So it sounds like your real questions is "Are there some methods you could suggest to figure out if the fixtures are working, and if so what personalities / addresses are they"
Personalities are great, but what you are really doing is sending
dmx channels to the
fixture. IF you just bring up the
DMX channels with a
manual in front of you - you can figure out what is happening.
What I would probably do is:
( assumption - you are on a single
universe. If not see notes below)
1 - look at the patch for the
fixture that is doing anything. See what
address it is patched to. Start a new show with a one to one patch for 512 channels ( or 1024 if two universes)
2 - Start manipulation channels around the
address of the
gobo changing
unit. Look at the
manual for the
unit and see if you can figure out what mode it is in, or if it is broken. IE if you find that setting a value on
channel 87 makes the pan work, and 88 makes it the pan move just a tiny
bit you know that the
address of the
unit is set to 87.
For the rest of this lets assume a start
address of 87. You will adjust values appropriately.
Now try the
DMX value 10 from the start. IE bring up
channel 96. If the
intensity comes up you are either in 24
channel or 20
channel. On the other
hand if an offset of 13 *(
channel 99) brings up the lamp you are in 31
channel mode.
If you are in 24 or 20
channel mode - bring up the
intensity and adjust the
DMX channel offset 24 (
channel 110) If the
iris moves, you are in 24
channel mode.
Play with the other
channel values and you can see if the
fixture is working or not.
For the
fixture that is doing nothing - try some brute force. Take channels 1 to 255 up and down. Anything happen? If so try 1-128. Nothing? try 129 to 255. IE do a
binary search of the
address space to see what is going on. If you don't get anything anywhere - the
unit is probably not working at all. It you do get it to wiggle, figure out the
address and mode that the
fixture is set to.
If the fixtures are working patch the fixtures into the
address / mode you have figured out ( and write down the
address / mode of the fixtures). If nothing is making them wiggle ( and you are sure you are sending out
DMX. IE the dimmers for
conventional units did come on and off when you were searching for the non working
unit - right?) Then you need to get them in for repair.
Make sense?