ETC Smartpack going into emergency mode

[variable]

For the second day Ive come in to work and found that some lights were flickering. Both times The lights had been activated by the SmartLink wall station. Yesterday The problem disappeared on its own before I found out what caused it. Today I discovered that a dimmer in the middle of the rack read "emergency active."

I powered down the dimmer and restarted it and the problem cleared up, but i have no idea what caused it to go into that mode nor why it was causing random lights on several different Smartpack units (but the same dmx chain) to either flicker or turn on and off.

I have a show in 4 hours and ETC is already closed. I was hoping someone might have some feedback to help me figure out why the dimmer went into this mode and how I can prevent it in the future.

 

[Amiers]

ETC tech support is 24/7 365. They will call you back in 15 mins or less.

I'd make sure that the last dimmer in line is terminated.

And did you have a power surge in your building at all lately?

 

[variable]

We've had hella crazy storms in San Francisco, so a power spike is pretty likely.

 

[variable]

ETC tech support is 24/7 365. They will call you back in 15 mins or less.

Oh, I've called several times and been told there were no operators available.

 

[BobHealey]

Emergency mode on a Smartlink enabled Smartpack is via a contact closure on the Smartlink interface, when the holds the Emergency preset active on the Smartpacks. I'd power cycle the Smartlink interface (and there are too many different ways to hook that up to give you specific instructions).

 

[starksk]

Oh, I've called several times and been told there were no operators available.

I'm sorry that you weren't able to reach ETC's support. I've reached out via PM for more information about that.

In the meantime, @BobHealey has the right answer, it is via a contact closure and if the storms caused a momentary glitch to trick the SmartPack into thinking that the closure had been activated, you would see Emergency Active on the screen and a power cycle could clear it.

 

[variable]

Cycling did fix the problem and it has not returned since. Hopefully I and my electricians can get in the habit of checking the displays when we come in, at least during inclement weather. We work in a very old building after all.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[RickR]

I once repaired a SmartPack WM that liked to randomly go into emergency mode. As I recall the I/O board was replaced. Pretty simple to do, but I'm sure there are many ETC service techs in your area.