Roderick Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Can you try the betapacks in isolation i.e. take the desk to the room, plug the board directly to each betapack in turn? You may wish to have a member of staff with you when you do this.I second that. When chasing weird things like this, isolate all individual parts and then rebuild slowly until the problem re-appears.On the desk, clear everything and reset to a 1:1 patch.On the racks, unplug everything - DMX & outputs - and plug the desk into each rack individually.If that all works fine, plug the desk into rack 1 and then one by one put the links back. And slowly work your way back to the normal desk position.It would be very unusual if it turned out to be a DMX cable problem, it is too regular, but you have to check. Alternatively, change the labels on the dimmer racks - 3 <-> 4 <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 I will try the dimmers individually when I next can - will need to wait until we get a desk though as the Sirius at school died, hence the use of the fat frog and the hired in Sirius. I'm sure that I didn't have this problem when I used the Express - unless I did but as everything was softpatched I may just have not noticed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulDF Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 That could be the case, is the fat frog available for checking with?You say you can't remember how they fixed it last time, could they have changed the betapack labels over when infact the original problem was with a soft patch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 I don't think that could be the case. The only one that ever fiddles with soft patching (the other guy doesn't know how to do it) is me, and I always reset the desk afterwards. Also, the top dimmer in the second flight case (addressed to 13) has always, and still is, labelled as 'Dimmer 3'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnomatron Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 What about the outputs of the dimmer packs? Could they have been repatched? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulDF Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Should be nice and easy to check - a betapack 2 has a series of test buttons, one for each channel. Worth a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 It's nothing to do with the outputs - you can see the lights lighting up in correctly. As in, when I push up fader 18, the 1st channel on the 3rd dimmer lights up instead of the 1st channel on the 4th. EDIT: That's the little green LED's on the dimmers lighting up incorrectly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulDF Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I'd go back and try it with a desk to each betapack in isolation to make sure they are responding to the correct channel range, double check the addresses, make sure the dip switches have clicked in properly etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhuson Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Fader 18 should operate Channel 6 on Rack 3 in a correctly wired and 1:1 patched system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 You're right! I should have said - Fader 18 operated channel 6 on rack 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimWebber Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I don't think that could be the case. The only one that ever fiddles with soft patching (the other guy doesn't know how to do it) is me, and I always reset the desk afterwards. Also, the top dimmer in the second flight case (addressed to 13) has always, and still is, labelled as 'Dimmer 3'. Tom.... I do not want to sound condescending here, but have you physically checked, checked and checked again all addressing and soft patching? Just because the other guy does not know how to soft patch does not stop the rest of the school fiddling with it.... I do not mean any offence, but it appears that you are taking a lot for granted.... Assuming that nobody has fiddled with anything... I used to instruct Degree level students in engineering, and if I ever put faults on the equipment, they never failed to ignore the obvious, and make all manner of assumptions!! But please double and triple check your addressing and the "Obvious" things.... I am not having a go, but I would put good money that everyone here on the BR has at one point overlooked the "Obvious" so many times, and then kicked themselves when they realise that they have not even switched it on!!!! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted January 6, 2009 Author Share Posted January 6, 2009 I had checked the soft patch over and over on both ocassions - the Sirius and the Frog - and it was DEFINITELY 1:1 like it should be. Next time we have a desk in I'm going to try each dimmer in turn though, as a starting point, and see where it goes from there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 I think it's time for you to give serious consideration to asking the school to buy a DMX tester. It's worth it's weight in gold. If you want to know what it is capable of before you buy then download the manual from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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