Control/Dimming Chauvet DMX problems

longshore

Member
I have a similar problem with LED lighting-- i will try to explain. I have a new setup in a youth church building. We have puchased 8 Chauvet LED slim ( par 38 ) 2 regular par can lights with bulbs and 1 dmx4-led dimmer pack. we have all of the lights hooked up to a obey 40 board. All of the leds work perfectly with out going through the dmx dimmer pack ( which we have so that we can run both the par can lights and also the LED ones with the same board ) when we hook up the DMX dimmer in our system the led lights begin to flicker and jump around. the can lights work fine with the faders on the obey 40. All of the leds are assisnged to the right channels in the board to make them come on. my only guess is what maybe this dmx dimmer pack does not work with our system? it has both the DMX in and DMX out. Im lost and any help would be appreciated.
 
Are the LED slim power cords plugged in to the dimmer pack? If so, that may be your problem. The LED slimPARs should be plugged directly into a wall outlet and not into a dimmer pack. Each channel on the DMX-4 is supposedly configurable as either a dimmer or a relay. If you need to plug the LED slimPARs into the DMX-4 then make sure their channels are configured as a relay. Dimmers should only be used for incandescent loads like your PAR cans. The DMX cable should daisy-chain through the dimmer pack and the LED slimPARs.
 
Are the LED slim power cords plugged in to the dimmer pack? If so, that may be your problem. The LED slimPARs should be plugged directly into a wall outlet and not into a dimmer pack. Each channel on the DMX-4 is supposedly configurable as either a dimmer or a relay. If you need to plug the LED slimPARs into the DMX-4 then make sure their channels are configured as a relay. Dimmers should only be used for incandescent loads like your PAR cans. The DMX cable should daisy-chain through the dimmer pack and the LED slimPARs.
Yes they are plugged directly into a wall outlet. The only connection to the dmx dimmer pack is the main dmx cable from the obey 4 which is in the ( dmx in )and then I have the ( dmx out )cable running to my first led par 38 and they are daisy chained to each other.
 
That sounds right so let's look for a DMX cabling issue. The most likely problem is either a lack of termination, a poor connection, or the wrong type of cable on the DMX run. The first thing to try is adding a terminator to the run. If that doesn't work, then try swapping the order of the devices on the run to see if the issue can be isolated to a particular unit or cable. Common culprits include using microphone cable instead of cable intended for DMX, or cold solder joints in the cable or in one or more of the devices.
 
The only two that are erratic and not controllable are the first two in the daily chain. All of the other units work fine with everything hooked up. I tried to isolate these two by puttin the dimmer back
At the end of the daisy chain. For instance the main dmx goes strait to the led par 38 and then it's daisyed through all 8. I then put the dimmer box at the end of the chain and still the first two led pars are not working ( they are erratic - showing all sorts or colors and such ) when I un-plug the dimmer box everything works normally? I may already know the answer to this but do I have the wrong dmx dimmer pack?
 
That's an unusual one. The first 2 are erratic just when the dimmer pack is in the chain? But work perfectly fine when not? With DMX still, or in stand-alone mode? Are the two problem units addressed the same? My guess would be an address conflict thing; such as your dimmer pack has overlapping addresses with the 2 units and so when you think you are controlling the incandescents, you are also affecting some of your LEDs.

Mayhaps?

-Tim
 
Did we answer the termination question? Without a terminator, problems can show up anywhere in the chain, doesn't have to show up at the end. This is due to signal reflection noise that occurs without terminators. Could be the pack just adds enough reflection to push it over the edge. Make sure there are no mic cables in the mix, and that none of the connectors have pin #1 and the shell jumped. (some mic cables do.)
 
Try to add the first two at the end.

The other thing I have had a problem with is my dimmer pack causing problems with Chauvet lights. I checked all of my cables, had a terminator, and everything, we replaced the dimmer and everything was fine.

Also FYI I have had DMX issues with a few of my slim par pros. I had to send them in for repair. They would randomly quit responding to DMX and would need to have power cycled.
 
Did we answer the termination question? Without a terminator, problems can show up anywhere in the chain, doesn't have to show up at the end. This is due to signal reflection noise that occurs without terminators. Could be the pack just adds enough reflection to push it over the edge. Make sure there are no mic cables in the mix, and that none of the connectors have pin #1 and the shell jumped. (some mic cables do.)

You can also add an opto to split the signal in a pinch and that will most likely solve your issue as a work around. Sounds like improper cable being used or lack of termination, or is your run to long?
 
At my church, we are installing several par can 64s with the gel packs on them. I have 2 optima dimmer packs and one levitron dimmer pack. I am trying to connect them all DMX to my chauvet stage designer 50. I set the first dimmer pack to a001 the second to a005 and the third to a009 which should let me controll all 12 lights on the first 12 faders. I can only control 4 lights on the first dimmer pack...only when it isn't daisy chained to the other dimmer packs. I am stumped on this one..can someone explain to me what I need to do to be able to controll all my lights.
 
At my church, we are installing several par can 64s with the gel packs on them. I have 2 optima dimmer packs and one levitron dimmer pack. I am trying to connect them all DMX to my chauvet stage designer 50. I set the first dimmer pack to a001 the second to a005 and the third to a009 which should let me controll all 12 lights on the first 12 faders. I can only control 4 lights on the first dimmer pack...only when it isn't daisy chained to the other dimmer packs. I am stumped on this one..can someone explain to me what I need to do to be able to controll all my lights.

Is the Levitron pack DMX or Micro-Plex? If they are all DMX then set them all to a001 and try each one on it's own on channels 1 to 4.
 
Good day Lucas, and welcome to the ControlBooth forum!

I'm pretty confident we'll get the dimmer issue worked out, as there are a number of learned people here with experience to spare. If you don't mind stopping by the New Member thread and introducing yourself, you're likely to hear from other worship leaders and/or local lighting folk from SE Missouri.

Welcome to the ControlBooth Lucas!
 
Hi, I have been installing a brand new dmx light system for a banquet room at a restaurant. The problem is that all the lights (which are all different) are all using the same channels for control. But the Obey 70 doesn't seem tho have that option. What I was hoping was to control each light differently at the same time. Does anyone know if you can change or costumize the channels each fixture uses? Or does anybody now if you can control a light and disselect the fixture and it will keep on running, so I can control another light? I have tried making chases, but there is not enough. Please help me out. This is the list of fixtures I am using. - 2 pinspots-2 DMX dimmer packs- 2 chauvet cubix- 4 color strips.
 
Ok this lighting board can only talk to 12 seprate addresses and they are as follows...1=1, 2=33, 3=65, 4=97, 5=129, 6=161, 7=193, 8=225, 9=257, 10=289,
11=321, and 12=353
 

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