No DMX output on Fat Frog

[LuxProDeo]

Hi All,

 

I have a Fat Frog - new out of the box - that seems to not send out any DMX at all.

 

Grand Master is up. A fader master is up. B fader master is up. Several channels are up. Displaying of DMX output on the LCD screen says that several values are being output - and still nothing happens.

 

Tried several DMX receivers: a DeMux and a native DMX dimmerpack. Tried a DMX tester in-a-plug that gives a LED signal with other desks but not with the Fat Frog. Tried both outputs. LEDS on the frog itself above the outputs are glowing very faintly. Tried output 1 while terminating 2. Tried different DMX cables. Verified DMX cables with other gear. Tried re-installing the OS.

 

And still nothing...

 

Desk itself seems to be behaving fine (internally) stil everything seems to point out that it is not sending any signal onto the DMX line.

 

Can anybody offer help, hints, experiences on this one? Would have already contacted the dealer by this time, but it is a holiday and no one can be reached for the next two days while preparations for the production the Frog is on continues

 

Regards,

LuxProDeo

[GLX]

Try:: Black out button pressed, pin3 + pin 2-on your DMX cable, Are your faders patched to dmx, failing this go have a cup of tea then come back.

Goodluck.

[LuxProDeo]

Thanks for your swift reply.

 

Black Out button was not pressed (tried both states: the button off, and the state with the LED blinking on and off which i suppose is the blackout mode).

 

Pin 2 and 3 are definetly not swapped on the DMX cable, and i suppose they also are not on the Frog?

 

Also my DMX tester-in-a-plug should have indicated a phase reverse on the DMX by blinking but in another color - however the tester stays totally dead when plugged into the Frog.

 

Went into Super User mode and found what i think is a basic 1 to 1 patch. Also i did a Clear All in Super User mode.

 

Question: are you supposed to patch desk channels first - or is the default setting out-of-the-box or after a Clear All a 1-to-1 patch ?

 

At any rate i patched nothing because i thought i already saw a 1-to-1 patch in there.

 

Had plenty of coffee during a totally wasted day of troubleshooting the Fat Amphibious Beast - should i've drank tea instead?

 

LuxProDeo

[sp]

If the Frog shows DMX values being output on screen, then I would say it is a hardware problem - the Fatfrog has 2 identical dmx outputs, are both dead?

 

sp

[LuxProDeo]

Yes, the Fat Frog shows DMX being output on the LCD screen, when i press output, both in desk channel and in DMX mode.

 

So, a question for the Frog people: when i see channel 1 @ 255 in the O/P <DMX> screen mode does this mean that the Fat Frog should be outputting this on the 2 DMX ports, no matter what.

 

It can't be Grand Master, A master or Black Out because the display responds to this by going to show channel 1 @ 0.

 

A small experiment in Phantom Frog also leads me to believe that the channel must indeed be patched to show this output on the LCD display.

 

So, i'm starting to get quite afraid of a hardware fault in the DMX port?

 

Regards,

LuxProDeo

[nighteyes]

mmm. weird problem. it looks indeed like a hardware fault. Your tester works just fine with other desks you say. So when you plug it into a dmx output, it should give you a dmx signal no matter what you are outputting on any fader,channel or patch. Dmx signal is always present on the outputs whenever the desk is turned on and ready with the startup sequence. So if youre not getting anything there, it probably is a hardware fault.

[LuxProDeo]

Yes, the tester works on other desks. It is a tester built according to this schematic: http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/dmxtest.htm - the bicolour LED version. I see no reason why it shouldn't work with the Fat Frog.

 

So, a hardware problem most probably. On a software level the desk behaves just fine however. Could it be a broken DMX driver chip or is this really unlikely?

 

LuxProDeo

[Haytech]

Hi LuxProDeo,

sounds like the DMX outputsockets aren´t connected to the mainboard.

I never opend our frogs so I can´t really help. I´am very sure that KWR88 or K-Nine are helping you to fix this problem. Just send a PM to them.

 

Good luck

regards

[nighteyes]

normally, i would open the desk almost immediatly to indeed check if the connectors themselves are connected to the board. But you say its fresh out of the box. So i'd check with your dealer first because of warranty reasons.

[LuxProDeo]

Just to inform you: the Fat Frog was diagnosed by the dealer as indeed having a hardware failure, so it went back. The demo Fat Frog which is now in the venue as a temporary replacement is controlling everything with no problems. (knock on frog)

 

And for future reference: the repaired desk came back and the official diagnosis was indeed that the output connectors were not properly connected (soldered?) to the main PCB.

 

All is well now with the demo Frog and the repaired Frog...

 

Regards,

LuxProDeo