New Ion xe no DMX on boot

[RichG]

Hey all, We've just taken delivery of a shiny new Ion xe. However we've found that if we boot the console with the DMX cable connected, the board doesn't seem to output DMX. If we unplug the DMX wait a couple seconds then replug the DMX, everything works fine. Tech support had us connect an LED fixture with a short cable directly to the console, of course that works fine. We do have an opto-isolator, and house architectural DMX control in the mix which we've also isolated/eliminated, but whatever DMX line we plug into the board (other than the single LED unit) we don't get any output, until we unplug/replug. Anyone ever seen anything like this?

 

[DuckJordan]

Is RDM turned on? I've only noticed weird things with RDM

 

[RichG]

Ok this is the craziest thing. On a whim we swapped out the DMX cable between the console and the opto-isolator. Works just like you’d expect. Restarted a handful of times no issue at all!

Hopefully this helps someone someday. Try the simple things first, Occam’s Razor!

 

[DuckJordan]

Check that cable and see if its 120 ohm or if its mic cable. Also check the ends and see if they're wired the same on each side.

 

[RichG]

Troubleshooting continues….So when I said it was the cable, yeah I was wrong. It turns out that the DMX line from the console goes directly into a Leprecon APC hub for our house controls. The output of the APC goes to the opto-Isolator and out to our dimmers and fixtures.

Could it be that the Ion is sensing DMX on the line when booting and disabling output?

Eliminating the APC (DMX cable from Ion direct to opto-isolator) solves the problem with the Ion but then we loose our house controls.

Problem with the APC Hub?

I have emails into both Etc and Leprecon.

 

[SteveB]

The APC literature indicates it uses 3 pin DMX. As there is no such thing as “3 pin DMX”, all DMX standard connectors are 5 pin, I question the cables being used. All too often somebody is using non DMX data compliant cable with that 3 pin connector, so I’d question that. As well. I assume the APC takes the Ion DMX data and merges with its own data and puts that out as a combined DMX signal of stage lighting plus APC house lighting. Possibly the Ion data DMX is too fast or too slow and the APC can’t deal with it. The Leprecon literature states you can re-time the DMX signal in some how, so maybe look into that. I think you can do this on the Ion in setup, cannot recall.

 

[egilson1]

Can you go out of the console to the opti, then out of the opti into the APC with its own data run?

 

[FMEng]

The APC has optional 3-pin DMX, so the unit in question might be standard 5-pin.

 

[SteveB]

The APC has optional 3-pin DMX, so the unit in question might be standard 5-pin.

The Leprecon APC literature didn’t list 5 pin but did list 3 pin. Thus my assumption for the OP is that would be the connector he sees. Closer pictures of the devices seems to be 5 pin, so perhaps you are correct. OP can answer that.

 

[SteveB]

Can you go out of the console to the opti, then out of the opti into the APC with its own data run?

Always hard to guess what’s going on. I assumed the Ion puts out DMX, that goes into the APS, which merges DMX for house and stage lighting, that signal goes to the opto to be distributed to “dimmers and fixtures”.

Seems to be a simple problem solving. Remove the APC and opto. Run DMX just to one system such as dimmers and see if problem occurs. If not, then Ion is OK. Add opto. If problem occurs, problem with opto. If no problem, add APC. I there’s a problem, likely the APC. I’m still thinking timing.

 

[RichG]

We've received some good troubleshooting info from Leprecon support. It will mean resetting the APC, which will require reprogramming the house lights, but that's a small price to pay if we can get this working. We'll be back to the space next week to troubleshoot further and will share what we find. Thanks all for your questions and ideas!

 

[RichG]

The APC has optional 3-pin DMX, so the unit in question might be standard 5-pin.

I believe we tried this. IIRC we had control of the stage lights but not the house. We'll test this again when we are next in the space and confirm. I will say that this is not the signal path Leprecon recommends, but it's worth another try.

 

[RichG]

The Leprecon APC literature didn’t list 5 pin but did list 3 pin. Thus my assumption for the OP is that would be the connector he sees. Closer pictures of the devices seems to be 5 pin, so perhaps you are correct. OP can answer that.

The connectors are all 5 pin, that of course doesn't mean all are connected... We'll be opening the connectors on the cables at least to verify...

 

[DuckJordan]

The connectors are all 5 pin, that of course doesn't mean all are connected... We'll be opening the connectors on the cables at least to verify...

not really need, pins 4/5 are not technically used except for RDM.

 

[derekleffew]

not really need, pins 4/5 are not technically used except for RDM.

Pins 4 & 5 are NOT USED for RDM, either.

RDM was designed to work over pins 2 and 3, not 4 and 5. This is because many places cable inventory even if it does have all 5 pins, only the first 3 are terminated. Therefore, RDM was designed to piggyback on top of DMX data.