Hockeybod

Our school's Frog desk has started losing settings every time it's switched off, so I assume it's the coin cell battery/batteries. I have replaced them on a Jester, but haven't tackled a Frog. Any tips to save time/hassle? Is there a service manual available?

Funny you should say that - I replaced the main fader and CMOS battery (since I was in there anyway) just a fortnight ago. Unfortunately I managed to accidently change the DIP switch settings which caused me some anguish, but Zero88 nailed the problem straight away.

Agreed, 45 years ago I rewired all the lights for an am-dram group that my parents belonged to, but I'm a bit busier these days!

Thanks, I know the Stables well living in Princes Risborough and having been there a few times. I'm coming to the conclusion that we might be better staying with what we have - what are we gaining from switching to LED apart from easy colour change? There's plenty of used tungsten lighting out there if some of ours don't survive PAT, and we already have more lights than we really need or use. What we really need is expertise, not more kit! I don't suppose you live this side of MK...?

The lights in our school hall are awaiting PAT testing, and when I took them all down it was clear that it's a motley collection and some are very old. We'd like to go down the LED route but I've no idea whether to budget for ripping everything out and starting over or trying to re-use some of the existing installation. We have a Jester desk which won't run LEDs so that has to go, but it does mean we have DMX cabling in place There are two banks of Betapack3 dimmers hard wired to the lighting rails with their 15A output sockets. Are there any LEDs that will run from those? How much of the existing installation might be re-used? I understand a combination of LED and tungsten is possible, assuming some of our current lights pass PAT!

You were right, the DIP switches weren't how they should be. The Flash button lights are all off now which looks hopeful. All our lights are down for PAT testing so I'm limited in what I can do but fingers crossed you appear to have solved it and spared my blushes!

Thanks, I'll have a look at the weekend. Would that cause all the flash-button LEDs to be lit?

I inspected the solders with a magnifying glass before re-assembly and didn't see anything untoward. Yes, static strap and power lead plugged in but turned off. I didn't deliberately change any of the dips, but can't be sure. Yes, it's the right fader, all markings etc identical and bought from a proper service centre. I can't get to the desk until the weekend but I'll have another look then and desolder and resolder the joints if everything else seems OK.

My field is sound not lighting, so please bear with me. I was doing sound for a show at our local school and noticed that when the lighting guy brought the master fader up it would flash momentarily before dimming again and gradually fading up as it should. It didn't happen every time but I thought it was likely to be a worn or dirty fader. I've replaced audio faders before and thinking "How hard could this be?", I foolishly offered to fix it for them. Soldering in a new fader seemed to be straightforward, but the desk doesn't work now. All the LCDs on the flash buttons are lit constantly on channels 1-6 on banks A and B, and none of the faders appear to do anything. With a bit random button pressing I did get it working in a chace, and the Master fader worked then, but that's the only time I saw any of the lights come on. I tried a desk reset and it didn't make any difference. I have until Sept 5th when the schools go back to get it working! Any suggestions gratefully received!