Help! fiber optic drape dmx is not working.

[D4patrick]

Hey guys! I am loading in a weekend run of a show that requires the use of a fiber optic drape and this thing is giving us hell. I am the board-opp and although I can get it powered up the DMX will not respond. I am using an ETC Express and the drape is powered by 8 Color Pro fiber optic projectors that are daisy chained and are all on the same address. There is no DMX brain for it and neither can I find a Fixture personality for it. I'm very sure it operates on a 3 channel base for RGB color mixing. anything you guys can think of will help. I'm kinda out of ideas.
-DP

 

[derekleffew]

Have you ever used these fixtures before? There's a 6 channel and a 9 channel version of Expression personality contained here. This is the DMX chart from the HES site: Color Pro™ - Dichroic Theatre - Support - Products - High End Systems. Looks to be a bit more complicated than RGB. Hope this helps.

 

[icewolf08]

If you are using the ColorPro by High End Systems then you might check out the HES website and grab the manual. Here is a link to the spec sheets for one of the models. Here is more info on the ColorPro line.

It looks like the fixture operates in either 6 or 9 channel modes, the first of which being the dimmer. How familiar are you with using and patching "intelligent" fixtures? I won't go into major detail unless you need it. Do the fixtures show any indication of receiving signal (link/data leds)? What happens if you bring up the "dimmer" that is the the starting address of the fixtures? Are the fixtures set in the correct mode?

I am not sure how much help we can be without some more details about your setup. The more specific you can be, the more we can help you.

 

[lightman02]

Hey guys! I am loading in a weekend run of a show that requires the use of a fiber optic drape and this thing is giving us hell. I am the board-opp and although I can get it powered up the DMX will not respond. I am using an ETC Express and the drape is powered by 8 Color Pro fiber optic projectors that are daisy chained and are all on the same address. There is no DMX brain for it and neither can I find a Fixture personality for it. I'm very sure it operates on a 3 channel base for RGB color mixing. anything you guys can think of will help. I'm kinda out of ideas.
-DP

Are these the older color pros or the newer ones?? I aske because the older color pros do not use DMX, they use LWR protocol and you would need a converter.

 

[len]

If it is the HES Color Pro, there are three different models, the FX, the HXi and one other I can't remember. Make sure you patch the correct one to your board because they all do different things. You probably want the FX because that is the one most commonly used with fiber curtains. It has a twinkle wheel to make the lights appear to be twinkling stars.

Also, depending on show requirements and the design of the curtain, you might try setting those to two or more alternating fixtures so that you can create more than one color. Each panel has one or more circuits of fibers powered by its own projector to allow multiple colors IF you have individual control over each Color Pro. Given the number of fixtures you have I am assuming you have 4 panels with 2 circuits each.

Oops. Forgot about those OLD fixtures. Can't remember even seeing them before. Glad that most of those are disappearing. More trouble than they're worth.

 

[lightman02]

Actually it look as you have the RGB ones, they are the older units, do you have the DMX to LWR converter?? Otherwise your never gonna get them to work, they are not DMX units they are an older LW protocol, they do have 3-pin XLR connectors on them which may be confusing you.

 

[D4patrick]

Thanks guys. I have the XLR to DMX converter in place but no personality for the fixture.

 

[shiben]

It looks like your going to need a more sophisticated converter than just a 3 to 5 pin conversion. If the devices operate on a non-DMX protocol, then your going to need a device that has a chip in it to change the signal from DMX to whatever it is.

 

[TimMiller]

old style color pros look like a rectangle box with dip switches and 3 pin XLR, the newer ones have more of an oval shape to them and they have an LED display on them with 3 pin XLR. The protocol in the express is for the new color pros. The old color pros need a DMX to LWR protocol converter, which demulitplexes dmx, and converts it into LWR protocol (which i havent seen one in years) or you need to use a color pro controller.

 

[abbyt]

old style color pros look like a rectangle box with dip switches and 3 pin XLR, the newer ones have more of an oval shape to them and they have an LED display on them with 3 pin XLR. The protocol in the express is for the new color pros. The old color pros need a DMX to LWR protocol converter, which demulitplexes dmx, and converts it into LWR protocol (which i havent seen one in years) or you need to use a color pro controller.

I don't have one in front of me, but I am almost positive the "new" Color Pros (HX and FX's) are 5 pin...not 3 pin.

To the original poster...or anyone else interested in the archaic technology...the old (original) RGB Color Pros do, indeed take a special converter box to convert your DMX to LWR. They are also a bit different in that they do not have a separate dimming wheel or a dedicated intensity wheel, like the new style do. They have 3 MR16 type lamps in them and each has one dichroic filter situated in front of the lamp, respectively. Bringing up the three separate intensities of each lamp, proportionally, is how you achieve the color mixing.

The newer HX and FX's are arc source lamps with CM and Y with UV wheels, a dimmer wheel, manual zoom and focus lenses (for the HX's) and a ferrule (for fiber optic umbilical) and twinkle wheel (for the FX's).

-Abby
-Who thanks Don Pugh (formerly of HES, now of Light Parts) for helping me find about 20 or 30 gobo holders for the original CP units back in the mid nineties for a special project. Yep- they had gobo slots...
And...who also has used way too many Color Pros both old and new, and still maintains 48 "new" style ones in our rental inventory.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Jinkley]

We had the same problem with ours. We attempted to solder a five pin DMX directly to a three pin one, and it didn't work. We eventually had to rent a separate DMX converter to fix the problem.