N2-G4 possible glitch?

[rmturner54]

Running a simple animation for Halloween to check out my new N2-G4 director.  2 shows.

Show 1- the halloween show, start 7PM-end 10PM

Show 2-landscape lights for after show, start 10:01PM-end 6AM

I monitored the show fairly close since it was my first real run with the director. No issues during the show. Upon checking after Show 1 was complete and Show 2 running.

There were 2 rgb lights still on from the main show, Show 2 was running just fine. Had to remove and re-insert the SD card to turn off the 2 RGB lgts.  All was good after that. 

Show 2 was off this morning as programed

Was it just a minor glitch? I dont know. I have gone thru my Halloween seq just to verify things. Any ideas? Thanks.

[k6ccc]

Were those two lights still on in the sequence at the end of the first show?  I don't use a director, but when running a show from a computer, depending on settings, any lights that are on at the end of the last sequence will stay on (I actually depend on that).

BTW, start the 2nd show at 10:00 - not 10:01.  Else you could end up with up to one minute of dark between shows.

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by k6ccc

[rmturner54]

Yes they were still on after the first show had been over and the 2nd one in progress. I used to run from a computer for years and never had an issue unless it was a component failure. Upgraded to S5 and it was either a new computer or a director. 

Back to the issue. Why do you actually depend on lgts staying on?  There again never had that issue with my old XP laptop. I will see what the system does tonight.

[k6ccc]

3 minutes ago, rmturner54 said:

Why do you actually depend on lgts staying on? 

Some of the stuff I do with interactives during my year round landscaping show has lights that are set to a static condition during a startup sequence, then not touched during the main part of the show EXCEPT when the interactive is triggered.  At the end of the interactive, those lights are back to the static condition.  At the end of the evening show, those lights are expected to stay on during the transition to the overnight show where they again are subject to being triggered.

As to your original question, there are settings to turn off lights at the end of each sequence and also at the end of the show

[Orville]

Make sure you have LIGHTS OFF checked when creating your SD Card shows for a Director, also make sure there are NO STRAY Lighting commands at the end of the sequence, I leave the last block in all my sequences BLANK{OFF}, as this assures I won't have any stray lights on after the main show ends and the next one starts.  Also make sure you have "Lights Off at end of sequence" checked in the sequencer itself when creating sequences for your shows.

Those are the only 3 reasons I know for a Director to leave lights on after a show has completed.  So I take those 3 actions to prevent this from happening.

However, even a small power glitch could cause this issue, and it might have just been one of those that created the problem, but if you use the same sequence and show files {haven't changed anything} and it does it again, the above 3 areas are where you should look closely at.  Especially the end of the sequence itself, it's real easy to miss a lighting command or two {or more} if you use fades to slowly fade out the lights at the end of a sequence.  As there could be just enough of a command to keep lights on that you might not even see or can see!  I've had it happen and tracking down the commands that are practically non-existent is difficult, but if you know which strand and controller {if RGB} it is a little easier, just go through and look at those channels and see if there are any commands at the end of the sequence and tun them off, even if you can't see them, on that channel if it's a fade out, refade until almost the last block, on some sequences I have to leave the last two blocks empty {OFF}, these methods have worked for me for years with Directors.

Also, like Jim stated: start your next show at the same time your last show ends, if 10pm is show 01's end time, Show 02 SHOULD start also at 10pm, otherwise you will have darkness between your shows, however on my Director Show01 is the main show, and I want folks to know the show is over for the night, so if it ends at 10pm, I allow the house/show to go dark for 2 minutes, shows over, then I start my overnight static rotating animation of my lights at 10:02pm or as late as 10:05pm after the main show is over for the night, my overnight show stops at 7am, then my off-hours music only sequences start, no lights, just Holiday music from 7Am until 5:25pm, then my main show starts at 5:30pm, my Friday and Saturday main show ends an hour later [11pm] and the overnight shows starts later [11:02pm].   All depends on YOUR preference on how you want your show[s] to run.

Edited October 28, 2021 by Orville

[rmturner54]

That makes sense on your light staying on from time to time.

I did find the selection in the sequencer to turn lights off after playback, and I do have it selected

[rmturner54]

I do have the "lights off at end of playback" checked in the sequencer.

Adding a off command to each channel at the end of the seq is a really good idea. Like I said this is a first for me with this issue.

Pretty sure have the lights off checked when created SD card.

Thanks for all the really good input and info. 

 

[rmturner54]

22 minutes ago, Orville said:

then my off-hours music only sequences start, no lights, just Holiday music from 7Am until 5:25pm

I know this is a little off topic and it was going to be another post soon. How are your doing the music only seq's. I used to use Zara Radio to play xmas music all day. But now with the director

I haven't had time to look into that yet. 

