CYC’s flickering — please help!!

[cass24]

Hi everyone! I’m a high school student currently working on lighting design for a community chorus concert. Our Far CYC’s have been flickering periodically at all times, which causes problems because we use them for our colored background lights and the flashing lights are very noticeable.

I replaced the bulbs, changed the lighting cables, changed all of the gels, reset some of the board settings, tried putting the lights on at a much dimmer setting, and nothing seems to be working.

We use a 20 year-old colortran innovator 48/96 and Model 108-361 Far CYC’s of 120 Volts.

I only started lighting this past year so I’m a bit lost on what to try! Please let me know if you have any guidance or ideas!

 

[derekleffew]

Is it just the FarCycs or do all the dimmers flicker? Is it the same ones each time?

I replaced the bulbs, changed the lighting cables, changed all of the gels, reset some of the board settings, tried putting the lights on at a much dimmer setting, and nothing seems to be working.

Sounds like you did everything EXCEPT what would fix the issue: replace the lamp sockets. Look carefully where the lamp makes contact with the socket. Is either side discolored, grey, or have a black deposit? While you're inside the fixture, check all wiring. Hint: Chrispy=Bad.

Heat (or a real or imagined over-temp signal) can cause random dimmers in the rack to flicker as well. With an adult using the proper PPE and LOTO procedures, check to ensure all fans are functioning. And filters and parts are clean. Are the dimmers ENR or iSeries ?

 

[techieman33]

Have you tried messing around with the faders, some times dirty faders can cause flickering. If you have a master fader you should also check that. Just slowly move them up and down and see if you can induce the flickering.

 

[Les]

Another question: Do they all flicker in unison or is it one, then the other, etc, etc...?

I'm in agreement with the above suggestions, and the order in which they're presented should probably also be the order of which these things are checked. First look at the condition of the sockets, then the dimmers.

The flicker could be the dimmer rack going in to an overtemp or "airflow" error as Derek mentioned above. They do this as kind of an alarm, whether deliberate or not, in order to get the situation rectified before proceeding. Is there a Reset button on the rack's processor? If so, give it a push. This will reset the rack, likely plunging the fixtures it powers in to darkness for a few seconds (so don't do it when people are on stage or in the house without calling "GOING DARK!"). This has solved erroneous airflow issues on the one surviving ENR rack at my facility. If the flicker persists, it's either a real airflow issue or something else - continue to check the things Derek and techieman33 suggested.

Note on fader issues, which is a possibility: If you're running cues and this is happening, I would suspect only the master fader. This would, of course, affect all fixtures. If you're running manually, it could be any one of the three or four you are using.