ProSoundWeb Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?  (Read 8926 times)

mikesmall

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1
Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?
« on: February 11, 2011, 08:53:23 AM »

 Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?

were do i start ???
 the splitter , the sub box or the xlr or cable ??
Logged

Rob Spence

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3531
  • Boston Metro North/West
    • Lynx Audio Services
Re: Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2011, 01:15:54 PM »

I assume you have a bad channel? What is the symptom?
I would start by opening up the cable end for the channel to see if a wire got pulled off. If that doesn't turn up something, then open the stage box though the cable end is the most likely.
Logged
rob at lynxaudioservices dot com

Dealer for: AKG, Allen & Heath, Ashley, Astatic, Audix, Blue Microphones, CAD, Chauvet, Community, Countryman, Crown, DBX, Electro-Voice, FBT, Furman, Heil, Horizon, Intellistage, JBL, Lab Gruppen, Mid Atlantic, On Stage Stands, Pelican, Peterson Tuners, Presonus, ProCo, QSC, Radial, RCF, Sennheiser, Shure, SKB, Soundcraft, TC Electronics, Telex, Whirlwind and others

Tim McCulloch

  • SR Forums
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 23736
  • Wichita, Kansas USA
Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2011, 03:04:39 PM »

Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?

were do i start ???
 the splitter , the sub box or the xlr or cable ??

You start at the beginning.  Test your mic cables and verify that all conductors conduct, and that the cables are correctly wired.

If you have a Rat Sender/Sniffer, you and a buddy can go through a big snake in fairly short order.  Have your helper plug the sender into the splitter inputs and you wield the sniffer.  Make notes of anything it finds wrong.  Repeat for each of the splits, too.

If you're using a conventional cable tester like the EWI Bug Catcher or the Ebtech SwizzArmy tester, you'll need to bring the fanout end of the snake up to the splitter, and use known-good (tested) cables to make the patches.  If you're testing a permanently installed snake you'll need more/longer cables to do this, but it's still do-able.
Logged
"If you're passing on your way, from Palm Springs to L.A., Give a wave to good ol' Dave, Say hello to progress and goodbye to the Moonlight Motor Inn." - Steve Spurgin, Moonlight Motor Inn

Frank DeWitt

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1010
    • LBP DI Box
Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2011, 05:19:34 PM »


If you're using a conventional cable tester like the EWI Bug Catcher or the Ebtech SwizzArmy tester, you'll need to bring the fanout end of the snake up to the splitter, and use known-good (tested) cables to make the patches.  If you're testing a permanently installed snake you'll need more/longer cables to do this, but it's still do-able.

The Ebtech SwizzArmy tester and the Behringer CT100 copy have a installed cable test feature. 

Frank
Logged
Not to Code

Ivan Beaver

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9534
  • Atlanta GA
Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2011, 07:57:22 PM »

Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?

were do i start ???
 the splitter , the sub box or the xlr or cable ??
An ohm meter is a VERY handy tool to have and will  help you find shorts and opens in the cable.

Using a KNOW GOOD mic cable, hook up a know good mic and test the channels to see what is working and what isn't.  The next thing I would do would be visual on the fan end (it takes more abuse than the stage box-wiring wise).  Then look inside the stage box.
Logged
A complex question is easily answered by a simple-easy to understand WRONG answer!

Ivan Beaver
Danley Sound Labs

PHYSICS- NOT FADS!

Miguel Angel Castro Rios

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 24
Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2011, 06:13:07 PM »

Well, it depends what the symptoms are and also how much time you have to "repair" or to bring a solution to the problem.

If I'm getting noise from that channel. What I do FIRST is to unplug the snake channel from the mixer.

If the noise is still there, then the console is the one with the problem or maybe somewhere else.

If the noise stops after unpluging the snake's channel going into the mixer. Then I put it back in to find the problem.

So my next step is to unplug the XLR Cable going into the snake's stage box of that channel. If the noise quits, then the XLR is bad, or the mic. If the noise is still there, then the snake is the one with the problem.


If we have time to repair, we do it. If not we just change the cable or what ever needs to be changed.
Logged

Jordan Wolf

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1483
  • Location: Collingswood, NJ
Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2011, 01:14:28 AM »

I agree with Miguel's method of troubleshooting, but wanted to make one addition:

If you're using phantom power on that channel, make sure you lower the main fader a good bit; I've never had the phantom power pop kill any drivers, but it's probably best to play it safe and reduce levels just in case.



Well, it depends what the symptoms are and also how much time you have to "repair" or to bring a solution to the problem.

If I'm getting noise from that channel. What I do FIRST is to unplug the snake channel from the mixer.

If the noise is still there, then the console is the one with the problem or maybe somewhere else.

If the noise stops after unpluging the snake's channel going into the mixer. Then I put it back in to find the problem.

So my next step is to unplug the XLR Cable going into the snake's stage box of that channel. If the noise quits, then the XLR is bad, or the mic. If the noise is still there, then the snake is the one with the problem.


If we have time to repair, we do it. If not we just change the cable or what ever needs to be changed.
Logged
Jordan Wolf
<><

"We want our sound to go into the soul of the audience, and see if it can awaken some little thing in their minds... Cause there are so many sleeping people." - Jimi Hendrix

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: whats the best way to troubleshoot a stage snake?
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2011, 01:14:28 AM »


Pages: [1]   Go Up
 



Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.025 seconds with 19 queries.