Chauvet Q-spot 575 startup issue

jonjchris

Member
Hey All,

I have a few Q-spot 575's in my inventory, and I am having an issue with one of them. Now I know that these fixtures are quite old, and I don't have much hope of getting them working again but I thought I would try anyways.

One of my fixtures fails to go through the boot cycle. I have it and a second one pulled apart and have been trying to figure out which component is bad. Once plugged in and turned on, the fixture will strike the lamp as it should. About 10-15 seconds after the bulb strikes, the bulb will then shut down and it will not continue on the the boot cycle. My first thought was to change the bulb igniter. I switched the igniter from a working fixture with no change. The bulb igniter from the broken light works just fine in the second one. I have also tried switching the memory chips from the good light to the bad one with no change as well.

Before I go trying to switch every component in this light, I was hoping someone might have some insight for me. Thanks much!

Jon
 
Hi Jon,
I've alerted our Customer Service department. Can you please PM me some contact information, so I can have them speak to you directly?
I will have them call you...so, no waiting on hold.

thanks,
-Ford
 
Sounds like the boot routine is encountering a fatal error and shutting the unit down. Could be a missing voltage rail or the inability of a home sensor to see motion to the home position within a given time. Is anything coming up on the display or is the display dead?
 
Sounds like the boot routine is encountering a fatal error and shutting the unit down. Could be a missing voltage rail or the inability of a home sensor to see motion to the home position within a given time. Is anything coming up on the display or is the display dead?


Nothing comes up on the display. From what I understand, these fixtures strike the bulb first and them go into to boot cycle. Once the boot cycle is complete the fixture will go to its home position.
 
Nothing comes up on the display. From what I understand, these fixtures strike the bulb first and them go into to boot cycle. Once the boot cycle is complete the fixture will go to its home position.
Odd. I have a few of their baby brothers. Generally, they strike early in the cycle, then go about testing all the motors and park themselves at home and start accepting DMX. The displays always have something on them during boot. If something is blocking the motors, the display goes to "err." The fact that there is no display sounds like a voltage buss is missing. The fact that they shut the lamp down sounds like the logic is running as the fixture is taking an action (lamp out) after assessing a problem.
 
We have 12 of these, well 6 working ones... I had a few do something like this, and I had to replace the whole mainboard.
 
Hey All,

I am writing again with the hopes of getting some more ideas as to the problem with my Chauvet Q spot 575 fixtures. I first posted in this forum a few months ago and since that time put the fixtures on the shelf and left them alone for a while. I dug back into them this week and learned a bit more. I finally traced my problem to the main PCB. It turns out that The fixtures are burning out the 10A 250V fuse that is on the main PCB. I am wondering if anyone has a wiring schematic for these fixtures so I can begin to trace why this is happening.

Or if anyone knows why that fuse would blow, please let me know. I did try one good fuse in the light and it blew right away.

Much Thanks!

Jon
 
Hey All,

I am writing again with the hopes of getting some more ideas as to the problem with my Chauvet Q spot 575 fixtures. I first posted in this forum a few months ago and since that time put the fixtures on the shelf and left them alone for a while. I dug back into them this week and learned a bit more. I finally traced my problem to the main PCB. It turns out that The fixtures are burning out the 10A 250V fuse that is on the main PCB. I am wondering if anyone has a wiring schematic for these fixtures so I can begin to trace why this is happening.

Or if anyone knows why that fuse would blow, please let me know. I did try one good fuse in the light and it blew right away.

Much Thanks!

Jon


I dug for years looking for some schematics. Never could find any. So there's no signs of burning on any of the other parts? We got rid of our remaining 6 of them, so I haven't messed with them much recently, but if I recall correctly the pan and tilt steppers are directly connected. Have you checked the two stepper drivers (the two with the glued on heatsink) and the steppers? I think I've had a stepper driver go out before and was blowing that fuse
 
I dug for years looking for some schematics. Never could find any. So there's no signs of burning on any of the other parts? We got rid of our remaining 6 of them, so I haven't messed with them much recently, but if I recall correctly the pan and tilt steppers are directly connected. Have you checked the two stepper drivers (the two with the glued on heatsink) and the steppers? I think I've had a stepper driver go out before and was blowing that fuse


There is no sign of any burning anywhere on the BCB. The Stepper drivers are a definite possibility. Any idea what the actual part number is on the stepper driver? Chauvet Parts doesn't have much for these lights anymore but I'm sure I could get these drivers from Digi Key or some other parts supplier. I plan to try switching drivers with a known good light but I have to get more 10amp fuses first.
 