Let me know, I can create another topic which might be beneficial to eveyone

[Don]

You could always add an "All off" sequence as the Start up for your after hours show. That would force all lights off.

Then if you really wanted to (And I've done this on some commercial clients) schedule an All Off type show to run after your after hours show.

[rmturner54]

30 minutes ago, Don said:

You could always add an "All off" sequence as the Start up for your after hours show. That would force all lights off.

Then if you really wanted to (And I've done this on some commercial clients) schedule an All Off type show to run after your after hours show.

It took me reading this a couple of times to get what your saying, but I get now. Thanks

[Jimehc]

I had this happen with the very last sequence played... the lighting command went till the end of sequence... show completed director went into wait... last lighting command stayed on....  Clear the very last column in the sequence (so all lights off) solved it..

[Orville]

4 hours ago, rmturner54 said:

I know this is a little off topic and it was going to be another post soon. How are your doing the music only seq's. I used to use Zara Radio to play xmas music all day. But now with the director

I haven't had time to look into that yet. 

Let me know, I can create another topic which might be beneficial to eveyone

I create a musical sequence that only has 1, that's "ONE" single channel in it, I usually use a channel that is unused on the controller I select for that channel {Controller #12{HEX{, and Channel 16, which is an open channel.  Just create a one channel sequence using a single channel, then EXPORT that as a Channel Config, I use a name like 1-Channel OFF HOURS Music, and it can utilized for ANY Holiday you want, Halloween, Christmas, etc.   That way if you're doing a lot of single channel music sequences, you can set that as the default channel config, but remember to reset it back to your full sequence channel config for whichever holiday you're doing!  That's what I do.   Because of the 99 sequence limitation of the Directors, this year I've been combing songs into one long MP3 file, usually about 5 to 10 songs, sequence is then about 20-30 minutes or so for the 5 songs, around 45 minutes to an hour long for the 10 song compilations, which I use an audio editor [like Audacity] to combine all the songs into one MP3 file, then I create my sequence from the compilations. 

I name these compilations like HW001-005.MP3 HW006-011.MP3 [Halloween] or XM-001-005.MP3, SM-006-011.MP3[5 songs] or XM-012-21.MP3 [10 songs], this way I know how many songs are in the compilation.  I try to select songs based on how long they are, if too short, I may add in longer songs, I try to go by the song length it plays, example: 2:30, 5:30 would = 8 minutes until I get the compilation as near to 30 minutes or 60 minutes in most cases that I can, doesn't have to be exact.  Then, when I create the sequence from the MP3 compilation, I name the sequence HW01.xxx or XM01.xxx [where xxx = the extension your software suite creates].  Once I have all the MP3's compiled into their own medleys, then I create the sequence from them and use them in my Director during the daytime OFF-HOURS of my display.  This way I can have more than just 99 songs and only have to have ONE SHOW for up to 99 sequences with compiled MP3 files in them.  Yes, it takes a while to load and save them from the sequencer to the SD card, but this way I'm not using up additional shows that I need for other options in my main show.  This can also be used for show files if you so desired, just copy and paste from the original song into the correct part of the sequence that matches the song used, but you'd have to keep a hard copy record of what songs and in what order they are in each of those sequences to use that option.  I don't keep track, just use these for of-hours playing of Holiday music only.  So I have no idea what 5, 10 or more songs may be in any given MP3 compiled file, as to me that doesn't matter, since, I am, again, only using them for off-hours play time.

If you like, send me a PM with re-mail, and I'll upload a couple of these compiled Halloween files I was creating for this year, but time got away from me, so not doing anything in the way of music for Halloween this year.  Even though I don't do an actual Halloween display, I usually put up a few RGB strands and play music, this is absolutely nothing.  

Then I could give you the info where to download a couple of the samples I created to help you understand and see how I this is done.   I have over 500+ Halloween themed songs, along with over 1500++ Christmas themed songs in my collection that I ripped from all the Holiday and other music CD's I own.  Or buy from CDBaby , ITunes or Amazon.

But it really is a very simple process.  You don't have to do it in compilations, if you want to keep the 1 dong and 99 sequence limitation, but I hate repeating the same set of songs over and over for that off-hours music only show that runs for 10 hours and 25 minutes.  Don't need to drive my neighbors insane. LOL   This is the only option where I miss using the computer to run a show, then you don't have the same limitations and can do a lot more, plus play the songs in a randomized fashion, which is not possible with a Director unit.

It all sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.

[Orville]

16 minutes ago, Jimehc said:

I had this happen with the very last sequence played... the lighting command went till the end of sequence... show completed director went into wait... last lighting command stayed on....  Clear the very last column in the sequence (so all lights off) solved it..

