Starcloth flicker issue.

[Gingersteve91]

Hello, I'm looking for some advice regarding an issue with 2 Starcloths.

Product: Prolight - Pro LED Starcloth System x2 

Desk: OrbXF Running Zeros7.9.7

Fixture Profiles: LEDJ/Pro Starcloth Systems/28ch mode (first 4 channels only).

Remaining 24 channels: Conventional/LED Unit/3ch (RGB)

Issue: When in use both Starcloths flicker consistently every 4mins 30secs at the same time the display controller box flickers aswell (it almost looks like a signal refresh flicker).

They are addressed at 445 and 473

Any ideas if this is due to something clever the desk is trying to do in the background?... We’ve turned rigsync off for the universe, tried new DMX lines, terminators, different modes but no change. 

Note: We have been in contact with Prolight and they have looked at our equipment but seem to be confident there's nothing wrong with the control boxes. I'll be in the venue re installing the system and testing it again later today (14th) So if anyone has any ideas it would be appreciated.

Thanks, Steve.

[Edward Z88]

Hi Steve,

Are you controlling any other fixtures on that DMX line? Are they also showing a "flicker" when the starcloths do?

You say the display in the controller box flickers - this almost sounds like a power issue, where they are momentarily loosing power and booting back up? Are both starcloth controller boxes connected to the same power supply? If you disconnect the controller boxes from the DMX line, and leave and watch them, do the displays continue to flicker?

5 hours ago, Gingersteve91 said:

Any ideas if this is due to something clever the desk is trying to do in the background?... We’ve turned rigsync off for the universe, tried new DMX lines, terminators, different modes but no change. 

 

If you have RigSync disabled and this hasn't had an effect, then this rules out an out of spec fixture being the issue. You've tried all the usual troubleshooting of new cabling and terminators to rule these factors out too. The console will be outputting DMX at a continuous 30Hz, so there is nothing obvious that could be causing this.

If you'd like to give me a call when you're in the venue troubleshooting it, drop me an email and I'll send you my number.

Edward

[Gingersteve91]

On 10/14/2020 at 9:34 AM, Edward- Z88 said:

If you'd like to give me a call when you're in the venue troubleshooting it, drop me an email and I'll send you my number.

Edward

Hi Edward,

Thanks for the response,

So we re-rigged the cloth to do some more testing and found it seems to be nothing to do with the control. We did find however the issue only seems to occur in the higher DMX ranges.

I ran 4 tests for the product 2 using the Fixture profiles mentioned at DMX 001 & 445. Then 2 More using dimmer CHs on faders only at DMX 001 & 445

The results were consistent showing flicker breaks at around 4:27-4:29 intervals on the 400 range meanwhile using the cloth at 001 there was no issue at all (See timed results attached).

This proved to be the same running through a Zero88 Line backer to so the desk has definitely been ruled out as the issue.

 

Do you or anyone here have any knowledge as to what could be causing this when used at a high universe range, Me & my colleagues are all out of ideas now, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Thanks, Steve.

[Edward Z88]

Hi Steve,

1 hour ago, Gingersteve91 said:

ran 4 tests for the product 2 using the Fixture profiles mentioned at DMX 001 & 445. Then 2 More using dimmer CHs on faders only at DMX 001 & 445

The results were consistent showing flicker breaks at around 4:27-4:29 intervals on the 400 range meanwhile using the cloth at 001 there was no issue at all (See timed results attached).

This proved to be the same running through a Zero88 Line backer to so the desk has definitely been ruled out as the issue.

That is really interesting, thanks very much for the information and attaching the results of your testing.

1 hour ago, Gingersteve91 said:

Do you or anyone here have any knowledge as to what could be causing this when used at a high universe range, Me & my colleagues are all out of ideas now, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

This definitely sounds like a question for the manufacturer of the star cloth drivers. Is there a firmware update for these you can perform?

The only thing I can potentially think of, is that maybe the refresh rate of the ORB XF is too high for the cloth drivers, despite the refresh rate being pretty much slap bang in the middle of the permitted range. Unfortunately on ORB XF you cannot change the refresh rate, and so the work around is likely just to address the star cloth drivers to address 255 or lower.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions let us know.

Edward

[Gingersteve91]

8 hours ago, Edward- Z88 said:

The only thing I can potentially think of, is that maybe the refresh rate of the ORB XF is too high for the cloth drivers, despite the refresh rate being pretty much slap bang in the middle of the permitted range. Unfortunately on ORB XF you cannot change the refresh rate, and so the work around is likely just to address the star cloth drivers to address 255 or lower.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions let us know.

Edward

Thanks Edward,

We've concluded and ruled out The ORB desk being the issue as we found this issue to be the same using the cloth on its own via just the Zero88 Linebacker, so it must be something in the program of the control boxes.

But what?... we have no idea its just strange that it only happens on the higher end of the universe.

Prolight have looked at our boxes (and cloths) for tests back at their wherehouse and not been able to recreate the fault. They keep pointing us back to our control equipment which we now know is fine thanks to my tests I ran last week. We're clutching to straws now stratching our heads.

What's the refresh rate you speak of exactly? Is that same refresh rate in the Zero88 linebacker device to? Its possibly another thing for us to look into.

[Edward Z88]

Hi Steve,

7 hours ago, Gingersteve91 said:

What's the refresh rate you speak of exactly? Is that same refresh rate in the Zero88 linebacker device to? Its possibly another thing for us to look into.

The DMX refresh rate, is how many packets of DMX (containing the information for all 512 channels) are sent out per second. ORB XF sits at 30Hz, which will be similar to where Linebacker will be. As you say, this is the only thing I can think of, and unless there is a firmware fix for the cloth drivers, the workaround will be to address them in the first half of the universe.

Edward

[Gingersteve91]

30hz OK, We'll do some digging.

Thanks for your help Edward.

 

Steve.

[Edward Z88]

Hi Steve,

57 minutes ago, Gingersteve91 said:

30hz OK, We'll do some digging.

Thanks for your help Edward.

No problem, let me know how you get on.

Edward

[Gingersteve91]

On 10/21/2020 at 4:02 PM, Edward Z88 said:

No problem, let me know how you get on.

Hello Again,

Catching up on old topics today!

We got to the bottom of this, it turned out to be an issue in the hardware of the controller for any address beyond 256.

Prolight are (still) in the process of making us brand new controllers to replace the faulty ones. 

Thanks.

[Edward Z88]

Hi Steve,

6 hours ago, Gingersteve91 said:

Hello Again,

Catching up on old topics today!

We got to the bottom of this, it turned out to be an issue in the hardware of the controller for any address beyond 256.

Prolight are (still) in the process of making us brand new controllers to replace the faulty ones. 

Thanks.

Thanks very much for the update. Glad to hear you got to the bottom of this, and hope you get a replacement soon.

Edward