It is an older fixture (8ish years old probably), so parts will be few and far between. After talking to some of my fellow product managers about this, it is likely the Lamp Control Board. We seem to recall similar failures (the fuse blowing) where the Lamp Control Board was the culprit. Check your PMs.
 
I've gotten some parts from Chauvet, so definitely follow up with him. If they don't have parts, I don't have part numbers. If you are willing to sacrifice a driver you could try soaking it in stuff to get the glue/heatsink off to read the number
 
I've gotten some parts from Chauvet, so definitely follow up with him. If they don't have parts, I don't have part numbers. If you are willing to sacrifice a driver you could try soaking it in stuff to get the glue/heatsink off to read the number

Done. I got the heat sink off and am able to get the drivers. I will post again once I try a few more combinations.
 
I just checked with our parts department and we do have some of the parts for this fixture in stock, the Lamp Control Board specifically, which I feel is probably the culprit.
 
I just checked with our parts department and we do have some of the parts for this fixture in stock, the Lamp Control Board specifically, which I feel is probably the culprit.


Which board is the Lamp control board, if I don't sound too dumb asking that question? I'm assuming it is one of the boards in the base of the fixture, correct? Any idea what the price would be for that part? I would ideally need 2.
 
Check you messages. If you need a photo of the board, I can get one for you in the morning.
 
So, an update... I replaced the driver chips for the pan and tilt motors, and I replaced the fuse that was blowing as a result of the bad driver chips. For the most part, these lights are now working properly. One fixture is 100% working and all good. The other one now boots properly and is properly functioning except the Tilt motor. The motor will move the light with some help but is not strong enough to move the head of the light on its own. Without help, it will vibrate rather badly and makes a very unpleasant noise. I have tried switching stepper motors, with no change. Next I swapped the pan/tilt control board and the problem moved to the other fixture, leading me to believe the problem is in the Pan/tilt control board.

Has anyone had this experience before? I am thinking I might have some other bad component on the Pan/Tilt control board, maybe a capacitor or something. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
I have a vague recollection of having a problem like this, but I don't remember what I did to fix it. So you are sure you have a good driver chip in there now? Also have you checked the back of the board for signs of arcing? I've had several boards on these get traces literally blown off the board because one component failure caused a massive chain reaction.
 
I have a vague recollection of having a problem like this, but I don't remember what I did to fix it. So you are sure you have a good driver chip in there now? Also have you checked the back of the board for signs of arcing? I've had several boards on these get traces literally blown off the board because one component failure caused a massive chain reaction.

The driver chip is brand new, I guess I have not verified that it didn't burn up right away but the driver should be good. There is no obvious sign of any components being bad... no burned or signs of arching on he board. Usually I have found that if a component like a capacitor is bad it is pretty obvious.
 
Stepper motors are basically a two-phase motor. One phase is constant, the other varies phase angle. If one of the phases is distorted or week, the motors act ...well... nervous and weak. If you can, scope what is going to the motor and compare it to another motor or the same in a different unit. For whatever reason, I think this is what you will find. Now, as to what is the root cause, you have to trace the signal back from the motor, through the drive and back through the logic to see what's knocking it out.
 
Hi Jon,
I've alerted our Customer Service department. Can you please PM me some contact information, so I can have them speak to you directly?
I will have them call you...so, no waiting on hold.

thanks,
-Ford
My friend. I have 12 chauvet q spot 575. And 6 q spot 300. Really really nice fixtures.
But last week one have a damage. And I need to replace the lamp control pcb. Duo you know where I can buy it. ? Thanks for your time
 

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