Short blackouts / Follow Question

[dktechnik]

Hi Guys,

First i will describe my Setup:
12 LED PAR 64 RGBAW (Eurolite) to light up the room
2 GLP Spot One for colour and pregrogrammed movements
2 Botex 4 Channel Dimmerpacs with 3 ETC Source 4 Jr Zoom to light up the Mainspots
1 Futurelight DSC-40 to be used as a "follow spot"
1 Botex DMX Merger
1 Botex DMX Splitter
1 Botex Scene Setter to be able to control the 6 ETC's and the 12 LED PAR's by Hand (LED PAR's softpatched on 7 channels of the scene setter)
2 Lenovo Laptops with one Sunlite 2 First Class each (One ist just for Backup, we would just take the XLR out of one Interface and plug it into the other in case of Emergency.

I've got 2 Questions / Problems:

I have a big Problem which i hopefully will be able to solve with an other DMX Timing.
I have really really short "Blackouts" sometimes, lets say about five on a show (4 hours).
When it hits up, the LED PAR's turn off for a really short time, i guess 10% off a second max.
Sometimes the MH's are loosing the Position, sometimes they don't.
I have tried to:
-Terminate the DMX Lines at each end
-Take the Spot One out off the DMX line
-Take the Botex Dimmer out off the DMX line
-Take the Merger out off the DMX line
-Take the Splitter out off the DMX line
-Replace the Merger
-Replace the Splitter
-Only control the LED PAR's (no other fixtures in the DMX Line)
-Only control the DSC 40 (no other fixtures in the DMX Line)
-Replace the Interface
-Only use the Scene Setter - this was working without any blackouts

There seems to be a Problem with the Interfaces / the timing.
I tried to change the timing with the 3 suggestions given in the Hardware Configuration Tool. I couldn't recognize a real improvement.
Then I tried to change the timing so that its near to the Scene Setter (I've got an "DMX Doctor" which tells me some off the Parameters)
This helped to reduce the "Blackouts" to only 3-5 on one show and reduce the length to about 1/10 second.
Bevor that we had about 10 blackouts per hour which were up to half a second / one second.

Any Suggestions for an other Timing? If this won't work the only possibility is that the interfaces are both damged.

My second Question:

We will use the DSC-40 as a follow in the future, because there is no space for an real follow where it has to be, and there is no follow with an sufficient (wide enough) beam angle.
I have tried to control it with a joystick, but i couldn't find a possibility to use the joystick with an relative Position, which means I had to hold the Stick in one Position, for the Scanner to hold this Position, but I would like the Scanner to hold the Position, which can be moved by the Stick.
I had much problems to get the Joystick work too, it did not seem to be very stable.
So i decided to control the PAN and Tilt with a trackball in the cross off the Fixture Site, which works pretty fine, but I have to hold on the mouse button all the time.
In the Daslight Software there is a Option to hold on the mouse by cklicking the corss ones.
Is there an Similar Option for the Sunlite Suite 2?

[simonB]

Hi

Regarding the blackouts, unfortunately it could be a number of reasons including USB cable, computer, DMX cable, fixture, laptop. The only way you'll get to the bottom of the problem is to:
-buy a DMX tester which can test the continuity of the signal or detect min/max values over time
-connect the interface directly to the tester and run it over night
-if it's ok, add one of the fixtures/splitters and try again for another night
-add groups of devices until you receive an error

Regarding the joystick control
-Joystick seems perfectly stable to me. Did you follow the manual? What was the problem?
-Relative mode with the joystick is not possible at the moment, however when you release the button, the position is held
-you can move points relatively on an XY grid by holding the ctrl key

[dktechnik]

Hi Simon,

The suggestion with the DMX Tester is nice, but we`ve done this alrteady.
The Tester does not recognize any Problems.
We also have changed the Computer, the DMX Cables, the fixtures, the Laptop (same as Computer).
Also I had in mind that the power of the USB Connector on the Laptop does not have enough power, thats why i tried it with 2 powered USB Hubs
Nothing helped

The only possibilities are:
- Both Interfaces are damaged - I have a new one (not First Class) I will try next weekend
- Both USB Cables are damaged - I ordered 4 new Lindy Cables
- Both Laptops are Damaged (maybe something with the USB Drivers) - I will try it with 2 other Laptops (a Mac with a virtual Windows 7 Machine and a Lenovo T61) next weekend
- The software does not work correctly - I will try to install the beta and the last working Software Build available on the Website for next wekkend
- the Timing is not working corectly!

[dktechnik]

Hi Simon,

I've been to the shows last weekend and tried all above.
The only thing that was working was to use the Sunlite Basic class Interface, which shouldn't support the Easy Show (but it was working?!?)
This means the 2 First Class Interfaces are not working correctly.
But i remembered I did a Firmware Update because it was requiered.
Is it possible that the Interfaces do not work correctly becaus of the new firmware, or are they damaged, and how do i get them to be repaired?

[simonB]

The Tester does not recognize any Problems.

If the DMX tester isn't picking up on this, it could be a lighting fixture problem. It does seem strange that it's working with the BC though. If you'd like to send me an e-mail I could arrange an RMA and have a look at it here in the office