Jump to content
Light-O-Rama Forums

10 Watt Flood Issue


Zach Carner

Recommended Posts

Hello,

I have the 10 Watt RGB Flood Package set sold by LOR that utilizes the CMB24D. I mount the flood lights on 10 inch aluminum stakes sold by Wired Watts. I am having an issue with one of the flood lights lighting up green as soon as a CAT5 cable is plugged into the controller. The hardware utility can not turn it off. From the troubleshooting that I have done, when I plug in the CAT5 cables into the controller, the flood light comes on. When I unplug the CAT5 cables from the controller, the flood light turns off. I have updated the firmware and checked the connections for moisture. The problem still persisted. I then tried swapping ports and the problem stayed with the flood light itself. I will admit that I then got a little bit frustrated and ripped the troublesome floodlight out of the ground... and the light turned off.... When I touched the stake to the dirt, the floodlight turned back on. When I raised it up, the floodlight turned back off.

So this leads me to my question. Is this more than likely the result of a short inside the flood that is causing it to ground out on the metal housing of the flood? If so, does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this issue short of just replacing the flood?

Thanks!

Zach

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CAT5 is Data

Is the flood out with the CMB powered (no CAT5)?

BTW What is on the other end of that CAT5. Pleas don't say ETHERNET anything

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have two 10watt Smart Flood with the same issue - one stays Red the other Green - if you remove ground stake from ground, LED goes out - touch ground stake with hand LED comes on... They change color according to Sequence, but remain lit at end of show....  Clearly the module is ground faulting in someway - but have not disassembled to figure out how - I just removed from show for now..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, CAT5 is the data. I connect my laptop (through the RS485 adapter) to my controller using the CAT5 data cable. I then used the hardware utility to test the controller. The controller is connected to the flood via LOR’s extensions. When there is no CAT5 cable connected, but the controller is plugged in, the flood light is not on. The second I plug a CAT5 cable into the controller, the flood light comes on. Even if nothing is connected to the other side of the CAT5 cable. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Zach Carner said:

Yes, CAT5 is the data. I connect my laptop (through the RS485 adapter) to my controller using the CAT5 data cable. I then used the hardware utility to test the controller. The controller is connected to the flood via LOR’s extensions. When there is no CAT5 cable connected, but the controller is plugged in, the flood light is not on. The second I plug a CAT5 cable into the controller, the flood light comes on. Even if nothing is connected to the other side of the CAT5 cable. 

The floods are pure dumb. +12V and you apply the - to the R, G or B.  The CMB simply pulses those 3 color leads tho get combined colors. I even have a simple DUMB RGB test box I made with 3 spring loaded switches (R G B) and a 12V input (1A wall wort)  that I use to test my dumb stuff.

 

Dirt is a high resistance compared to wire. I can't believe it can support the 300mA (or so) for a single color).  Opening the back of the flood may void warranty.

The 'Green' wire (on the cable) may be pinched (providing the connection to the case). Or it may be the LED array Green. Got a DVM? Measure Ohms case screw to the 'Green' wire (not connected to controller

Do we have 2 issues interacting here ?

This make me believe the 'heartbeat' on the LOR Network is triggering something in the CMB24.  What is the LED on the CMB24 doing when connected? The CAT 5 might be providing a ground path via the adapter  (the powered version adapter supplies 10V and return  for use by a ELL or FM: pins 3-6) )

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Jimehc said:

I have two 10watt Smart Flood with the same issue - one stays Red the other Green - if you remove ground stake from ground, LED goes out - touch ground stake with hand LED comes on... They change color according to Sequence, but remain lit at end of show....  Clearly the module is ground faulting in someway - but have not disassembled to figure out how - I just removed from show for now..

Are these LOR? I knew the 50W ones were smart, but the 10W are dumb.  I suspect a bad (data) cable connection (open -) . or the LED  array to board inside has the stuck color pinched or a solder glob)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After measuring the resistance, as recommended, I measured 0 Ohms across all pins at multiple locations on the housing of the light.
 

The LED light blinks both when the controller has the data cables plugged in and when they are unplugged (the flood light illuminates green throughout this time). When I plug my laptop directly into that controller and send it commands via the hardware utility, the flood will respond and change the appropriate colors. It just will not turn off… always goes green. At the time the controller is connected directly to my computer the indicator light is solid. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been an ET for over 60 years (Early Tube era Stereo). Remote troubleshooting is hard as you don't know what things are clues, so please bear with all the Q's.

Normally I would say: If Green never turns OFF (even with HU), the MOSFET for that channel is shorted internally. BUT, you said. it was not ON until you attached a LOR network CAT5

💡  You said PACKAGE. As in board and floods ONLY? (not the RTG with PSU and case). You assembled and wired everything else?

A CMB24 normally applies the ground to the Green (or Red or Blue) via the MOSFET  (+12V is always sent to the Flood).

Attaching a CAT5 brings another ground to the board (pin 6, acc. pwr). somehow that is getting to the floods Green Pin.

WHAT PORT (1-8) is this issue on?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The package I got was fully wired from the factory. It was all plug and play. I didn’t have to wire anything. It worked perfect last year. I picked up a couple additional flood lights when they came back in stock this year. The issue is with one of the new floods. When I plug in one of the old floods from last year into the same port it worked as it should. The issue was originally present in the first port. However, when I move the light to the second port, the issue follows the light to the second port.

I really appreciate the help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Zach Carner said:

The package I got was fully wired from the factory. It was all plug and play. I didn’t have to wire anything. It worked perfect last year. I picked up a couple additional flood lights when they came back in stock this year. The issue is with one of the new floods. When I plug in one of the old floods from last year into the same port it worked as it should. The issue was originally present in the first port. However, when I move the light to the second port, the issue follows the light to the second port.

I really appreciate the help!

The flood light has issues. Open a ticket and ask for a replacement (mention this thread).

You are just plugging it in to an existing controller dangle ?  Since the Package came with 8 dangles attached, are you using a LOR Flood Wye  to connect extra floods to a single port?

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was planning on using the splitter that LOR sells to attach two lights to one dongle, as you mentioned. I’m not changing any of the wiring on the controller, just wiring things up through extensions. The troublesome spotlight was not connected to a “Y” when I was having issues with it. I am going to test the other new flood lights I purchased and see if the problem persists with any of those. Thanks for the help! I really appreciate it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup, sounds like the same problem I had a couple years ago.  In my case it was a bad flood (or got damaged in some way)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...