Strand 300 Dimmer Problem

[Ynot]

It is not the first time this has happened but they are very stingy when it comes to sharing what they did to fix things with us. Again because "they are the only ones that know what they are doing".

Sounds like it's time to look for a new tech support company.

Whilst the kit may now be old (you should probably investigate replacing the console at least) the dimmers may very well be servicable. And if you ring around a few companies and ask a) if they have any staff with exp on the Strand 300/500 series and b) if they'd come take a look-see you may be surprised.

 

 

 

 

[themadhippy]

wasn't the goto strand 300/500 ,cure all command, 220 clean

[Kioti]

wasn't the goto strand 300/500 ,cure all command, 220 clean

 

You are correct! I didn't know about this but after a little research, this might be the ticket! I might give it a try tomorrow. Looks like 220clean scans all the Strand OS files and settings and looks for corrupt files, trying to fix them along the way. It even says in the manual to run this if you are experiencing erratic behaviour.... It also runs a defrag. Something I haven't done to a computer in probably 20 years! Ah, the good ol' days of DOS.

 

Sounds like it's time to look for a new tech support company.<br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Whilst the kit may now be old (you should probably investigate replacing the console at least) the dimmers may very well be servicable. And if you ring around a few companies and ask a) if they have any staff with exp on the Strand 300/500 series and b) if they'd come take a look-see you may be surprised.

We had others in to take a look at the system another time before. None of them had any idea how the Strand system worked. There are only 2 techs within an hour of us that know anything about Strand so not many options unfortunately. We also have been trying to get a replacement console, since this one also has broken hinges and other fun issues we have learned to work around but the tech has convinced our admin that the thing is fine and lots of places are still using this console.The funny thing is, when the system was installed back in 2006, they sold it to the school as the "cadillac of lighting systems". I'm thinking it was old stock that they were trying to get rid of. Anyone know when these guys were being sold?

[GridGirl]

We had others in to take a look at the system another time before. None of them had any idea how the Strand system worked. There are only 2 techs within an hour of us that know anything about Strand so not many options unfortunately. We also have been trying to get a replacement console, since this one also has broken hinges and other fun issues we have learned to work around but the tech has convinced our admin that the thing is fine and lots of places are still using this console.The funny thing is, when the system was installed back in 2006, they sold it to the school as the "[/size][/color]cadillac of lighting systems". I'm thinking it was old stock that they were trying to get rid of. Anyone know when these guys were being sold?

 

I think they stopped selling the 300/500 series in the early-mid 2000s, from memory, when they were replaced by the Palette consoles (which in my opinion were inferior!). If it still works, it's a solid console which should serve well - if it's not running software version 2.8.6 it wouldn't hurt to update to that - you can find the software here. I do remember the major problem we had with ours was that the rubber band on the level wheel would disintegrate over time, but I do seem to remember it wasn't very hard to replace it either!

[willjam39]

Still using a 520 as a good solid desk for amdram/ low level shows. Also it is hard to find a desk with the features of one for a price amateurs can pay.

[paulears]

If a tech company has no knowledge of historic products then they're simply too young. There is so much old equipment still functioning that the companies that can service them have profitable work. The 300 was ideal for bigger school and college stages, and the operating syntax simple and easy for kids to pick up and use effectively. Sure, they're older than the current kids but so what? I hope you can get it sorted. Just for the record, we still have 3 20 channel racks dating back to the late 60s in daily use. We've lost around 20 but we still have 40 channels that still function perfectly. They predate DMX. Your dimmers seem to be perfectly suitable for what they're doing, and if your service company are doing what I think, then they're taking money for 'servicing' which means a bit of dusting. If they find problems, they justify not fixing them by saying they're old. An old trick, take the money to service things that do t need service, only repairs when they go wrong! Schools are very gullible in this area. Having watched these companies work, it's surprising how they can make dismantling and reassembly look like they're doing something!

[Kazeja]

Hello.

 

Most of Strands processor driven dimmers had the facility to adjust dimmer levels from the front panel. (Or at least they did when I worked for them).

 

Using this facility should immediately tell you if a dimmer is behaving as a dimmer or non-dim to help identify the source of your "switching" problem.

 

K.

[pritch]

If there's another desk in another department, then it might be worth giving that a shot with the dimmers - that should rule out whether it's a dimmer or desk issue.

[Kioti]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I did a 220clean which wiped everything out and then tried to repatch but had no luck. Still just switching instead of dimming. We are most likely going to have to get a tech out here to look at it since I'm out of ideas and beyond my level of knowledge here. I did learn a lot about the dimmer rack as I now figured out how they tried to split between the 2 rooms by assigning a net slot to the different dimmers (and why they were getting cross-talk because of incorrect configuration). Unfortunately I only have the 300 console to try. The other console we used to have in the drama room isn't Shownet compatible and I have no easy way to get to the DMX ports on the back of the racks to attach the 200 series board we have. I do have some LED fixtures that work fine since they are not running through the dimmer rack. So I'm assuming the console is fine. I tried setting the lights to local on the rack processor and it does the same thing. As soon as it goes to 1%, its full on. I'm guessing there is something wrong with our processor or the dimmers themselves have gone funky. Thinking that it is just a computer controlling it, I even rebooted the dimmer rack/processor.... same thing. I think we are going to have to get the tech to come out for a service call. The dimmer modules are 76562 if that makes a difference to anyone?

 

And don't get me wrong about the Series 300. It was a nice board to learn on but when it is not working, it is a ###### to get it back into shape when something happens. This also seems to be a growing issue with it at the school. More and more of it is breaking down.

