16 to 32 channels

[Thomas4]

Help please!  I am not a tech saavy person and spending lots of hours on this.

 

I have been running LOR with one controller for a couple of years and have enjoyed it.

 

This year, I bought a second controller second hand, and a new laptop to run the LOR software.  I downloaded the old version that I ran on my previous license and added my license key.

 

Where I am at - I plugged each of the controllers into the pc using a USB 485 connector.  I set my old controller as unit 1, and the new one is recognized as unit 2.  When I refresh the network, both controllers appear and using the utility I can manually turn on all 32 channels.

Using the  simple show editor, I saved a 32 channel super short test sequence to an SD card, popped it in to my mini director and plugged it in.  The show, however only plays the 16 channels of controller 1.  For fun, I plugged the mini director into the unit 2 cat5e and it plays unit 2's 16 channels proving it is plugged in and the cat52 works.

Why can't I play all 32 channels?  Did I forget to configure something.

PS. When I open the hardware utility, I often get pop us that the COMM 3 (which was set up for this network) is in use or unavailable if I have something plugged in to my laptops USB port?

pps: When using the simple show editor, when I click the radio button to filter to 32 channels, or to 16 channels, no sequences appear.

 

Thanks so much for your help!

[Orville]

1 hour ago, Thomas4 said:

Help please!  I am not a tech saavy person and spending lots of hours on this.

 

I have been running LOR with one controller for a couple of years and have enjoyed it.

 

This year, I bought a second controller second hand, and a new laptop to run the LOR software.  I downloaded the old version that I ran on my previous license and added my license key.

 

Where I am at - I plugged each of the controllers into the pc using a USB 485 connector.  I set my old controller as unit 1, and the new one is recognized as unit 2.  When I refresh the network, both controllers appear and using the utility I can manually turn on all 32 channels.

Using the  simple show editor, I saved a 32 channel super short test sequence to an SD card, popped it in to my mini director and plugged it in.  The show, however only plays the 16 channels of controller 1.  For fun, I plugged the mini director into the unit 2 cat5e and it plays unit 2's 16 channels proving it is plugged in and the cat52 works.

Why can't I play all 32 channels?  Did I forget to configure something.

PS. When I open the hardware utility, I often get pop us that the COMM 3 (which was set up for this network) is in use or unavailable if I have something plugged in to my laptops USB port?

pps: When using the simple show editor, when I click the radio button to filter to 32 channels, or to 16 channels, no sequences appear.

 

Thanks so much for your help!

I'm not sure, but are you sure your sequences are set up correctly.  Too me, this sounds like you have ONLY ONE Controller configured in the SE, when you added the 2nd Controller, does the channels that control the lights on the have unit 01 instead of 02?  This is an easy thing to do when adding a new controller, I did it myself years ago when I first started, drove me crazy trying to figure it out.   Then someone told me to verify my sequences, run the LOR VERIFIER program, it will show you what controller is connected to what and any errors that it finds.  However, it may or may not find a conflict if both controllers have the same ID number, but then again, it may.

Also under tools in the SE, click on the Channel Configuration and make sure that you do have Controller 01 and Controller 02, to me it sounds as though the SE has both Controllers in there as 01.  Correct the 2nd one in the Channel Configuration area, it's easy and simple to do. Load a Sequence into the SE, now und4er Tools button, click Channel Configuration, once open scroll through and make sure you have a Controller 01 and a Controller 02, if no 02, here's how to correct it  if BOTH are showing 01, go to the incorrect Controller that is labeled as 01, now where you see 01under the Unit tab, find Channel 1 of your second controller, the under the Unit and next to Channel 1, click on the little down arrow, it will bring up a list of numbers, click on 02, keep doing this for the next 15 channels, click OK.  Exit the Channel Configuration, reload the Channel Configuration and make sure all your changes took effect and that you now have 2 separate Controllers id'd as Unit 01 and Unit 02.

Once done, now Save your updated sequence with this info.  Now before you close the sequence, go to Edit and Export/Import Channel Configuration, Click on Export Channel Configuration, give it a filename like 2019_Christmas Config and save it.   Now all you have to do is LOAD each sequence that needs to be updated with the correct Controller # using the Edit, then click on Export/Import Channel Configuration, now click on Import Channel Configuration, select the filename you just saved and load it into the sequence, this will change all the info in the Channel Configuration area with the correct Controller Id #'s. Now all you have to do is just SAVE the sequence again and your new settings with the correct Controller ID's should now be in place.  Again, do this for each sequence ypu've done and when done, everything should work.

You should now be good to go, and now everything should work from your Director unit.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Orville

[Thomas4]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!  
 

I followed the instructions and still didn’t get it to work, which made me think hardware problem. So I basically switched the units (from 1 to 2 and 2 to 1) and the daisy link worked.  So I think the port in my old box that went from my original box 1 to 2 is defective

that will be an off-season problem!  Got it working in time for my annual Christmas party, so thank you again for taking me through the steps!! 

[Orville]

2 hours ago, Thomas4 said:

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply!  
 

I followed the instructions and still didn’t get it to work, which made me think hardware problem. So I basically switched the units (from 1 to 2 and 2 to 1) and the daisy link worked.  So I think the port in my old box that went from my original box 1 to 2 is defective

that will be an off-season problem!  Got it working in time for my annual Christmas party, so thank you again for taking me through the steps!! 

You're welcome. Anything I can do to try and help.

This may be an easy fix as well.

It could be 1 of 2 possibilities.

#1. Take your fingers and put them around the jack and see if it will move,  very little movement{just barely moves, if at all} should be okay, but mostly it should be firm on the PC Board.  Hopefully this is not what it is, but if you know how to solder, you can take the PC board out of the Controller box after the season and just re-flow the solder on the Cat5 Jack contacts on the back of the board.  If you're not comfortable doing that, after the season is over, contact LOR and put in a Help Desk ticket to get repaired by LOR.

#2.  Hopefully this is the one it is, as this is a very easy and a quick fix to do.  Take a bright flashlight and shine it into the Cat5 Jack that isn't working, see any bent contacts in there?{one or two, maybe more could be bent down further than others}   If so, find a very small tool, like extremely small tweezers or a very small flat blade jewelers screwdriver{smaller and thinner the better}, locate the bent contact and very gently lift it up and back into position with the tool, it may be slightly raised higher than the rest, but that is okay.   Now once done, try putting a Cat5 Cable into that jack and see if it works.  If it does, you just resolved the problem.

If it's neither of these, then, again, as long as it's functioning okay, after the season put in a Help Desk ticket with LOR and they'll help more with identifying the issue and get you fixed up.   Most often it's usually one of the 2 issues listed above, but on occasion it could be something only the LOR folks could repair.

Good Luck!