Control/Dimming ETC Element 40/250 Control Issue

[Tom Kelleher]

Hello,
I have recently upgraded from an Bijoutside Console to an Etc Element. I am having an issue where when I connect the board to the system (dimmer racks and a few intelligent lights) I lose complete control of any of the lights. The dimmer racks go to full and the intelligent lights go to their sound activated mode. When I disconnect the intelligent lights and do a full restart of the board ot works fine with the dimmers. As soon as the intelligent lights are connecter the board looses control. (I am using "Intelligent" loosely as these are cheep Chinese lights but they get the job done.) When I use a entecc usb pro I have control of everything. Basically what I am asking is there some magic button somewhere to make the board compatible with our system.

I have already went into settings and increased the DMX priority.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[RickR]

Sorry, no magic button. DMX is mostly compatible with everything, but stuff happens. This sounds like a hidden DMX wiring issue. It may also be something in the "intelligent" fixtures.

So check out the parts: Test the cables, real DMX cable?. Is your DMX terminated? Connect one fixture at a time and see if some will work OK. When you say "DMX priority" do you mean the sACN priority or DMX speed?

What are all the parts of your DMX system? Splitters? Wall buttons? Other stuff....

 

[Amiers]

I would take all the fixtures and hook them up to the board one at a time til you found the one fixture that might be giving you problems.

Terminate.

I'm curious as to how you used the entecc in this setup. Are you connecting it to a computer or the console?

 

[Tom Kelleher]

Okay I will give terminating a try and pick some adapters up to try out the lights. I used the entecc with a computer to make sure the lights were working correctly. Also I changed the sACN priority to 200.

 

[BobHealey]

Everything jumping to full sounds like something in the console might be misconfigured - make sure nothing's parked on, and all the levels are 0. I'd also try a completely blank show with nothing patched. Am also wondering if there is any difference in polarity between the old console and new console's DMX outputs.

 

[Tom Kelleher]

Wanted to give a quick update on what fixed the issue. I found that one of the lights seemed to be causing problems but then started working. To fix the major problem I was having with the whole DMX network I changed the DMX speed from maximum to fast in the console settings.

Thanks for the help everyone!