Random Channel Issue

[jgaylord]

I'm running into a very odd issue. In my display, I have a segment where the lights are all on for several songs. During this time, it's easier to notice issues with lights. I have 2 networks: regular for the RGB and Aux A for classic (AC) lights. Both networks are using 56K speed and the regular is enhanced. This was the same setup I used last year. When in the Hardware Utility, I can turn on the lights and they come on just fine. However, when I enable the scheduler, during random songs, only at the start of a song, random channels go out. I have two controllers for the classic lights. So on one controller, I may see Channels 9, 14, and 15 go out whereas on controller two I'll see Channel 5 go out. The only consistent thing is that those lights are on solid (100% across the board). I have a USB-485 with a Cat-6 cable between one controller and the PC with a Cat-6 between the two controllers (daisy chained). In addition, when the lights are all on, I tend to use a Motion Effect on a Pixel Tree in the RGB network. I'm noticing that in the beginning of songs, completely random, the lights go solid white instead of the motion effect. 

To me this seems like a communication issue, but on two different networks and two different USB-485 (on different COM ports)? I'm running software version 5.5.14 Pro. 

Thanks in advance for any ideas. I'm really stumped here and disappointed as I always have the lights on for Black Friday.

[TheDucks]

PIXIES don't like snail (<115K  for really simple stuff) speeds.  500K more than a single  Pixie 4 on the network.

HU will run just fine at slow speeds (I don't even think it can be set, just the Net and ID)

[jgaylord]

Got it. I actually think I found the problem. There's 3 actually. Two I can solve and the other I cannot.

1. SOLVED - PIXIES - When copying and pasting from sequence to sequence, the LOR software sometimes only copies over part of the segment. In my case it copied the intensity, but not the settings. It said it was a Spiral, but even the preview (and edit mode) were just white pixels. I was able to fix these rather easy. But see the copy issue below.
2. SOLVED - AC Lights - I'm going back to the old hack of setting every other tenth of a second to 99% instead of 100%. I believe this will end up working
3. NOT SOLVED - LOR Copy Issue - I went back to a sequence that I created a couple of years back to copy the values to go from 99 to 100 and back and forth. When copying into new sequences, the values sometimes copy as Completely On for the full sequence, sometimes Face Up from 99% to 100%, and sometimes Fade Down from 100% to 99%. Because of this, I'm not sure that I'm really solving #2, but I'll know more later. Anyone else notice this?

[k6ccc]

2 hours ago, jgaylord said:

SOLVED - AC Lights - I'm going back to the old hack of setting every other tenth of a second to 99% instead of 100%. I believe this will end up working

That's a very old issue and you made a very complex solution.  The problem shows up (sometimes) when a channel is ALWAYS the same level and never changes.  Because of the way the LOR protocol works, that means the show player essentially never sends a lighting command to the controller for that channel.  The solution is to make it change once in a while (and it does not need to be often).  Particularly in my year round landscape lighting, I have some channels that never change, so in each sequence, I make the same 100 to 99 to 100 change - just once.  Usually the first timing box is a fade up from 99 to 100%.  That's all it takes.

 

2 hours ago, jgaylord said:

NOT SOLVED - LOR Copy Issue - I went back to a sequence that I created a couple of years back to copy the values to go from 99 to 100 and back and forth. When copying into new sequences, the values sometimes copy as Completely On for the full sequence, sometimes Face Up from 99% to 100%, and sometimes Fade Down from 100% to 99%. Because of this, I'm not sure that I'm really solving #2, but I'll know more later. Anyone else notice this?

Nope.

 

[jgaylord]

Thanks for the responses Jim.

The changes from earlier did not solve the issue. Random channels that tend to be in that "100 to 99 to 100" category go out completely at the beginning of random songs. The checkbox to turn used lights off at the end of each sequence is unchecked. There is no delay. There's also no cleanup sequence. Yet, in between songs, the lights completely turn off and back on again. This just started happening this year. Here's a screenshot of my AlwaysOn show. 

To recap, here are my new 2 issues:

1. Random channels on the AC network go out at the start of a sequnce.
2. Lights go off in between songs despite the settings above.

I'll chalk up the copy issue to a machine issue, although it's odd the way it handles copy/paste.

[jgaylord]

So, as I mentioned above, an older version of the software would allow me to put 100% in one tenth of a block and 99% in another tenth. However, the new software changes it to a "fade up " or a "fade down". On those sequences, the channels still go out. On the sequences where it actually has 100 and 99 in alternating blocks, the lights appear to stay on. Or, at least in my small sampling they have. Any ideas how I can force this in the new software?

PS: I don't have any additional USB-RS485 to swap out. I do have a brand new 75' Cat 5e cable arriving later this week that I may try swapping out in hopes that the cable is it. I don't believe it is though.

[jgaylord]

4 minutes ago, jgaylord said:

Any ideas how I can force this in the new software?

Bingo. Found it. I'm going to try to hard force it and see if that works.

[Don]

7 minutes ago, jgaylord said:

However, the new software changes it to a "fade up " or a "fade down".

Change your minimum intensity to 99%, then Apply Minimum (or KB shortcut I (not L))

[jgaylord]

Down to just one issue. In between songs, the AC lights turn off for a solid "1 one thousand 2". During that same time, the pixel tree freezes in mid-animation. Finding that weird based on my settings above. Thoughts?

 

@Don Thanks for the response. My issue was not with setting the minimum and maximum intensity values. That worked appropriately. The issue was with the Fade Level setting when pasting or setting the values. If the value is not None, then fade is enabled. The issue I'm running into with this is that it isn't persisting that value with the sequence. See the screenshot below for the setting I'm referring to.

@k6ccc Thanks again Jim. Setting the values hard for the entire sequence was needed or at least appeared to be needed. I have 96 songs with that setting so it took me awhile to update. Just did and tested (1am my time so I'm sure my neighbors love me).

Appreciate both of your continued support on the forums!

[jgaylord]

Any ideas on the above? Still can't figure out why in between sequences the AC lights turn off and the pixel tree freezes for about 1-2 seconds.