ETC Express Sub Issues

[JacobElias]

I work with an ETC express in a school theatre, and some of my subs have been ghosting channels whenever they are turned up, or bumped.
Any idea how to fix this? It's slowly happening to more and more of my subs.
On another note, it doesn't happen when i use a new page of subs.

 

[CrazyTechie]

Welcome to ControlBooth! Head on over to the new member board and introduce yourself!

Have you tried setting the ghosting channels at zero then re-recording the submasters? Could it be possible that someone is gaining access to the light board and is changing your submasters without you knowing?

 

[JacobElias]

Welcome to ControlBooth! Head on over to the new member board and introduce yourself!

Have you tried setting the ghosting channels at zero then re-recording the submasters? Could it be possible that someone is gaining access to the light board and is changing your submasters without you knowing?

Thank you for the welcome! And I will be sure to head on over once I am more awake!
The ghosting is a problem I have even when all of the channels are at zero.
I've gone through and deleted the sub, rewritten it, and still get the same problem. It's a problem I have been having for quite some time. I basically only have about 20 submasters on page one of my submasters.
It's gotten to the point where i just skip over the ghosting subs.

 

[CrazyTechie]

Explain the ghosting channels in depth, do they change intensities or do they stay the same? Are the dimmers that are patched into the channels that ghost profiled to something other than what is normal in your theatre? Is it just specific channels or do all the channels that are recorded in the submaster ghost? For clarification's sake: The submasters that ghost do not ghost while recording the same thing in the same submaster but on page 2, 3, 4...and so on. Correct?

 

[JacobElias]

The submasters that ghost do not ghost while recording the same thing in the same submaster but on page 2, 3, 4...and so on. Correct?

This is correct.

What happens is we could have absolutely no channels recorded to a sub (for instance and most annoyingly our sub 3) but when turned on or bumped various lights (depending on the boards preference that day) flicker anywhere from 1-100 intensity.

When we have certain channels recorded, they come up to full but there are still the ghosting (flickering) channels.

Everything that is patched is native to the original setup of the theatre.

So as you may imagine, its quite frustrating when someone who isn't keen to the quirks of my board uses it.

Sorry that I can't really go into detail, most everything I know about my theatre is self taught.

 

[chausman]

I would suggest calling ETC Tech Support. They are great for troubleshooting things like this. 1-(800)-688-4116

 

[icewolf08]

I work with an ETC express in a school theatre, and some of my subs have been ghosting channels whenever they are turned up, or bumped.
Any idea how to fix this? It's slowly happening to more and more of my subs.
On another note, it doesn't happen when i use a new page of subs.

Part of me just wants to say, if the problem goes away if you are on any sub-page other than 1 then just use another page. However that is merely just a band-aid.

I would start by saving any show data you have to a disk and then running a deep clean. To do this you start up the console holding the 7, 8, and 9 keys on the keypad. This should reset all the desk's setting back to factory defaults, and it should wipe out any corrupt data. I would now try recording a sub now and seeing if it does the same thing. If it works fine, then try loaind bcak your show data from disk. Of course there is always the possibility that the corrupt data is saved with your show, if things go back to the way they were when you reload the show then I would do the process over and start a new show file.

If a deepclean doesn't fix your issue then I would gess that you have some kind of data/signal problem. If you could get your hands on a DMX Tester/Analyzer you could plug it into the DMX line and see if the console is sending out errant data. You might also check to see if all your DMX cable is still in good condition with no cuts or kinks or shorts.

Since it sounds like your issue is limited to when you use subs, it seems far more likely to me that the problem is corrupt data in the console rather than corrupt DMX. If niether of these options work, call ETC they will plenty of other things to try and will be happy to help you.

 

[WooferHound]

When the subs are ghosting, does it show up on your monitor's STAGE display ?

 

[JacobElias]

Thank you everyone for all your help! As soon as I check back in with my theatre I'll check it out!

 

[JacobElias]

Part of me just wants to say, if the problem goes away if you are on any sub-page other than 1 then just use another page. However that is merely just a band-aid.