Yep, that's what I had to do, even though lights off at end of sequence was checked on in the sequencer, sometimes the sequence still won't turn off the lights that may have a lighting command in that last block or two.  At least that's been my experience with every Director I've owned and used.   You'd think it would, but it doesn't always.

However, running from a computer does have an advantage here, as I never had this issue when I ran my show from my computer for a couple of years until I could get the funds t buy an N4-G4 Director, but my old, and dead, DC-MP3 Director [LOR 1st and Original with real-time clock] did the same thing from time to time.  I'm thinking there may be a small lag time, not enough to really notice between sequences, but enough to miss turning off the lights when it should, just some lights would stay on, not all.   So I don't believe there are any glitches with the Directors, just possibly a short lag time, and it's very, very short, enough to keep some lights lit that shouldn't be.

[hasslerk]

1 hour ago, Jimehc said:

I had this happen with the very last sequence played... the lighting command went till the end of sequence... show completed director went into wait... last lighting command stayed on....  Clear the very last column in the sequence (so all lights off) solved it..

Also a "lesson learned" years ago on my part.  Its amazing all the little things we have encountered over the years that we just forget about and leverage work-arounds that just become habit.

[rmturner54]

I modified my Halloween sequence, show 1 and added 2 secs of off command to the end.

When I got home at 11PM(show was set to stop at 10P). Show 2 to start at 10P. Every light was on, like they were stuck.  Again I pulled the SD card and all lgts turned off, inserted SD card and show2 started up as programed 

Edited October 29, 2021 by rmturner54

[Orville]

5 hours ago, rmturner54 said:

I modified my Halloween sequence, show 1 and added 2 secs of off command to the end.

When I got home at 11PM(show was set to stop at 10P). Show 2 to start at 10P. Every light was on, like they were stuck.  Again I pulled the SD card and all lgts turned off, inserted SD card and show2 started up as programed 

That is very odd.  May be time to contact the LOR Help Desk, as I've never had that issue once I did the above criteria.  It always works, unless something is causing interference along your cat5 cables {to close to  a power cord somewhere?}  Other than that, I'm thinking there just might be an issue with your particular Director, provided you've checked and done the above suggestions and it's still doing it.

 

In my above comment about 1 channel sequences, that re-mail should have been you're e-mail, and I went to see what compilations I've done, looks like I err'ed, don't have any Halloween ones done as yet, but do have Christmas ones completed for the off-hours music task.  As I slap myself on the forehead, thought I had done some Halloween, but seems I was only working on Christmas themed off-hours sequences.

Send me a PM with your e-mail, and you can download a couple of these sequences, they are in S4.4.16 PRO, as I haven't migrated into S5 as yet, still learning that one, which is on the back burner until after mid-January 2022.

Edited October 29, 2021 by Orville

[rmturner54]

I did open a ticket with the help desk when I first started this post.

I went back re-read my beginning info on this.  Iam only running a 1 minute seq that loops continously and ends at 10PM (show 1). Then show 2 from 10PM-6AM.

I appoligize for the lack of this most likely important info.

Edited October 29, 2021 by rmturner54

[k6ccc]

59 minutes ago, rmturner54 said:

Iam only running a 1 minute seq that loops continously and ends at 10PM (show 1).

Do you mean that this is an animation sequence that has loops in the sequence, or a single one minute sequence that is the only sequence in the show (and therefore repeats every minute)?  If it's the latter, and if you made sure that the very last timing grid was completely dark, you should be seeing the lights wink out every minute.

 

[rmturner54]

17 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

Do you mean that this is an animation sequence that has loops in the sequence, or a single one minute sequence that is the only sequence in the show (and therefore repeats every minute)?  If it's the latter, and if you made sure that the very last timing grid was completely dark, you should be seeing the lights wink out every minute.

 

I am using 2 controllers with 2 shows. Show 1 runs all the lights for both controllers and is a 1 min animation that has no loops in the sequence but is selected to loop continous in the HUD when creating the SD card. I have it set to run from 7P to 10P.

Then show 2 which is my landscape lights also  with no loops in the sequence but is selected to loop contnious in the HUD to run from 10P to 6A.

I hope this clears it up better.

Edited October 29, 2021 by rmturner54

[rmturner54]

I have been testing all morning with different times/timings. Problem solved.

Here we go- since show 1 is  1 minute long, when the SD is given the command to end sequence, its going to finish out whatever it's playing. So by adding a dead spot( i picked 2 min's between shows) this give the director time to clear it's data before show 2 starts. The help desk confirmed this also.

 

Edited October 29, 2021 by rmturner54