Chinese Beam 230 no light coming out

[Nicktaylor]

I have couple of unused units that I finally got around to playing with. Using my Chamsys MQ80 I have patched in and have control. The units lamps have struck, I can just see light through the baffles. However although the level is at 100% nothing is coming out, as if the shutter is stuck shut. This is with both units. In my past experience with Macs I know th at if there is an issue it shuts the shutter to stop rogues lights wizzing around in the rig. I dont think this is the case with two unused units. They are 16 channel which is the limit of my regular fader test desk. Maybe there is a missing channel?

[indyld]

Assume that you have hit Locate in MQ. I would check the channels in the patch and their default and locate values to see if they match up with the DMX map in the manual. If they do, this could still be wrong so instead patch up as many dimmer channels as you think you need in MQ and run using the faders in the intensity window until you have worked out which channel/level does what. 

Also set the fixture to factory defaults in case there is some weird setting. Then re check you are in the mode that you expect. 

[Nicktaylor]

Thanks Rob

I dont think I ever had a manual, long lost if I did. While I have a 16 way fader desk which I usually use for checking channels I wonder if this is greater? I will have a go with a fader patch on the Chamsys

[indyld]

Beam 230 in the ChamSys fixture finder online can help find a load of options, not all 16 channel modes but looking at a random 20 channel mode the extra channels seem unimportant as long as you are testing the unit(s) without the possibility of channel overlap. Plus this is only what ChamSys believe to be the channel map, not definitely what match your fixtures and mode.

https://secure.chamsys.co.uk/fixturefinder/

Check for any Control channels doing something odd, along with the most obvious Dimmer and Strobe channels.

[Nicktaylor]

Sort of sorted. I found another 230W fixture that has 20 attributes and that gets it all to work! I bought then three years ago and found the fans a bit noisy for theatre work, hence the delay in really seeing how they work! Looked back at the purchase and they definitely should be 16 channel as sold in multiple outlets!

[James Remo]

These beam fixtures are mostly modelled on a clay paky sharpy, which has 2 modes, 16ch and 20ch. I’d be amazed if the DMX channel list doesn’t align perfectly

[Stuart91]

9 hours ago, James Remo said:

These beam fixtures are mostly modelled on a clay paky sharpy, which has 2 modes, 16ch and 20ch. I’d be amazed if the DMX channel list doesn’t align perfectly

Alas the manufacturers are nowhere near that consistent. There are literally dozens of "Beam230" variants in the Avolites personality library.

[niclights]

38 minutes ago, Stuart91 said:

Alas the manufacturers are nowhere near that consistent. There are literally dozens of "Beam230" variants in the Avolites personality library.

Indeed.  There are a lot of variants, at least if you believe the DMX charts.  If it is a 16/20 channel then there are many that do follow the same channel assignments but the colour values (and colours) can vary, along with the gobo slot count and strobe/shutter ranges as Rob pointed out.  More recently I see many now with a second prism/prism rotate control and where the frost might also have a 'colorful' slot (common name) or the 'colorful' might be on one of the channels.

(apologies for the off-topic)

[Nicktaylor]

Now trying to sort on-site and the brightness will not work!

Will try other suggestions!

[Nicktaylor]

ps there is only the 16 channel mode on the unit

[Nicktaylor]

Turns out 14 channel works!