I would start by saving any show data you have to a disk and then running a deep clean. To do this you start up the console holding the 7, 8, and 9 keys on the keypad. This should reset all the desk's setting back to factory defaults, and it should wipe out any corrupt data. I would now try recording a sub now and seeing if it does the same thing. If it works fine, then try loaind bcak your show data from disk. Of course there is always the possibility that the corrupt data is saved with your show, if things go back to the way they were when you reload the show then I would do the process over and start a new show file.

If a deepclean doesn't fix your issue then I would gess that you have some kind of data/signal problem. If you could get your hands on a DMX Tester/Analyzer you could plug it into the DMX line and see if the console is sending out errant data. You might also check to see if all your DMX cable is still in good condition with no cuts or kinks or shorts.

Since it sounds like your issue is limited to when you use subs, it seems far more likely to me that the problem is corrupt data in the console rather than corrupt DMX. If niether of these options work, call ETC they will plenty of other things to try and will be happy to help you.

So I've gone back in, done the reset and it didnt fix it. ALSO! I had originally said that random lights flicker, but it is infact only the lights written to the sub, and they stay at a low intensity. Any ideas?

 

[LXPlot]

So I've gone back in, done the reset and it didnt fix it. ALSO! I had originally said that random lights flicker, but it is infact only the lights written to the sub, and they stay at a low intensity. Any ideas?

Are you absolutely sure that it's only happening on that specific sub page? Because if it was just certain subs in general, I would mention that I was told by a service tech a while back that that could happen to boards if some of the neighboring circuitry had been corroded, specifically from soda pop.

 

[JacobElias]

Are you absolutely sure that it's only happening on that specific sub page? Because if it was just certain subs in general, I would mention that I was told by a service tech a while back that that could happen to boards if some of the neighboring circuitry had been corroded, specifically from soda pop.

If i remember correctly, it is only on one page! but next time i go in i will double check, just because i am tired of seeing it! but i wouldnt be surprised if damage from soda was the case, the old lighting tech wasnt exactly respectful to the theatre..

 

[chausman]

So I've gone back in, done the reset and it didnt fix it. ALSO! I had originally said that random lights flicker, but it is infact only the lights written to the sub, and they stay at a low intensity. Any ideas?

So only things written into subs ghost? What does the STAGE display show? Does it have specific channels changing intensity or does it look normal? Are you sure it's not a hardware problem?

 

[JacobElias]

So only things written into subs ghost? What does the STAGE display show? Does it have specific channels changing intensity or does it look normal? Are you sure it's not a hardware problem?

The STAGE display shows it ghosting at only 0-5 intensity, so i never really go on stage to check it out. And because its so low, nothing really shows on stage.

 

[icewolf08]

The STAGE display shows it ghosting at only 0-5 intensity, so i never really go on stage to check it out. And because its so low, nothing really shows on stage.

If the STAGE display shows a level for the chans in the sub when the slider is down then you probably have a dirty pot. So the sub is just not getting all the way out.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.762920,-111.850964

 

[JacobElias]

If the STAGE display shows a level for the chans in the sub when the slider is down then you probably have a dirty pot. So the sub is just not getting all the way out.


---
I am here: Google Maps

my problem is it happens at any intensity, minus "0"

 

[urban79]

So, for clarification, you deep cleaned the board, recorded a new sub, and still the channels ghosted?

So I've gone back in, done the reset and it didnt fix it. ALSO! I had originally said that random lights flicker, but it is infact only the lights written to the sub, and they stay at a low intensity. Any ideas?

 

[JacobElias]

So, for clarification, you deep cleaned the board, recorded a new sub, and still the channels ghosted?

that is correct!

 

[EricE]

Hopefully you have solved it by now, but just in case - we had the same issue and it turned out to be a hardware problem. At first ETC support thought it was an issue with the port on the back of our console, but it ended up being a hardware issue with the dimmer pack - I believe one of the controller boards had to be replaced. If needed, post back and I can get the exact details.