DMX Fixtures are Re-Addressing...

[Rockey]

Can anyone help? A long-term client of our performing arts center just purchased eight Design LED 36 Pro fixtures by Elation for weekly use on softgoods in their church services.
Our initial use of them last Sunday yielded great results, no problems. Today I used them for a second time and the fixtures kept turning off. Upon inspection, I found that they re-addressed themselves. Why would this happen and how can I prevent it from happening in the future? I was using six fixtures in 3-channel mode, daisy-chained together and running with DMX to an ETC Express lightboard. I had addressed all the fixtures as the same number ("19") so that I could control them all together using minimal channels. Any insight you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much!
~Rockey~

 

[SHARYNF]

Did they re address or did they actually go into solo mode?

Here is a link to a message that MIGHT be similar

Design LED 36 Pro freak out? - Topic Powered by Social Strata

Give Gines a call, they are very responsive

Sharyn

 

[Rockey]

No, it didn't go solo. All of the fixtures actually had a different address than the one I set them to. I addressed them at "19" and they all said "294" when I checked them. My first response was to hope it was a fluke and I readdressed them all back to "19" and continued rehearsal. They soon went out again, and when I checked, they were all at "294" again. Because our first show (church service) was about to begin, I had to run the show without them. So they definitely changed addresses, but the question is why.
I will call Elation tomorrow for help, but I was hoping someone might have a bit of insight today (since it's a Sunday and the company is closed) because I have a lot of people wondering why this is happening.

 

[xander]

My suggestion would be to take a look at your manual and see if that fixture supports Elation's (ridiculously stupid) RDMX "feature". This is a very poor attempt at reproducing real RDM features like remote addressing the fixture. I forgot how exactly it works, but I know it is some combination of channel levels that you could easily be creating in your show without the intention of re-addressing. Since it is happening continually and always to the same address, I think this deserves an investigation. I will look into it more and post if I come up with anything that might be useful.

Good luck,
-Tim

 

[xander]

Well, I probably could have looked this up before my last post because it didn't take me that long to find. Look at your fixture's manual, which can be found here http://www.elationlighting.com/pdffiles/dled_36_pro_manual_v1.4.pdf if you don't have the one (I assume) came with your fixtures. Section 9 is on DMX addressing and it states the following:

Remote DMX addressing (RDMX) / Address Via DMX- This function allows the DMX
address to be changed remotely from a DMX console. This setting requires special settings
for both the controller and the fixture. RDMX is on by default. This function may be turned on
and off, and is “ON” be default. Follow the procedure listed below to access the RDMX
functions:
Fixture Settings:
1. Access the main menu and use the UP or DOWN to get to the
“Personality” menu, then press ENTER
2. Once in the “Personalities” menu, tap the UP or Down to get to the
“Status Settings “ menu, press ENTER.
3. Once in the “Status Settings” tap the UP or Down to get to the “Address via
DMX” function and press ENTER.
4. “Address via DMX” is the function that turn the RDMX function on and off.
Press ENTER and be sure the function is turned on.
5. Press the UP button to display “ON” to activate this function, or “OFF” to
deactivate this function.
DESIGN LED 36 Pro™
©Elation Professional, Los Angeles Ca. 25 Elation Professional - Professional Lighting Products
6. Press ENTER to confirm.
7. Press MODE/ESC to return to the main menu.
Controller Settings:
1. Set the DMX value of channel 1 to a value of 7.
2. Set the DMX value of channel 2 to a value of 7 or 8. When channel 2 is
set to "7" you can adjust the starting address between 1 and 255. When
set to "8" you can adjust the starting address between 256 and 511.
3. Use channel 3 to set your desired DMX starting address. For example: If
you want to set the starting address to 57, set channel 1 to a value of “7,”
set channel 2 to a value of “7” and use channel 3 to set your address to
57 by selecting a channel value of 57. Example 2: If you want to set the
starting address to 420, set channel 1 to a value of “7,” channel 2 to "8"
and channel 3 to "164" (256+164=420).
4. Wait for approximately 20 seconds for the unit to complete the
address reset function.

The most troubling thing I find is that this feature is ON by default. So, even if this is not the culprit for you this time, I would follow the instructions above to turn it OFF, so that you don't run into this problem in the future.

-Tim

 

[Footer]

Well, I probably could have looked this up before my last post because it didn't take me that long to find. Look at your fixture's manual, which can be found here http://www.elationlighting.com/pdffiles/dled_36_pro_manual_v1.4.pdf if you don't have the one (I assume) came with your fixtures. Section 9 is on DMX addressing and it states the following:


The most troubling thing I find is that this feature is ON by default. So, even if this is not the culprit for you this time, I would follow the instructions above to turn it OFF, so that you don't run into this problem in the future.

-Tim

That is the dumbest "feature" I have ever seen. Ever. you could easily activate that during a fade. What were they thinking? Turn that function off on all of your units.