Chauvet ColorTube lights won't stop strobing!

[Dsync]

Hi everyone. I have a question about some Chauvet ColorTubes. I found 12 of them with a ColorTube DMX adapter in a storage room in my venue and figured I would try to get some use out of them. My problem is that whenever I patch them into my console, they won't stop strobing! It's driving me up the wall. They work perfectly fine in standalone mode, but as soon as I start sending any DMX signals, they start strobing. Now they do appear to be outputting the correct colors and patterns, but they are strobing at the same time.

I'm on an Avolites Azure console with a personality file for the tubes from the avo website.

Please don't just tell me that Chauvet is stupid and I should get better lights. I'm well aware of how unprofessional Chauvet fixtures are. I do NOT typically use their lights. But I found these and they would look great on my stage if they would only stop strobing!!!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice

 

[derekleffew]

...I'm on an Avolites Azure console with a personality file for the tubes from the avo website. ...

Sounds like either
a personality file with a wrong default value for the strobe channel, or
fixtures in the wrong mode/don't match the personality.

Are these Chauvet ColorTube 2.0 or 3.0? What is the model of the "ColorTube DMX adapter"? How many channels does the Azure personality file you have use? Does the personality have a strobe channel you can adjust the level of?

 

[Dsync]

Just wanted to update you guys on the tube situation. I started playing with the settings on my console and decided to go off on a wild goose chase and set the DMX signal delay to some insane value. I'd had it at 50-something milliseconds for some Martin movers but decided to take it through the roof. So I bumped it up over 400 milliseconds and BAM!! The tubes stopped strobing.

I must say, these tubes are actually very cool lights. Despite not being able to handle a faster DMX signal, they look really great. I set them up virtically 3 inches apart around the front of the drummer and they are creating some super cool effects. There's no RGB mixing on these fixtures, but considering that they didn't cost me anything, I'm very pleased with them.

I hope this information helps someone else who is having the same problem =)

 

[jmabray]

The problem is that, yes, you can slow your DMX signal down to make them work, you shouldn't have to do so. If they would make products that adhered to the DMX spec, none of this would be an issue. I have such a problem with them over this issue. Not so much that they made a faulty product to begin with, but rather, when I brought it to Chauvet's attention at LDI 3 years ago, they basically told me that I was crazy, that no one else had these problems, that these were one of their more profitable fixtures, and that they weren't about to spend the 50 cents extra per fixture to go "Fixing" an issue that they said didn't really exist.

(It doesn't exist so much that another company actually makes a product to fix this problem....)

They lost all credibility in my book when they told me that face to face on the LDI show floor. I go out of my way now to not reccomend their fixtures to anyone and everyone who asks - solely because one guy basically told me to F***-off....

 

[len]

I'd just patch them as dimmer channels, or alter/write your own profile. My guess is the profile is wonky. You'll find that a lot with older fixtures. Mfg. realized the bad press of inaccurate profiles, and have really made a point to get the right info to console mfg.

 

[jmabray]

Nope not the issue at all. It came down to the interbyte timing on their DMX reciever chips and it not meeting spec. It was so far out of Spec that several manufacturers called them on it and were met with the same response...

 

[SHARYNF]

Nope not the issue at all. It came down to the interbyte timing on their DMX reciever chips and it not meeting spec. It was so far out of Spec that several manufacturers called them on it and were met with the same response...

I do not know what Chauvet did for the colortube but I do personally know for a fact that on the Colorstrip, Chauvet produced a new internal board that totally resolved the problem.

Sharyn

 

[derekleffew]

Glad you resolved the issue, Dsync. FWIW, we call what you've experienced a type of flicker, rather than strobing.

Details on Chavet ColorStrip issues in this thread: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...here-guys-jands-vista-chauvet-colorstrip.html .

BTW, one of the products Fleenor introduced at LDI is the DMX Decelerator, for use when a console can't slow down its DMX512 output speed enough to suit some fixtures.

 

[Lotos]

BTW, one of the products Fleenor introduced at LDI is the DMX Decelerator, for use when a console can't slow down its DMX512 output speed enough to suit some fixtures.

Ironic, I actually queried about purchasing the older DMX Regenerator the other day to slow down a DMX Output... Milton from DFD sent me a lovely email.

Thanks for your mail. At the LDI show, we introduced a lower cost device to address this need. It's called the DMX Decelerator (that's themodel number, too). It is a smaller version of the DMX2DMX interface we have been selling for this application. The new device is smaller, but is still opto-isolated. Unlike its big brother, it can not convert DMX to CMX or CMX to DMX. It's only DMX in and DMX out. It has a list price of US$200.

We sell our products through our network of dealers. The product isn't on our web site just yet, but it looks a lot like this: Doug Fleenor Design - DMX2iPLAY but without the address switch and connector on the front panel. It simply has 5 pin XLR connectors for DMX in and DMX out. The front panel has 3 LEDs (power, signal, and channel 1 mimic), and a "SLOW/FAST" switch. We have the DMX Decelerator in stock.

Regards,

Milton Davis, Engineer, ETCP-CEE-RT
Doug Fleenor Design, Inc.