Two part CMB24 question.

[Al Saunders]

Hi Everyone. Didn't find what I needed by searching and not sure which forum to post in so please move if needed.

I am setting up my second CMB24 controller. The first works fine on the regular network for my 8 CCR Floods. It's running slower speed and there is a bit of lag so I need to move to Aux. A network and use the 500K speed with my red connector.

The issue I am having when testing this 2nd CMB is that in the HU I can change the pixels to the three basic colors just fine. When running a sequence that has RGB channels the two strings are blinking as they are changing colors. I'm going to test again but it also looks as if the colors in the sequence are not always the ones I'm seeing being outputted on the strings. These will be RGB window frames, dumb RGB and are 50 pixels each and each window will have two strings on it. The strings came from HolidayCoro and seem to be working fine. Could the blinking be from only having two strings connected? The sequence doesn't have this blinking to it, everything is pretty smooth.

Second question is how do i change the network my RGB items will be on? I want to run my regular A/C controllers on the regular slower speed network and have all RGB/CCR items on Aux. A network running 500k speed. And one final question, how do you setup having two ports going for the two networks? My network preferences have Com7 running the regular LOR network and I manually chose Com8 to run 500k Aux A network.

Or...the other option would be to run everything on the regular network at 500k speed and only use Gen 3 A/C controllers. I have several of the metal boxed controllers and only one is gen 2 based on it having the dials to change the unit id's.

Anyway, thanks for any advice and info. Have a great day.

Al

[PhilMassey]

I run 20 10W dumb floods and another 5 channels of dumb strip plus two AC controllers on a "black" adaptor with no lag. Should handle hundreds of conventional channels.

Check the ID on the '24. Be sure to set it from the dip switches on the board, not the HU. If you set it from the HU it won"t stick and will revert to whatever the dips are set to, probably ID 1. That will conflict with your other controllers and give the unpredictable results you describe.

The number of strips does not matter, BUT you must adhere to the max load specs for each port and bank.

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by PhilMassey
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[TheDucks]

CMB and CTB controllers should play fine together . No harm bumping the speed up on the Black to 115K, but the CMB does not need 500k.

All ports DO NOT NEED TO BE connected or sequenced.  (I use some as singles (monochrome) )

Do check your firmware levels;  V1.05 gave me no issues. AFAIK Enhanced mode is supported IF all your other AC controllers are Gen3

 

What happens if you Swap ID's (at the controller)? does the problem move?

To change Adapter assignments. Use the Channel Configuration tool in the SE for your show. (the buttons at the bottom affect the dumb board or Pixie Port (? IIRC I had to do the base, then ALL of the next n ports for the board)  assigned network 

[Al Saunders]

Thanks guys. I admit that at first I had dip switches 10-12 selected to 'On' instead of switches 7-9 to make the unit be unit #7. So it went into a reboot mode "I think" as it had a blinking LED status and in HU it displayed something like bootlog or something for the unit name/number. I went ahead and downloaded the newest firmware and installed it on the CMB24. I'm thinking of doing a short animation sequence using all 8 channels with slow fades and color changes and running that to see how it reacts.

I think my LOR1600W's are all Gen 3 since they have the LED display for unit id number. I currently have 8 A/C controllers and one CMD24 for my floods and am planning on adding this 2nd CMB24 for the RGB window frames and a Pixie16 for a CCRII tree.

These are 12V strings so I'm pretty confident that two strips per port on the CMB24 is fine as the total number of pixels is 100.

And thanks for the info on using the channel config tool.

[k6ccc]

3 hours ago, Al Saunders said:

I currently have 8 A/C controllers and one CMD24 for my floods and am planning on adding this 2nd CMB24 for the RGB window frames and a Pixie16 for a CCRII tree.

Until you added the Pixie at the end of that sentence, you were fine at quite low speed. Eight AC controllers plus two CMB24 controllers is only 176 channels.  That would be no issue at 115K or 56K and maybe even OK at 19.2K.  Adding the Pixie 16 if it's fairly heavily loaded WOULD be a problem at slower speeds.  That should be at least 500K and preferably Enhanced.

Note that any prop that will be sequenced with Motion Effects (Pixel Editor in S4) MUST be on an enhanced network.

 

[dibblejr]

5 hours ago, Al Saunders said:

Thanks guys. I admit that at first I had dip switches 10-12 selected to 'On' instead of switches 7-9 to make the unit be unit #7. So it went into a reboot mode "I think" as it had a blinking LED status and in HU it displayed something like bootlog or something for the unit name/number. I went ahead and downloaded the newest firmware and installed it on the CMB24. I'm thinking of doing a short animation sequence using all 8 channels with slow fades and color changes and running that to see how it reacts.

I think my LOR1600W's are all Gen 3 since they have the LED display for unit id number. I currently have 8 A/C controllers and one CMD24 for my floods and am planning on adding this 2nd CMB24 for the RGB window frames and a Pixie16 for a CCRII tree.

These are 12V strings so I'm pretty confident that two strips per port on the CMB24 is fine as the total number of pixels is 100.

And thanks for the info on using the channel config tool.

Let me add one more item - if you are adding a pixie16 you will need to be on version 4.3.14 (I believe) it may be 4.3.18. Prior to whichever it is the pixie16 was not built into the HU.

Oh, and don't forget the red HS adapter.

JR

Edited September 30, 2019 by dibblejr

[Al Saunders]

Thanks Jim and JR. I just checked and I'm running 4.3.22 Pro so I should be good version wise and I have two red adapters. Jim, I was planning on having the Superstar sequences for the CCRII tree imported to SE as data file and will take your advise in using the enhanced network. I didn't get a chance to try my animation sequence to see how it looks but will soon.

Thanks guys,

Al

[k6ccc]

Since you are using S4 and using SuperStar to sequence the pixel tree, you have the choice to export from SS in Legacy format or as an Intensity file.  My recommendation would be to use the Intensity format unless you have a real reason not to.  Doing so does require that you run the pixel tree on an Enhanced network.

 

[dibblejr]

1 hour ago, Al Saunders said:

Thanks Jim and JR. I just checked and I'm running 4.3.22 Pro so I should be good version wise and I have two red adapters. Jim, I was planning on having the Superstar sequences for the CCRII tree imported to SE as data file and will take your advise in using the enhanced network. I didn't get a chance to try my animation sequence to see how it looks but will soon.

Thanks guys,

Al

With the pixie16 you will def need the 500K Enhanced

JR