Help: Chauvet Obey 40 Issues

[uriahdemon]

Thanks to those who have helped out so far. You will be glad to know that I have sorted most things out with only one unresolved issue.

My problems were two fold i.e. I was not setting the dip switches correctly to enable DMX control and I was setting the pins the wrong way round i.e. instead of OFF I was setting to ON. The switches all seem to be either one way round or the other.

So only one outstanding problem and that is with a Par 64 UV cannon. I cant find the right switch info. The name on it is zoom engineering but on searching the internet it was a UK company that closed down some time ago. I can get the controller to talk to the light on 2 channels but regardless of how I set them I cant get both full and constant as opposed to dimmed and strobed (what I am getting now).

So if anyone can help with the final problem (for now) that would be fantastic and thanks to those who have helped so far.

Rgds

Mac

 

[mstaylor]

Can you take a picture of the dipswitch controls?

 

[uriahdemon]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your reply.

I will get some pictures up tonight (if I can suss out how to do that).

Hopefully you may be able to come up with an idea...??

Rgds

Mac

 

[uriahdemon]

Hi Michael,

Pictures as requested and hopefully you can help please.

Rgds

Mac

 

[DuckJordan]

Hi Michael,

Pictures as requested and hopefully you can help please.

Rgds

Mac

DMX mode on those fixtures is with dipswitch 10 in the on position I believe, then you need to set the address using 1-9.

Edit: sorry, looks exactly like the standard LED par 64 I used,

It may be 3-4 channel fixtures. Let me do some specific research on a generic.

ON doing some research they could be a single channel unit.

 

[uriahdemon]

Thanks for your help.

I have tried the DS 10 on and that is when I can only get full but on strobing. The only constant I can get is on only 50% light.

If it is a single channel any idea what channel that is likely to be please....??

I have been through many of them but with no joy as yet.

 

[tomschwall]

Thanks to those who have helped out so far. You will be glad to know that I have sorted most things out with only one unresolved issue.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I've got my 8 LEDRain 56 cans working very nicely now with the Obey 40 controller. I have the light cans set up in pairs, so that each "fixture" actually consists of 2 light cans working together in tandem (one on the left tree and one on the right tree).

I've learned a few things: Use only DMX cables all the way through your setup. Always double check the polarity, as the lights may seem to be working, but if the polarity is wrong, they won't respond 100% to controller commands. Often times at start up, you have to "exercise" the faders (slide them back and forth to their extreme limits) to sort of re-set the controller-fixture dialogue, if that makes sense. Finally, be sure that your DIP switches are set correctly, with intervals of 16 between each fixture address.

Now my next challenge is to find a foot controller to perform some basic light control functions, such as activate chase, activate music tap, blackout, and activate some simple static color scenes. Any ideas on a compatible foot controller? From my research so far, it seems that a MIDI foot controller may be the only way to go. I'd love to find a simple foot controller to make some simple light scene and chase changes. Please post if you've had any success using a foot controller with the Obey 40. Thanks.

 

[Zolee]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

FADE TIME ASSIGN (OPTIONAL SETUP)

Action

1) Turn OFF the controller.
2) Hold the BLACKOUT and TAPSYNC buttons simultaneously.
3) Turn ON the controller.
4) Press the TAPSYNC button to toggle between the two modes. Either all channels (A) or select channel Pan & Tilt only (P).
[ Set to P*** ].
5) Select one of the fixtures: FIXTURE 1~12 (this will be the fixture that you want to modify the channels for).
6) Move the SPEED fader to select the physical slider (control channel). [ P01* ~ P16* ]
7) Move the FADE TIME fader to activate ( y ) / deactivate ( n ) this function. [ P**y or P**n ].
8) Press MIDI/ADD to save the setting. All LED’s will blink to confirm.
9) Repeat steps 6~8 until all of the faders ( 1~16 ) have been assigned for the fixture.
10) Press BLACKOUT and TAPSYNC to exit physical fade time assignment mode.

Hope it helps.

 

[DJZ]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

Well, i hope someone can help. I purchased a brand new Chauvet Obey 40 controller and had it for approx. 2 weeks. I've been controlling both of my lights with no problems. I removed and sold one of the lights and reset my controller to clear out the programmed chases and scenes. However, now i can't control my one light. When i shut down the controller, the light shuts down. When i turn it back on, the light comes on but it does it's own thing, like demo mode or something. The controller is set to channel D 1 and i turn on fixture one but nothing happens. I tried two brand new DMX cables with different lengths...nothing.

 

[JD]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

Well, i hope someone can help. I purchased a brand new Chauvet Obey 40 controller and had it for approx. 2 weeks. I've been controlling both of my lights with no problems. I removed and sold one of the lights and reset my controller to clear out the programmed chases and scenes. However, now i can't control my one light. When i shut down the controller, the light shuts down. When i turn it back on, the light comes on but it does it's own thing, like demo mode or something. The controller is set to channel D 1 and i turn on fixture one but nothing happens. I tried two brand new DMX cables with different lengths...nothing.

1) Check the mode on the light itself.
2) Check the address on the light / set it to A001 (default for fixture 1)
3) Lightly tap your finger on the board. (More than once, I have accidentally ended up in audio trigger mode on a Chauvet )
4) Do a factory default on the board.
5)

 

[DJZ]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

1) Check the mode on the light itself.
2) Check the address on the light / set it to A001 (default for fixture 1)
3) Lightly tap your finger on the board. (More than once, I have accidentally ended up in audio trigger mode on a Chauvet )
4) Do a factory default on the board.
5)

Well, it's weird because i put the light in dmx channel 1, but when i tap the light pole, it changes on it's own. It doesn't seem to be reading the DMX signal. This happened when i did a factory reset to clear all scenes and chases.

