Automated Fixtures MAC550 shutter going nuts.
- Thread starterTheTheaterGeek
- Start date
chawalang
Well-Known Member
If i remember correctly the control board should be in the base like a mac 2k. take off the side to gain access to the control board and make sure all connections from the harnesses are seated snug. I would even un plug and replug each one back in just to make sure. Then I would give the control board a chip crunch. What I mean be this is the individual driver chips on the control board can come unseated over time due to heat. You can actually pry the driver chips from the board with a multi tool. Push down on all the driver chips to make sure they are snug in the board.
If this does not change anything I would recommend removing the module with the shutter/strobe unit in it. place it into another known working fixture to see if the problem follows the module, also take a known working module and put it in the trouble fixture. This way you can see if the problem follows the module or if it is something else.
Just for fun is there a dmx terminator in this dmx chain this fixture is on? it could also be a signal issue since you said this shutter kinda does whatever it wants.
If this does not change anything I would recommend removing the module with the shutter/strobe unit in it. place it into another known working fixture to see if the problem follows the module, also take a known working module and put it in the trouble fixture. This way you can see if the problem follows the module or if it is something else.
Just for fun is there a dmx terminator in this dmx chain this fixture is on? it could also be a signal issue since you said this shutter kinda does whatever it wants.
Terminator, yes.
I'll check the board and module after this performance.
This is a video of the guts while in strobe.
Les
Well-Known Member
I would definitely look at harness/ribbon connections followed by the driver chip. I don't know about Martin, but on High-End units, you can swap chips to see if the issue persists or follows the chip. The only trap being not removing/inserting chips with the unit powered or you'll fry the chip. Aside from that, it could just be a bad motor, but it seems that a bad motor manifests in jerky behavior or stalls, rather than operating fine albeit insane.
Again, I don't know how much of this info is transferable. The screen print on the chip will tell the tale. Are there sensors on the shutter? I know many older fixtures that only read hard stops during homing (for things like the shutter flag), but the Mac could be different.
If you don't want to pry chips off the board, you could possibly use an IR thermometer to check the temp of the chips. Usually if it's bad it'll be much hotter or much colder than the rest.
Again, I don't know how much of this info is transferable. The screen print on the chip will tell the tale. Are there sensors on the shutter? I know many older fixtures that only read hard stops during homing (for things like the shutter flag), but the Mac could be different.
If you don't want to pry chips off the board, you could possibly use an IR thermometer to check the temp of the chips. Usually if it's bad it'll be much hotter or much colder than the rest.
chawalang
Well-Known Member
Another thought I had after seeing the video you posted. I have seen this issue in VL a strobe/dim module. The issue being that the small spring has flown off of the stepper stabilizer. I am assuming that this works in a similar way since it is the same kind of issue. The stabilizer is a soft little plastic square with a hole in it that the pole goes through to the strobe motor that the blade mounts onto. It looks kind of like a square with two very little hook on it that a small spring is hooked in between. Over time the hooks wear away and the spring flys off. The strobe will over shoot when this happens from time to time and you hear that clanking sound when it hits the fixture housing. You may also see random spill from a fixture that has this issue.
This sounds like the issue. I'll see if I can get back to the venue soon to check it out.
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Jay Ashworth
Well-Known Member
Les
Well-Known Member
Just in case some of the people reading this thread are not board level people: the stuff about chips coming loose and you prying them out and putting them back in... This only applies to /socketed/ integrated circuits.
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Haha, that is an important distinction!
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