They should be, it would be no differnt then running dimmers and a moving light distro off of the same company switch. The cc 20s are just a circuit breaker. There is no choke or SCR in them at all.
striking intels
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They should be, it would be no differnt then running dimmers and a moving light distro off of the same company switch. The cc 20s are just a circuit breaker. There is no choke or SCR in them at all.
Could somebody explain a little more specifically how to send a strike/destrike command? I understand what should be happening, setting the channels to whatever it says in the manual, but when I try to send a command from the board (Express 48/96), none of the ML's have a response to the command. I'm running MAC 300's and 250+'s. They work as they should otherwise, I just can't get a reaction out of the strike or destrike command.
I was hoping to make a macro out of it as well, as was suggested earlier on.
Actually, now that I'm re-reading what I wrote, I should ellaborate a little further. Since the channel that controls the DMX commands for the MAC's is also the shutter/strobe channel, which I will be using, I disabled on the fixture the DMX Reset Command and DMX Lamp Off Command.
It says in the manual that if you set channels 3-5 to a DMX value between 230-232 on the 300's, and channel 3 to 200-203, channel 4 to 0-9, and channel 7 to 80-89 on the 250+'s, it will override and allow you to send the command anyway. Am I just not hitting the right DMX values (since I'm working with percents on the Express display) or am I missing something else? I also set channel 1 to the value for the lamp on / lamp off command in addition to what I just listed.
I know I just said a lot, hope everyone can understand what I'm trying to say...
I was hoping to make a macro out of it as well, as was suggested earlier on.
Actually, now that I'm re-reading what I wrote, I should ellaborate a little further. Since the channel that controls the DMX commands for the MAC's is also the shutter/strobe channel, which I will be using, I disabled on the fixture the DMX Reset Command and DMX Lamp Off Command.
It says in the manual that if you set channels 3-5 to a DMX value between 230-232 on the 300's, and channel 3 to 200-203, channel 4 to 0-9, and channel 7 to 80-89 on the 250+'s, it will override and allow you to send the command anyway. Am I just not hitting the right DMX values (since I'm working with percents on the Express display) or am I missing something else? I also set channel 1 to the value for the lamp on / lamp off command in addition to what I just listed.
I know I just said a lot, hope everyone can understand what I'm trying to say...
Assuming 513 is intensity on the first ML just for an instant here, ok essentially you want to write a macro that is something like "Channel 513 at 97(or whatever the lamp on channel intensity is) Macro wait 3 sec (or whatever the wait specification is) Release Release" That will effectively send a DMX signal to the ML to strike the lamp and then after 3 seconds, take that information out of the programmer. Once the lamp is struck, you don't need to keep sending the command. It will stay struck until told to do otherwise.
The intensity channel often has other functions like strobe or shutter like you mentioned. All you need to do is ensure that you don't write a "lamp down" channel value into any cue that uses that channel for strobe or something else. You shouldn't have to disable the fixtures Reset and Lamp off commands -- just watch how your programming. Otherwise, how will you ever do a remote reset (which you WILL need to do) or a Lamp Off at the end of the night???
The Express converts DMX channels which have a resolution from 0-255 to 0-100 on the express -- it just divides the channel number by 255 and multiplies by 100 -- simple percentage. The manual should have percentage approximations for all of the specific channel values. If not, just grab a calculator and go to town!
The intensity channel often has other functions like strobe or shutter like you mentioned. All you need to do is ensure that you don't write a "lamp down" channel value into any cue that uses that channel for strobe or something else. You shouldn't have to disable the fixtures Reset and Lamp off commands -- just watch how your programming. Otherwise, how will you ever do a remote reset (which you WILL need to do) or a Lamp Off at the end of the night???
The Express converts DMX channels which have a resolution from 0-255 to 0-100 on the express -- it just divides the channel number by 255 and multiplies by 100 -- simple percentage. The manual should have percentage approximations for all of the specific channel values. If not, just grab a calculator and go to town!
First off, just because you are going to use the shutter/strobe features doesn't mean you should disable the DMX Lamp Off command. It is very easy not to set the reset channel to things you don't want to, you just have to pay attention. Plus, the Lamp off command is the reset channel at full, so why would you ever put it there anyway? Or, if you are controlling attributes on faders, just record the reset channel to the sub at a level lower than the lamp off level. Also, Lamp Off and Reset commands require you to be at the specified level and not changing it for a certain period of time, thus, even fading through that channel won't cause the fixture to reset (though you would get some funny strobe effects). This will just make life easier.
I don't have the 250+ or 300 Manuals, but most of the other ones give a percentage in addition to DMX value for setting attributes.
I don't have the 250+ or 300 Manuals, but most of the other ones give a percentage in addition to DMX value for setting attributes.
That's true. I guess I wasn't thinking ahead. I don't have much experience with moving lights and today when I was playing around I happened to generate a reset command by accident, which is why I decided to disable those features. But once I'm programmed I shouldn't have to worry about that at all.
The reset channel is also the strobe/shutter channel, and I need to open the shutter in order to get any light out, and I found the easiest way to do that was to just throw the fader for that channel all the way up. That is, until the lamp went out.
I didn't think of that one, but that seems to me the easiest way to avoid accidentally issuing a command that I don't want. I'm glad you said that!
Couple of points to Jezza and Alex's comments: If memory serves disabling the DMX Reset and DMX Lamp-off command also disables DMX Lamp-on you've said yourself that you can't get them to lamp on or off via DMX this is a likely culprit...but I can't be sure because I don't have a manual in front of me. Also don't send a lamp on command to a fixture that's allread struck. Hot Lamping is bad for the instrument. Remeber when Jezza says 513 (since this is an Express) what she really means is universe 2 dmx 1.
You know if I were smart enough to read your sig I'd know that....but I'm not.
Thanks for the help everyone! I was having a problem after I re-enabled the DMX commands where everytime I went to send the Lamp Off Command the fixtures would reset. I figured out it's because I was using the fader to push the channel to full, which would send the lamp off command, but in the process, you have to fade through the zone for the reset command, which doesn't need to be help for 5 seconds to activate. Now that I just directly put in the level, it works perfectly!