 

[JD]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

Well, it's weird because i put the light in dmx channel 1, but when i tap the light pole, it changes on it's own. It doesn't seem to be reading the DMX signal. This happened when i did a factory reset to clear all scenes and chases.

Although, you did not specify the light type, if it is a Chauvet, most of those have an "audio" mode and a built in microphone. It sounds like the light itself may be in the wrong mode, not the board. In "audio" mode, it will not respond to DMX.

 

[DJZ]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

Although, you did not specify the light type, if it is a Chauvet, most of those have an "audio" mode and a built in microphone. It sounds like the light itself may be in the wrong mode, not the board. In "audio" mode, it will not respond to DMX.

It's seems like it's defaulting to that mode because i scroll the menu to the dmx setting, then i select channel 1, but nothing happens. i have a chauvet radius 2.0 light

 

[JD]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

It's seems like it's defaulting to that mode because i scroll the menu to the dmx setting, then i select channel 1, but nothing happens. i have a chauvet radius 2.0 light

Pages 10,11, and 12 cover the settings ( http://www.chauvetlighting.com/products/manuals/Radius20_UM_Rev01_WO.pdf )
The most common goof is just not hitting the enter button after setting it to 512 and then again after setting it to d_1
Not impossible that the light failed, but I don't think so.
Definitely the light as compared to the controller.

 

[DJZ]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

Pages 10,11, and 12 cover the settings ( http://www.chauvetlighting.com/products/manuals/Radius20_UM_Rev01_WO.pdf )
The most common goof is just not hitting the enter button after setting it to 512 and then again after setting it to d_1
Not impossible that the light failed, but I don't think so.
Definitely the light as compared to the controller.

I did exactly that...scrolled to 512, hit enter, then scrolled to channel 1, and hit enter. When i switch the polarity switch, it seems to controll very mininal aspects, but when i put it back to what i've always used, it won't work.

 

[DJZ]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

Should I be unplugging my DMX cables when programming the channel or it doesn't matter?

 

[JD]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

I did exactly that...scrolled to 512, hit enter, then scrolled to channel 1, and hit enter. When i switch the polarity switch, it seems to controll very mininal aspects, but when i put it back to what i've always used, it won't work.

The reverse polarity switch inverts the DMX signal and the usual result is that all channels see noise data and may produce minimal responses. The fact that you get that much tells me that the board is putting something out and the light is trying to interpret it. So, as long as your cables are good, and nothing has really failed, then it sounds like an addressing issue. You are setting the DMX address of the light to 001 and the fixture 1 button starts at 001, so they should line up.

There is however one last thing to check for- I believe the Obey 40 allows for some soft patching. (Assigning faders to channels out of sequence.) The "factory default" should have cleared that, but you can never be sure. Unfortunately, this can be tricky to sort out since you only have the one light and it only looks at three channels, and there are 512 possible channels. Outside of hit & miss, the only way to sort this out would be to connect the board to a known working light or dimmer pack and see where the channels are ending up.

Still, make sure you did a full default on the board before you go any further. (See page 11 of this book: http://www.chauvetlighting.com/products/manuals/Obey-40_Rev5_UM_ML_WO.pdf ) "Resetting the system"

 

[JD]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

Should I be unplugging my DMX cables when programming the channel or it doesn't matter?

Should not matter.

 

[DJZ]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

The reverse polarity switch inverts the DMX signal and the usual result is that all channels see noise data and may produce minimal responses. The fact that you get that much tells me that the board is putting something out and the light is trying to interpret it. So, as long as your cables are good, and nothing has really failed, then it sounds like an addressing issue. You are setting the DMX address of the light to 001 and the fixture 1 button starts at 001, so they should line up.

There is however one last thing to check for- I believe the Obey 40 allows for some soft patching. (Assigning faders to channels out of sequence.) The "factory default" should have cleared that, but you can never be sure. Unfortunately, this can be tricky to sort out since you only have the one light and it only looks at three channels, and there are 512 possible channels. Outside of hit & miss, the only way to sort this out would be to connect the board to a known working light or dimmer pack and see where the channels are ending up.

Still, make sure you did a full default on the board before you go any further. (See page 11 of this book: http://www.chauvetlighting.com/products/manuals/Obey-40_Rev5_UM_ML_WO.pdf ) "Resetting the system"

Ok, let me see if I've understood you...By doing a factory reset, I've put the faders and channels out of sequence? So, i would need to re-program the channels and faders? When I've tried to address the light with the proper DMX channel, I had my DMX cable plugged into the controller with everything on...should i disconnect the cable before addressing the light?

 

[JD]

Re: Chauvet Obey 40 problem.

Ok, let me see if I've understood you...By doing a factory reset, I've put the faders and channels out of sequence? So, i would need to re-program the channels and faders? When I've tried to address the light with the proper DMX channel, I had my DMX cable plugged into the controller with everything on...should i disconnect the cable before addressing the light?

No, defaulting should have put it in sequence, but sometimes defaulting itself messes up. As the book says, it could take up to 30 seconds to complete the default. As for having the DMX connected, that should not be a problem. DMX only communicates in one direction: from the board to the fixture. If there is any concern with the fixture software, turning it off and then on again should reset it.