Edited October 25, 2019 by Kioti

[IRW]

1572034281[/url]' post='577814']

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I did a 220clean which wiped everything out and then tried to repatch but had no luck. Still just switching instead of dimming. We are most likely going to have to get a tech out here to look at it since I'm out of ideas and beyond my level of knowledge here. I did learn a lot about the dimmer rack as I now figured out how they tried to split between the 2 rooms by assigning a net slot to the different dimmers (and why they were getting cross-talk because of incorrect configuration). Unfortunately I only have the 300 console to try. The other console we used to have in the drama room isn't Shownet compatible and I have no easy way to get to the DMX ports on the back of the racks to attach the 200 series board we have. I do have some LED fixtures that work fine since they are not running through the dimmer rack. So I'm assuming the console is fine. I tried setting the lights to local on the rack processor and it does the same thing. As soon as it goes to 1%, its full on. I'm guessing there is something wrong with our processor or the dimmers themselves have gone funky. Thinking that it is just a computer controlling it, I even rebooted the dimmer rack/processor.... same thing. I think we are going to have to get the tech to come out for a service call. The dimmer modules are 76562 if that makes a difference to anyone?

 

And don't get me wrong about the Series 300. It was a nice board to learn on but when it is not working, it is a ###### to get it back into shape when something happens. This also seems to be a growing issue with it at the school. More and more of it is breaking down.

 

I thought we determined back at post #7 that you are not talking to the dimmers via the network- you said you have a DMX cable coming out of the black console box?

 

 

If this is so, net slots and such like have nothing to do with it. Grab your Strand 200 from the other room, unplug the 5-pin DMX cable from the back of the 300-series processor, and plug it into the back of the 200!

[Ynot]

Maybe to save confusion take a photo of what's actually plugged in to the back of the 300 processor unit?

[paulears]

It does make you wonder why such a simple install got overspeced to make a control and a few dimmers get this complicated! I'm amazed a school ever needed this kind of equipment. We had a 300 and a pile of act 6 dimmers in a rack. I guess they took advantage of a school and a too high budget and people who took bad advice. So complicated it gets put in locked rooms to ensure external firms need to 'service' it.

[Jivemaster]

What is the probability that tinkering fingers have found settings on the dimmer rack to switch it to be a relay pack? Which would give a full on output from any channel with any level of input. Which also would mean that there is a simple means of resetting the rack to (one of several?) dim curve, currently known to your contractors but not to you.

 

Purely as a random guess is there a "Mode" button with up and down arrows that may cycle between on/off and several different dim curves, that students have found and that the contractor knows about?

[Kioti]

What is the probability that tinkering fingers have found settings on the dimmer rack to switch it to be a relay pack? Which would give a full on output from any channel with any level of input. Which also would mean that there is a simple means of resetting the rack to (one of several?) dim curve, currently known to your contractors but not to you.

 

Purely as a random guess is there a "Mode" button with up and down arrows that may cycle between on/off and several different dim curves, that students have found and that the contractor knows about?

 

Not likely. It is in a locked tech room on stage that teachers would have to let them in. Right now, the rack is also difficult to get to because the room is crowded and they'd have to move a lot out of the room just to get to it. Yesterday, I went through almost everything I could see to do with the dimmers, but everything looked normal to me. I don't know if I checked the dimmer curves specifically but I may have as well. I have gone through about 50 different things in the last 2 days and I'm starting to forget what I have looked at. However, all the modules where set to the current model, all of the dimmer types are set to Thyristor dimmer regulated (ours are SSR dimmers) except for the 2 non-dimmable packs that are in there which are set as Non-Dim. Maybe I'll have another look when I'm back at the school Monday. At this point, I'm almost conceding as I have reached the point of my knowledge.

 

It does make you wonder why such a simple install got overspeced to make a control and a few dimmers get this complicated! I'm amazed a school ever needed this kind of equipment. I guess they took advantage of a school and a too high budget and people who took bad advice.

We don't! They even have "smart switches" installed all around our cafeteria and stage that can be programmed to control the light fixtures (that never really worked right from day one). We also have dimmable plugs all around the stage as well that we have never used. The school was definitely taken for a large amount of money for something that was overkill. Schools here get hosed for everything and the school board creates contracts with certain companies. Just to run a standard electrical outlet in the school, it costs over $1000. For a simple computer, they are charged almost 2 times the price of what I could custom build one with better specs. The other unfortunate situation is that the school board knows this, so they put out bids and generally except the lowest bidder. We have had some very unprofessional companies in at times doing work

I thought we determined back at post #7 that you are not talking to the dimmers via the network- you said you have a DMX cable coming out of the black console box?

We have both. The DMX cable runs ONLY our LED fixtures and from what I can tell, actually bypasses the processor in the room (DMX light on the front of the processor does not light up that it is connected). The actual processor and dimmer rack are controlled over Cat5 via the Shownet protocol from the console. It is a very unusual set up, which also doesn't help with the troubleshooting. So they originally had 2 consoles running over Shownet to the same processor and set up the Netslots to separate them between the 2 separate lighting systems used in the school. Unfortunately, when they set up the separation, they set the dimmer range incorrectly and had overlap and apparently the last company that we have servicing the equipment didn't see that and was telling the school they would need a second processor to handle the 2 separate rooms. This is also the same company that originally installed the equipment as well. Mind you, they were have many other issues in the drama room, such as blowing lights left right and centre and a broken console, which is why they switched completely over to LED and their own separate system which they are thrilled with.

Sorry for this being a very confusing set up!

[chelgrian]

As the OP is in Canada I wonder if there is anyone more local on https://www.controlbooth.com/ who would be able to go in and at least document what is wrong.