Trying to get old light board to work

[Charc]

I still have not recieved an e-mail back from etc . I e-mailed them almost a week ago. Guess it went to the same place that all my e-mails to strand go.....

Wow, the first negative remark on ETC. *Cough* "Quick Lassie, go bark at ETC tech support!"

Two days and 500 miles later, lassie arrives out of breath:

Lassie: *Bark, Bark, Bark*

Steve, Jim, Jeff, Sarah, Anne: "What's that Lassie? Tim need's tech support?!"

To be continued...

 

[derekleffew]

Well, not trying to make excuses or speak for ETC, but...perhaps since it was email they realized it was not "time critical"? They have a 24/7 emergency pager# for time sensitive issues. Who else has that?

Also, two ETC employees here have attempted to help Tim. At this point he needs to call them to discuss his issues.

And they posted the PDF for the Original MicroVision on their site! Only ETC desk with round, silver buttons. Only 43 keys on the entire console, and no softkeys. As simple as you could get, and still powerful. I liked everything about the board except for the keys. And still do. Works exactly like the Express(ion). Even had tracking, though it defaulted to "tracking off."

 

[Charc]

Well, not trying to make excuses or speak for ETC, but...perhaps since it was email they realized it was not "time critical"? They have a 24/7 emergency pager# for time sensitive issues. Who else has that?
Also, two ETC employees here have attempted to help Tim. At this point he needs to call them to discuss his issues.
And they posted the PDF for the Original MicroVision on their site! Only ETC desk with round, silver buttons. Only 43 keys on the entire console, and no softkeys. As simple as you could get, and still powerful. I liked everything about the board except for the keys. And still do. Works exactly like the Express(ion). Even had tracking, though it defaulted to "tracking off."

My kind of board.

 

[Logos]

Wow, the first negative remark on ETC. *Cough* "Quick Lassie, go bark at ETC tech support!"
Two days and 500 miles later, lassie arrives out of breath:
Lassie: *Bark, Bark, Bark*
Steve, Jim, Jeff, Sarah, Anne: "What's that Lassie? Tim need's tech support?!"
To be continued...

Two days and 500 miles? What'd she do hitch a ride?

 

[derekleffew]

It's 1201 miles from Houston, TX to Middleton, WI. And why didn't Lassie carry the board with her on her back? She could have waited while the repair was being done in their great lobby, (notice all the trees, Lassie was really a boy), and then brought it back. Collie-express.

 

[TimMiller]

LMAO. Thats funny. I dont mind fixing my own board. Nothing against ETC, but i can reach Highend 24/7, for the hog. I've been swamped and i'm sure ETC is busy and e-mails do get lost. For some reason my spam blocker decided to up and start blocking my clay paky e-mails.

 

[TimMiller]

So I have had the console sitting aside for a while and now I am trying to get back to it. Does anyone happen to have a schematic for it along with the EPROM codes. I'm thinking one of the EPROMs is beginning to fail. I have learned when they start to get old the system cannot read them quickly and will go into fail mode.

 

[sclausenETC]

LMAO. Thats funny. I dont mind fixing my own board. Nothing against ETC, but i can reach Highend 24/7, for the hog. I've been swamped and i'm sure ETC is busy and e-mails do get lost. For some reason my spam blocker decided to up and start blocking my clay paky e-mails.

Hi there -

What email address did you use?

We can be contacted worldwide, 24/7, by phone at the following numbers:
For technical support in the Americas, please call 608/831-4116, or toll-free in the U.S. at 800/688-4116.
For technical support in Europe, please call (+44) 20 8896 1000.
For technical support in Germany, please call (+49) 8024 4700-0
For technical support in Asia, please call (+852) 2799 1220.

We also have our own set of forums, scanned daily by tech support and others, at Home - Electronic Theatre Controls.

While we do do tech support by email, it is customary to give us a call when the console isn't working, as email is 1) not immediate, and 2) can get lost in the ether or in spam catchers, as you have seen.

Thanks and I hope you get your Designer working. I also used one of those many years ago, and I will refrain from sharing the "official" tech support suggestion for "fixing" ours. ;-)

Thanks-

Sarah

 

[DavidNorth]

Well, not sure what happened to your email but I apologize that you never recieved a reply.

We do have schematics but we will need to know what revision circuit boards you have as some of the differences are significant. A good example is the jump from Rev C to Rev D/E of the main processor card where lots of components and traces moved.

The drive uses a data tape, not a microcassette. You don't need one to use patch and we used to have one or two left. I'll have to check. I think the part number is A102.

The four pin output connector is not AMX but LMI, a precursor to DMX. In the heady days of digital [and analog] protocols per manufacturer, we cannot rely on the connector type to tell us the protocol. For example, you could look at the back of a Major console and think the BNC was for a monitor when in fact it was likely for the Magnus control protocol.

Were you able to download the manual?

FYI, Designer consoles are not the most reliable controllers out there, and now that they are 20-25+ years old, even less so. We can repair them still, so please let us know when you're ready to throw your hands up.

David

 

[TimMiller]

I will give you all a call on Friday when I have some time available. The back of the console is labeled amx out. I will post pictures later. I have to say I am very impressed you have all of the info on these old consoles after all of these years and company mergers.