be the same controller that came with the package and this has done it since the very first year. None of the add-on controllers ever have a problem. it's extremely noticeable because I have my wall lights separated between 3 channels this year on my blues. now when two walls fade part of the second wall does not and it looks horrible to me.

Any suggestions on what it could possibly be? it's baffling me because for the first two weeks of the show every year it works perfectly fine... then all of a sudden out of nowhere it will stop fading that one channel. I will try to get a video later tonight I didn't even think to take a video last night.

 

You can put as many LEDS on a channel as the fuse in the plug of the LED's will allow (usually a 3AMP)

That channel nay have been set to ON/OFF mode with the Hardware Utility (HU).  NB Stuck ON or stuck OFF would be a failed Triac.

In HU REFRESH then select the controller with the issue: Click Configuration: Click Advanced Configuration (only avail on Gen 3): On the left side: they should all say  LOR Standard  (if that is what you want)

 

[Brian Mitchell]

 Have you tried to put a snubber  on the channel.  Add a single C7  lightbulb to the channel and see if it then works .

[GriswoldStyle]

On 12/9/2018 at 7:56 AM, Brian Mitchell said:

 Have you tried to put a snubber  on the channel.  Add a single C7  lightbulb to the channel and see if it then works .

Hmmm I think I heard about this before isn't that like putting a night light on the circuit or something?

Something very odd the last 2 days it has not been doing it but then again it's been cold out for the last 2 days and the first two weeks of the display it did not do it either. Maybe I will try to put a night light on that channel I can go to the dollar store today and buy the old-fashioned ones not the LED ones.

Thank you for reminding me about that I had totally forgotten I saw something similar to that suggestion the first year that I started on light arama but I had forgotten all about that

[TheDucks]

2 hours ago, GriswoldStyle said:

Hmmm I think I heard about this before isn't that like putting a night light on the circuit or something?

Something very odd the last 2 days it has not been doing it but then again it's been cold out for the last 2 days and the first two weeks of the display it did not do it either. Maybe I will try to put a night light on that channel I can go to the dollar store today and buy the old-fashioned ones not the LED ones.

Thank you for reminding me about that I had totally forgotten I saw something similar to that suggestion the first year that I started on light arama but I had forgotten all about that

You describe the classic cracked component / cold solder joint. Cold shrinks, heat expands.  Now you know why ET's usually have a can of freeze-it on their bench