Control/Dimming - Why did houselights stop working!???

[w3st0n21]

hello all.
so we have a show on weds and we realized a couple of days ago that the board would no longer control the house lights. we have a strand CD80 AE dimmer rack with 48 dimmers for our conventionals and 6 more dimmers (91-96) for our house system. this is all run by a strand lightboard M ans is using the AMX control protocol. all of the circuit breakers on the dimmers were on, so that isnt the problem (although i almost wish it was). the only thing i can thin of that we changed was adding DMX to the mix (the board outputs both). i wanted to use scrollers for this show and i am outputing channels 1-90 with the DMX (AMX is outputing 1-192). and my scrollers are addressed to 49-58. does anyone have any idea why this is happening? i have to either fix the problem or tell the drama teacher (which wont be fun) so i would rather try fixing first. anything helps.
thanks

[photoatdv]

Assuming the house dimmers are not in the same rack as the conventional dimmers, make sure the AMX or DMX is still connected to the house dimmers. Also if the house lights won't come on at all look for a seperate breaker panel for them. We have some kind of screwed up setup where there are both dimmers (on our CD80 racks) and some kind of secondary breakers and/or dimmers for our house lights (we discovered this when we tripped a couple and couldn't figure out why the dimmers weren't tripped)

[CBR372]

Also make sure that your house lights are still patched into the board!

[NickJones]

Yeah, make sure you have not blown any fuses, (I doubt you would have) that you have set your DMX addresses properly (Double check),

Can you bring up the lights at the dimmer? I have no experience with the CD80 racks, our system has local control, if you can bring them up with local control then you know that that end is working, and that its a patch or cable problem.

If you try local control and nothing happens, then check that everything is plugged in, for example, 3phase, and your outputs to house lights, if these are both correct ask your maintenance team to go to the fuse box outside, and check nothing has tripped. Our old dimmer used to get jammed, and the only way to fix it was by killing the power to the whole venue, (I install the new system install on Monday!)

If they do work, then you have a less complicated problem, double check your patching on the desk, and your addressing at the dimmer, and that the DMX is propperly pluged in, I rigged a show ages ago (I hadn't slept for a long time) and we had the console on stage as we didn't have a RFR, when I ran the DMX to the booth, I ran it so the input was sitting on my desk. Bad idea. If this is not the case, all is correct and nothing happens, drag the desk down to your dimmer room to check that there is no problem with cabling. I doubt there would be but you never know.

Hope we fixed your problem,
If neither of these work, then post again, how knowledgeable is your drama teacher?
Cheers
Nick

[kiwitechgirl]

I'm not familiar with the board you're using, but will it output both AMX and DMX at the same time? I know that when I've used desks which output both serial and DMX you can have one or the other but not both - could be the source of your problem, the DMX has overridden the AMX. If you unplug the DMX do the houselights start working again?

[w3st0n21]

DMX does NOT override the AMX, i know this becuase i have programed most of the show already. i know all of the breakers are fine. the house lights ARE working, but not with the board, with the wall switches. its not the AMX line because everything else on AMX works, as a matter of fact everything on both AMX and DMX work. we just repatched everything and still nothing. S***. where is the AMX plugged in on the CD80 rack? i cant visibly see it.

[Sony]

If it's a permanently installed rack then more than likely the AMX is hardwired into it on the inside of the rack and you cannot get to it without disassembling the rack which I recommend you DO NOT ATTEMPT. There may be a port on the wall near it but thats not always the case. Are you sure you have the dimmers patched properly? Try doing a Dimmer Check (if you can) to see if you can get the houselights to come up manually and double check you have the right dimmer channels. If all else fails then set your board back up the way it was when it was working fine, with DMX turned off and everything, if it starts working again then it's something with the board. If it doesn't then it's most likely something with the connection to the dimmer pack or the dimmer pack itself.

[w3st0n21]

according to our drama teacher it is a fried circuit board inside, from the sound of it i think that this has happened before. apparently house lights and the stage lights are on 2 seperate circuit boards. dont know why, i guess its for times like this...

[NickJones]

Originally Posted by w3st0n21

according to our drama teacher it is a fried circuit board inside, from the sound of it i think that this has happened before. apparently house lights and the stage lights are on 2 seperate circuit boards. dont know why, i guess its for times like this...

Ah reliability! That's the best thing about HS shows, is trying to get everything to work. In high school its not how well you do your lighting design, its whether the (insert curse word here) will turn on.
Nick

[w3st0n21]

Haha SOOO true. The board is a pos too. Kinda sad. I really want an element.