Automated Fixtures - Hog3PC, Design Spot 250's, and LOADS of errors

[LightingPenguin]

So, I've had a really long and very unsuccessful day. So heres my issue:

My theatre is using Hog3PC with a DMX widget (already upgraded). A few weeks ago we got it and installed it and were using it with 4 Design Wash and 2 Design Spot 250's perfectly. Until today, load in.

FYI: All of our issues are with the Design Spot 250's (Elation)

For starters, the color presets don't work. If I chose the red preset, the light output is half blue/half red. Each color preset shows half of the indicated color, and then half of another random color, so we cant use them. We can manually make it all blue, but its still an issue.

Secondly, cues don't work. Period. I've recorded 10 cues, all on the 10th cue list, all in different spots on a wall. However when I hit play, the Design Spot 250's simply point straight down and shine a white light, not going to any cue what so ever.

To make things even more annoying, we plugged in a separate board to use the movers, and they worked perfectly. However the board is extremely ****** and we wont be using it because it can't do what we need it to do.

The Design Wash 250's are working perfectly with Hog3PC I might add

Here is a list of our troubleshooting so far:
-Changed out ALL DMX cabling
-Created new show in Hog3PC
-Reinstalled Hog3PC
-Used 3 separate computers
-Ran one line of DMX from light to widget, no connections in between
-Used separate light board to control lights
-Changed out terminators

All of these attempted fixes resulted in absolutely no change to our errors, and I have no more ideas

Everything is terminated, and everything was working 3 days ago. I have absolutely no idea what the issue is, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Pie4Weebl]

The fact that it was working earlier makes me wonder, but my gut reaction is that you are using the wrong profile for the fixture in the hog. Are the fixtures displaying any errors, are there other devices in the dmx chain working properly?

[LightingPenguin]

Originally Posted by Pie4Weebl

The fact that it was working earlier makes me wonder, but my gut reaction is that you are using the wrong profile for the fixture in the hog. Are the fixtures displaying any errors, are there other devices in the dmx chain working properly?

I'm 100% positive we're using the correct profile in Hog, I checked it countless times. The fixtures aren't displaying any error signs, and I made sure they were addressed correctly both in hog and on the mover. And yes, other fixtures in the line are working.

[Pie4Weebl]

I'm an MA guy so I don't remember the hog window's name, but in the output screen is it displaying the cue you want, or the actual output of the fixture?

[LightingPenguin]

The cue list is displaying the indicated cue. As for the output display (pan, tilt, color, etc) I'm not sure what it reads as I'm not in front of it. I believe it was corresponding correctly when I was programming the cue, but I'm not sure about during the cue

[soundman]

It is really odd to have this problem if nothing has changed. So we are on the same page at one point everything worked perfectly. Not just pan and tilt but the color functions and cue recording.

I have had issues with the fixture profiles with some Elation LED lights. If you did not have correct color control this could be why. The slots were not recorded with the correct DMX values so it was a crap shoot. MY fix was to write my own profile while I waited on HES.

To make sure the fault with cue playback is the lights fault not the boards hit setup and then choose DMX on the menu bar to view the DMX values being output by the board. If the values are changing with the cues the issue lies with the lights. If not it is a programing error.

All sounds very weird. If you want shoot me the showfile and I will take a look at it.

Mike

[LightingPenguin]

Originally Posted by soundman

It is really odd to have this problem if nothing has changed. So we are on the same page at one point everything worked perfectly. Not just pan and tilt but the color functions and cue recording.

I have had issues with the fixture profiles with some Elation LED lights. If you did not have correct color control this could be why. The slots were not recorded with the correct DMX values so it was a crap shoot. MY fix was to write my own profile while I waited on HES.

To make sure the fault with cue playback is the lights fault not the boards hit setup and then choose DMX on the menu bar to view the DMX values being output by the board. If the values are changing with the cues the issue lies with the lights. If not it is a programing error.

All sounds very weird. If you want shoot me the showfile and I will take a look at it.

Mike

I have no actual show file, just random new shows for testing purposes today. We set up like this:
Spot 250>Spot250>Wash250>Wash250>Wash250 on our DMX chain
with the first spot at 1 and so on

I'll check the dmx output tomorrow to see what its doing and report back.

[skote]

I use a Jands Vista with my Design Spot 250s, so I don't know much about the Hog3PC. I do know, however, that the DS250s will exhibit different behaviors for the color wheels (channel 5) based on their channel 16 setting. Setting ch16 to DMX value 0-19 makes the color wheel snap to the nearest solid color. Setting it to values 20-39 enables split colors, like you're seeing.

[lightman02]

Im not 100% sure on your fixtures but I know that on some Elation fixtures as well as many others there are different control modes for dmx that will give you different attribute/channel layouts for the fixture depending on the mode you chose. If you chose a mode then you will need a profile to match that mode, is it possible your lights set to one mode and the profile you are using was written for a different one, cause that will def cause some funky stuff to happen.

[jxgriffi]

The best bet in these situations is to call....wait for it...technical support. They are there to help when you have problems.

HighEnd Tech Support is available 24/7. 1.800.890.8989 If it's outside of normal office hours, leave a message. Usually someone will get back to you within 15-20 minutes.

It's always a good idea to keep tech support numbers in your phone for situations just like this. You'll never know when you'll need it. I have High End, PRG, Martin, VL, ETC all in my phone....because you just never know.