Automated Fixtures Studio Color 575 Issues

[ehendershot]

I have one of our 575's down here on the bench with an odd problem. It will not respond to DMX or strike the lamp when it homes. However, other 575's that are daisy chained through it's dmx I/O will respond according to the commands I send. I've double-checked the address, and set it to factory presets but nothing seems to work.

Strangely enough, if I do commands ( lamp strike, pan/tilt, self test ) from the fixture's menu, it performs as it should.....I'm stumped. Possible dmx input jack failure???

 

[porkchop]

Welcome to Control Booth, swing by the new members forum and introduce yourself.

Sounds like the DMX card, or the connection to it, is unhappy. Those lights have a passive DMX pass through so it's not too surprising that you can control lights after that one in the chain. I don't remember the guts of a 575 that well, but I would open up the bottom and check to see if the card with the DMX I/O is connected properly and also give a quick visual check of the card to look for any obvious problems. If all is well there and you can get your hands on a known working unit I'd swap that card between the two and see where the problem goes.

 

[soundlight]

Replace the DMX chip. That's probably gonna fix it. Barring that check for loose connections from PCBs & wiring harnesses.

 

[Grog12]

http://www.highend.com/pub/products/automated_luminaires/StudioSpot/manual/sspot575.pdf

Check out page 3-8.

My first thought is that its not set to accept DMX commands...but I'm assuming you've allready checked that. Page 3-8 is the listing for DMX errors.

 

[ehendershot]

Thanks guys! I just went to show my coworker the issue and it worked....for about 2 minutes. As I was testing it, *poof*, the dmx light dropped out, the shutter closed and it stopped responding.

I'll check the connections and try swapping cards. I assume/hope there isn't alot of difference in cards between the standard 575, the 575-S and the 575-M...because I have all three floating around here.

 

[soundlight]

Also, if you don't know what to look for when it comes to the DMX chip, it should be a 75176 in an 8-pin DIP socket.

Best of luck on figuring out the ghost in the machine! The logic boards on these things can certainly give you the runaround if it's not a simple issue.

 

[ehendershot]

So I tried just changing the 75176 chip out with one I had lying around and I still have nothing. I want to take the whole card out and change it with a known working unit, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get it out of the fixture. I took off the bottom plate and the screws that hold the DMX jacks to the fixture but I am not seeing how it comes out. It just now has "wiggle room" and goes back and forth.

Do I have to unsolder the jacks?

 

[TimMiller]

You need to get a small flat head screw driver and put it through the hole that is in the middle of the XLR jack and give it a quarter turn on both jacks. With a flashlight you will see what I am talking about. In the fixture menu when you go to address does it give you A001 or F001?

 

[ehendershot]

Thanks Tim! I was able to get out the cards and swap them. Now it is working perfectly.

It says C001 ( which I believe to be channel 1, but I know it also can mean cool when you attempt to do a hot strike ). I have seen the F001 when they are assigned by fixture instead of DMX address ( in fact, some of our lighting people have brought down "non-working" units and they just had the wrong option selected ).

When I took the bad card out and inspected it, I could find no physical damage ( have not done any testing with a multimeter though ). I am hoping that it is merely a bad chip, since that is much cheaper to replace than the whole card.

 

[TimMiller]

If its just that little board with the two XLR plugs there are not any chips on it. A number of years ago high end had a problem with their soldering process so a little heat and solder on all of the connections should fix this. I think it was while they were trying to move to lead free solder if I remember correctly it was about 10 years ago.

 

[Wood4321]

On Studio Color 575?
There is a DMX board on that fixture series, and it does indeed have a few socketed chips.
Here is a link to the schematic.
http://www.highend.com/pub/products/automated_luminaires/StudioColor/Schematics/STC_COMMV15.pdf

Now Technobeam, Colorpro, and Studio 250 series, you are correct. Those all have simple DMX Cards, with little or no logic, just DMX in and through.

 

[jhochb]

Good Morning
The M/S cards are different from the 575 cards. They aren't interchangable.
Also, the magnetic ballast cards didn't support remote lamp on commands

 

[ehendershot]

Good Morning
The M/S cards are different from the 575 cards. They aren't interchangable.
Also, the magnetic ballast cards didn't support remote lamp on commands

Really? The card I pulled from a working unit was from a 575-M and I put it into a regular 575. Looks the same, chips and connections are the same, and the 575 I put it in is working now. The only difference I can spot is that one is REV 1.4 and the other is 1.5. Is it a difference in the logic???

 

[Wood4321]

Jack,
Are you sure you aren't thinking of the logic cards? not the DMX cards?
If you are speaking of the logic card, you would be correct, they are very different from m/s to 575.
But the DMX cards are compatible if I remember correctly.