Update: I just returned from a trip to the theater this week. I found some interesting things....
I hooked up the Hog4Pc on DMX1 directly to the rack, added
desk channels, ran all at full, then at 0, and was able to manipulate the lights, then started narrowing down from there. I was successful at controlling the circuits that had a light attached to them. We grabbed a small
pin spot for a test ight and started checking all the plugs on the bars, 1st electrical, 2nd, 3rd,
etc. Even though all 512
DMX channels were at full, some plugs were energized and some were not. Plotted all the plugs in Excel, First electrical had no working plugs. Second electrical had the most working plugs (#47-#70), most of which were also controlled from the AAS through DMX2. Third electrical had two working, #71-#94). Fourth electrical had none. Fifth electrical had five (#95-#118). Sixth had none. Seventh electrical had two (#119-#142). Several others were wired from the boxes in the back for the
cyc lights on the floor, as well as some from the
catwalk above on looooooong cables, two of which were on 100% and not controllable from Hog4PC. We then hooked up cans to all the working plugs, then went to the
patch panel. Dimmers 1-71 are wired straight through. From there we'll have to
trace them to be certain where they go, but it's a spaghetti factory in the
patch panel. I'm not exactly sure why all the plugs on 2nd electrical weren't hot. Dimmers were at 100%, and they were patched. Will have to
trace some more when I go back in September.
Another anomaly I found was that the
DMX channels did not
line up 1 to 1 with the
circuit numbers. i.e.
DMX address 1 was
bit dimmer #1, but controlled four lights (#195-#198) on the side of
stage by the side fills, but
address 52 *was*
dimmer 52. I found that some
stage lights were tied together (which I would expect), but some were even tied in to a
house light
fixture. I have no idea how, they are on completely different circuits/dimmers. Is there something I am missing? Is there legacy programmed groupings that I will have to
clear from the L86?
The Analog
Address System had been set to control all dimmers using DMX2. We will be going through and removing all the
stage dimmers, so that it only controls the
house lights. There are no work lights or panic lights assigned and no faders attached to these.
Channel one has only two faders for
house lights, one at the Sound booth and one back
stage. That part seems pretty simple and easy to fix, but the
DMX has me scratching my head....
Thanks for looking at this and trying to help me out! Rick