cetacea Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Here is an issue I just noticed. I have 5 songs sequenced for Halloween and am using 2 controllers. Once all set up and running, I noticed that some channels were not responding as they should according to the sequence. Specifically, I have 5 pumpkins that should go on and off, and also shimmer at times. But when the sequence is played, all 5 go on and off a few times, then stay on for a long time. Then they start to go on and off again as they should. But then they will all come on and stay on again.At first I thought I had a bad controller, so I swapped it out and same issue. Now it gets weird. If I open the sequence editor and click somewhere into it, say 5 seconds and begin play by hitting the spacebar, everything works as it is supposed to. For whatever reason, when started from the beginning, weird things happen.Everything works fine on the animation window, it is just the actual controllers that are not working correctly when the song is started from the beginning.And it is not just the one sequence, all 5 of the sequences act strangely. Has anyone experienced this or a similar problem?I have upgraded to the latest version of LOR.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetacea Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 One thing I forgot to mention, I am using the CTB16PC boards. I see there is a firmware update, how recent is that? I have some controllers from last year and bought some from the sale. Do I need to update the firmware or are they already current? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Check your channel config. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Might try doing a reset per this post.http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/forum76/17184.htmlChuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetacea Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 I tried resetting my board as described on the thread last referenced to, but I don't know if it worked correctly or not. I unplugged power, unplugged the comm cable, and removed the jumper. I powered the board back up and the led flashed more rapidly than normal. I then unplugged, put the jumper back on the second row, connected comm and powered back up. When I run the hardware utility, it detects the board as the same numbered unit that it was assigned. If the board was reset, wouldn't the unit ID be wiped? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 cetacea wrote: I tried resetting my board as described on the thread last referenced to, but I don't know if it worked correctly or not. I unplugged power, unplugged the comm cable, and removed the jumper. I powered the board back up and the led flashed more rapidly than normal. I then unplugged, put the jumper back on the second row, connected comm and powered back up. When I run the hardware utility, it detects the board as the same numbered unit that it was assigned. If the board was reset, wouldn't the unit ID be wiped?The Unit ID is preserved when you reset. All other settings are reset.Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetacea Posted October 11, 2008 Author Share Posted October 11, 2008 Ok, then that didn't fix my problem. My Halloween display is running right now and some channels are acting crazy and not doing what they are sequenced to do. Again, if I start the sequence from about 5 sec into it, then it works fine throughout. But if it starts from the beginning, then they act strangely.All channels are configured correctly and plugged into the correct plug.It really makes the display look crappy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Does it act the same way if you run it in the show player?Is there something that is turned on during the first 5 seconds that is not turned on when you start the sequence 5 seconds in?Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetacea Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 I noticed it first when running with the show player. But it also does the exact same thing with the sequence editor. Nothing out of the ordinary at the beginning of the sequence. It is very strange, as it does the exact same thing every time. It isn't sporatic or random. The pumpkins just come on and stay on instead of do the sequence that they are supposed to. But again, if I start it from 5 or more seconds in, they work exactly as they are supposed to.I think I will try to create a new sequence and just copy/paste the sequence onto a new one and see what that does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jones Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Do you have two tracks assigned to the same unit/channel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad02 Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Funny, I'm on this board looking for an answer to the exact same problem. My show has been running for two weeks and tonight the channels are freezing "on". The only difference is that it's raining tonight with about 80% humidity. Is this due to the weather? The conytoller sits under a roof so no rain will hit it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 I just encountered the same problem here. Instead of doing a nice fade, they now shimmer. It has worked fine all day, untill about the last hour or so. The controller is creating its own commands :shock: The sequences are fine, and I tested it out on two different laptops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetacea Posted October 26, 2008 Author Share Posted October 26, 2008 I personally think there is a bug in the latest version of the LOR software. I might try to install an earlier release and see if that fixed the problem. Other than that, I am at a total loss. I really hope this doesn't happen with my Christmas sequences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Actually, I just had a similar thing happen in testing my channels on the board for the first time. I started in the hardware utility, with all 16 blocks checked for the select circuits to test section. I took 1 set of lights and connected to 1 channel at a time and tested each effect in each channel. I have 1 or 2 channels that the twinkle effect dosen't start, or it starts after a period of time (maybe 3 to 5 seconds). If I go to another effect, and then back to the twinkle effect, sometimes it works, sometimes it dosen't. I actually have video of it doing this, and was just looking on the support boards to see if anyone else had the same problem. This seems to be a similar problem in that the board is not following the commands from the software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Justin,You may want to try and do a reset on your board that are not doing the fades correctly. Also, what light are you using? LED? Incadescent? IF LED then you might try using a snubber ( resistive load such as a single c-7 on the same line)Bisquit,From what i recall of the twinkle function what you discribe would be about correct behavior if you only are using one string of lights, one channel at a time. Twinkle is a random (if anything really is random) turning on and off of the channels. The effects are actually controlled via the firmware, it is just the command from the computer that tells the controller what to do. Try using several sets of lights to see the true twinkle effect.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Thanks Chuck, but this twinkle thing only happens on 2 channels, using the exact same set of lights. And it is channel 9 and 10 or 11 that it does it on, so I have other channels working the same before and after these 2 channels. I don't know enough about what controls each special effect to know if it's a software or hardware issue, but I haven't had a full 16 channels lit yet. I'm not complaining about it, just sounded similar to the issue cetacea had in that a command for a special effect sent from the software is ignored or not received by the controller. Thanks again,Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 cmoore60 wrote: Justin,You may want to try and do a reset on your board that are not doing the fades correctly. Also, what light are you using? LED? Incadescent? IF LED then you might try using a snubber ( resistive load such as a single c-7 on the same line)Well, I tried my sequences again this afternoon and they are working fine now. I don't know what happened to them last night. So I think I will let them run a while and let the board get "hot" again, and see what happens. I am using normal mini lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad02 Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 I don't use the shimmer effect if the sequence timing is .05 just program an on every other box. i.e. on/off/on/off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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