Colorforce + Ion = ???

[Stofa]

Hey,
So I recently took up an ITD gig, and the house has 9 Colorfore 12 M9s. They are powered into dimmers, that from what I can tell are not set to non dim, and are supplying regular ETC Sensor 3 power. They are patched into the second universe, and the fixture is patched as "Color Force 12 M9" with 8 parameters, and taking 4 dmx channels starting at 513, or 2/1.
When I recall the channels they are patched into, 101 thru 109, the output does not change. When I recall them by address, ex. addr 513 @ FL, I can bring up their individual RGBA channels. I am setting their intensity to full each time I recall them by channel, and messing around with the color picker, so I know there is output being sent to them.
They seem to be working on and off, as I did see them working when I first got here. I am wondering if the ballast is damaged from too much power/different waveform/dimming current. The unit is getting power, and is functioning at the instrument, meaning I am able to read the display on the unit, and adjust settings via the menu.
Any help would be appreciated.

~RJS

 

[petercav17]

Strange. Just to clarify, you can get light output with the individual addresses?

I'd bet that the channels are inhibited or parked. I don't think that addresses respond to parking or inhibitors, so that would explain the situation here.

Otherwise, verify that the fixtures are patched correctly and into the correct channel. It wouldn't hurt to unpatch and repatch them, either. Moving them to different channels will also free them from anything weird that somebody might have set up.

 

[SteveB]

[QUOTE="petercav17, post: 329721, member: 20202"

I'd bet that the channels are inhibited or parked. I don't think that addresses respond to parking or inhibitors, so that would explain the situation here.
up.[/QUOTE]

Addresses can indeed be parked, but not individually inhibited (as ETC refers to it) unless patched individually as channels. Note that ETC refers to inhibiting as a submaster function. Only channels can be assigned to a sub, which is where you would then inhibit something. Parking can have the same effect though, just not readily accessed from a live state, as you can with a submaster.

 

[SteveB]

[QUOTE
So I recently took up an ITD gig, and the house has 9 Colorfore 12 M9s. They are powered into dimmers, that from what I can tell are not set to non dim, and are supplying regular ETC Sensor 3 power. They are patched into the second universe, and the fixture is patched as "Color Force 12 M9" with 8 parameters, and taking 4 dmx channels starting at 513, or 2/1.
When I recall the channels they are patched into, 101 thru 109, the output does not change. When I recall them by address, ex. addr 513 @ FL, I can bring up their individual RGBA channels. I am setting their intensity to full each time I recall them by channel, and messing around with the color picker, so I know there is output being sent to them.
They seem to be working on and off, as I did see them working when I first got here. I am wondering if the ballast is damaged from too much power/different waveform/dimming current. The unit is getting power, and is functioning at the instrument, meaning I am able to read the display on the unit, and adjust settings via the menu.
Any help would be appreciated.

~RJS[/QUOTE]

- Get them off dimmers ASAP, which might cause other issues that prevents troubleshooting patch and DMX issues. Do not set the dimmers to non-dim or switched mode. Get a relay or constant breaker module(s), or run separate power not off the dimming system.

- As a test and with fixtures powered off clean power, then start to troubleshoot. Are the fixtures adddressed correctly and does the addressing match the patch the console generates ?

- Ascertain that the channels and/or addresses are not parked at zero values. That would prevent channels being generated while live.

- Read the fixture manual and make sure you are using the correct profile.

 

[Stofa]

OK so....

I explained about to the higher ups the concerns about running the fixture off of dimmers, to which I got a response along the lines of, "they've been fine so far..." and I don't think I need to re-invent the wheel, but will push for clean power for them.

So trouble-shooting...

They were patched into the second universe, using the syntax of: universe/dimmer, so I changed that to dimmer in second universe +512; that did not seem to have an effect. I unpatched, then repatched, and sure enough, that did the trick.

I think that the issue was somewhere along the lines of the fixture getting confused with the power dimming on and off, so for now they are parked, and needed repatching for the fixture to understand the data again.

If this is not making too much sense, I apologize, I just went through a rough couple of techs today lol. Gotta love high school venues.

~Stofa

 

[Shoxaju]

if you're still working on the issue might I suggest testing them to see if their addressing changes if they get dimmed off? Just to be sure they don't need to be reprogrammed every time.

But yeah get them off dimmers. That never ends well.

if you've solved it then I'mma just slink off into this corner then >.>

 

[James Feenstra]

Have to agree on getting them off dimmers.

There's an extensive amount of power filtering in color force, but dimmers do weird things to lights that don't dim and could definitely cause this behaviour.

 

[sosayweall]

I just sent in 5 12" Color Forces for this issue. It's an known issue with the first generation fixtures.

Also, get them off dimmers. It expedites the issues.

 

[abctwhite2]

Somewhere in this domain it was recommended to set the fixture to Mode 4 but the desk patch (Eos 2.2) to mode 9. worked like a champ! Individual control of all 12 channels on the colorforce 72/48.