I'll jump in with a few thoughts, if that's ok.
The OP says he is getting some lights latching on when the console is turned off and he is using a Lightronics TX-30. My guess is that the TX-30 is latching onto a DMX death gasp and not timing out and letting go of channels after some time. In looking at the manual, putting DIPswitch 2 in the down position will turn off the Hold function and will likely solve your problem.
Talk to any of us that have built AMX converters [college project], are familiar with the standard, familiar with Strand's implementation of the standard and/or had to support AMX systems in the field, and we can tell you that there are a number of interesting things that can happen. Problems pop up for several reasons:
- The clock signal timing is very loose in the spec and often the receivers use analog components that tend to drift. Yes, not all Strand desks talked to Strand dimmers but there was sometimes a timing [and level] tweak that you could do on the console.
- The pulsed analog signal for dimmer levels was subject to noise interference and distance drops through control wires.
- Some systems were installed with Clock- and Common swapped which would work with a Strand console and fail with a converter.
- Early Strand systems used a protocol called CD80 which was not always compliant with the later standard of AMX-192.
- Some systems have 96 channels on a control line instead of 192. This can be mixed in "universes" of control so the plan for conversion is to have a converter per data run no matter what your dimmer count.
- Some converters always send out an AMX [clock] signal even if the input DMX source is removed. This causes CD-80 fans to run all the time. Know what your converter does.
I'm sure there are more tidbits but that's all that's on the top of my head at this point.
As far as ETC/LMI Response products, I am also sad that they have mostly gone away. They were pretty solid and feature-packed but over time we were faced with good competitors at good prices and since our sales were dropping, we just gradually stopped promoting the items. To be honest, some of them had been around since the mid-80s and they just weren't cost effective to make anymore since DFD and Pathway could do the same circuit design with smaller, more-dense components. There are still thousands of them out there and we certainly keep them running when they, from time-to-time, fail. Also, we do still make a few of them on request.
Hope this all helps. Try the DIPswitch before you do anything as it is a cheap test.
David
The OP says he is getting some lights latching on when the console is turned off and he is using a Lightronics TX-30. My guess is that the TX-30 is latching onto a DMX death gasp and not timing out and letting go of channels after some time. In looking at the manual, putting DIPswitch 2 in the down position will turn off the Hold function and will likely solve your problem.
Talk to any of us that have built AMX converters [college project], are familiar with the standard, familiar with Strand's implementation of the standard and/or had to support AMX systems in the field, and we can tell you that there are a number of interesting things that can happen. Problems pop up for several reasons:
- The clock signal timing is very loose in the spec and often the receivers use analog components that tend to drift. Yes, not all Strand desks talked to Strand dimmers but there was sometimes a timing [and level] tweak that you could do on the console.
- The pulsed analog signal for dimmer levels was subject to noise interference and distance drops through control wires.
- Some systems were installed with Clock- and Common swapped which would work with a Strand console and fail with a converter.
- Early Strand systems used a protocol called CD80 which was not always compliant with the later standard of AMX-192.
- Some systems have 96 channels on a control line instead of 192. This can be mixed in "universes" of control so the plan for conversion is to have a converter per data run no matter what your dimmer count.
- Some converters always send out an AMX [clock] signal even if the input DMX source is removed. This causes CD-80 fans to run all the time. Know what your converter does.
I'm sure there are more tidbits but that's all that's on the top of my head at this point.
As far as ETC/LMI Response products, I am also sad that they have mostly gone away. They were pretty solid and feature-packed but over time we were faced with good competitors at good prices and since our sales were dropping, we just gradually stopped promoting the items. To be honest, some of them had been around since the mid-80s and they just weren't cost effective to make anymore since DFD and Pathway could do the same circuit design with smaller, more-dense components. There are still thousands of them out there and we certainly keep them running when they, from time-to-time, fail. Also, we do still make a few of them on request.
Hope this all helps. Try the DIPswitch before you do anything as it is a cheap test.
David
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