ETC Colorsource PAR Flashing

[Scott Lumley]

Hello,

Does anyone have any experience with an ETC Colorsource PAR (Deep Blue) not responding at all and just flashing every like 2 seconds a faint yellow color? Even when unplugged from DMX, it still does it, doesn't matter if there is a terminator or not. Tried to power cycle it, still does it immediately after getting power. Also, the little display screen shows nothing, even when first getting power and "booting up." The buttons on the fixture do nothing as well. Again, nothing shows up on the display screen and doesn't listen to any commands from the board. Just flashes every couple seconds. And when I say flashes, I mean it outputs no light, then flashes on real quick and back off.

It was working fine during a rehearsal, but then just became unresponsive at a random moment and wouldn't stop. For now, I have it unplugged from power until I can figure it out. I don't have time right now to bring it down, but I though maybe a firmware update, but it hasn't had any problems until now, and I think it might already have the most recent firmware. It has only ever been plugged into constant on/off power, no dimming.

Any help is appreciated, I am going to try to reach out to our lighting rep tomorrow morning when they are open again. Unfortunately, there are no close by dealers in the area, so I can't just take it into somewhere to look at.


Thanks!

 

[MNicolai]

I would skip the lighting rep and call ETC tech support directly. If the brain is fried or gakked up, a rep or dealer is just going to be a middleman and isn't going to be able to help you out any faster than ETC will directly.

 

[DrewE]

That sounds to me suspiciously like either the switching power supply controller or the "brain" constantly resetting due to a fault or error. My guess would be the power supply; and that could be caused either by a power supply fault, or a fault (a short or something) in the rest of the unit causing it to trip off.

I could easily be completely and wholly wrong, too.

 

[Scott Lumley]

I tried looking up the support number, but for some reason I couldn't get the page to load, it is loading now though, so I will try them first when I have a chance. I am just wondering if my lighting rep might be able to send me a spare fixture if I have to send this one out for repairs. I can get by without the light for a couple weeks, but not really anymore than that and the process for me to send something out for repairs takes a while on my end.

Thanks for the quick responses though! I was just hoping it was a code for something simple that could be done to fix it, but I figured that was wishful thinking.

 

[MNicolai]

It's something you can discuss with ETC. A local dealer may have a fixture they can loan you or ETC might be able to ship you something but may ask you to pay for shipping -- but if the issue with the CS PAR is straightforward, it may also be possible they can send you the part that you can replace yourself. Not sure it's likely in this scenario they'd want a customer replacing circuit boards or troubleshooting power supplies but it's not wholly unprecedented that a customer comfortable making a certain type of repair is provided the parts for it rather than playing ping pong RMA with the factory.

 

[derekleffew]

For future reference:
ETC Tech Support
800/688-4116
Write it next to every phone in your theatre.

 

[JonCarter]

I read posts like these and shake my head. I'm glad I lit shows in a day when instruments had a plug, a couple of feet of asbestos leads, a socket and a lamp. Failure of all of which were easily user diagnosed and user replaceable in 10 minutes or less.

 

[Amiers]

I read posts like these and shake my head. I'm glad I lit shows in a day when instruments had a plug, a couple of feet of asbestos leads, a socket and a lamp. Failure of all of which were easily user diagnosed and user replaceable in 10 minutes or less.

Pretty sure Mike and Drew diagnosed it within 10 mins and if you didn’t have the parts you were still up a river til you got them . Which back in the day was week or so instead of a day or so .

 

[Scott Lumley]

After talking with ETC yesterday, it sounds like it may be a power supply issue. I am going to have to send it in for repair. I also looked at my paperwork and found that this is the same light we had repaired before, but for a different issue. Hopefully I can get it sent out to them today.