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[Mark Holley]

howdy.....

I've ended up with 2 Martin Mania CSX500 fixtures, as well as 2 acu scan 250's and an acu roller 250 :-)
A buddy said he had some lights that came out of a club that closed, he did the cleanout job and all these fixtures were in a closet..... so......  he didn't know what they were and figured I might could use them 

They were a bit rough looking and covered with dust but after cleaning them and looking further into it, not too bad.
The Martins are seemingly fully functional and I re-lamped them and they work in auto-mode as well as DMX (6 or 8 ch)...  They have a function that is on ch 1 that allows you to play the built in macros... this doesn't seem to play but just one of them. The other thing with them is I want to invert the pan but not the tilt... manual says this can be done....  there are function buttons on the top of the unit...  mode button and a 100x, 10x and 1x button.  You press the mode for 5 secs then it enters menu functions and you are supposed to repeatedly press the 100x button untill a certain display appears... this is also the same method that you choose whether the unit is in 6 or 8 ch mode....  I repeatedly press the proper button but it just keeps toggling back and forth from 6 to 8 ch setup... wont kick over to the invert functions.... any clues anyone?

After researching a bit... this might be a case of the lights needing to be software updated... Martin says you have to have lightjockey to do it... surely there is a workaround?

I'll keep them but didn't want to burn 16 channels when inverting i could do 8 as most of the time I prefer symetrical layouts anyway.

The acuscans and acu roller power on and the menu panel readouts work on 2 of the units and they go through their warm up sequence... one of the scans readout doesnt come on... one bulb works and the roller and one of the scanners works but makes noise on the gobo wheel and barely turns, all other functions seem to work fine... the roller seems to work fine. After researching the lights I see they run about $700 or so and are pretty nice but at 32 lbs a piece I'm not really interested in fixing them and keeping them I dont think...

My buddy who does installs in clubs, etc. will probably be interested in the AMDJ stuff and he has some things I want in trade. Does this sound like a decent trade....... An operator pro controller and 4 intimidator 1.2 fixtures? 

I already have 2 intimidator 1.0's and with the 1.2's and the 2 martins i would have 8 movers and I believe the operatorpro would accomodate all of that plus my 4 colorpro scrollers and 6 led pars as well as some par 38 cans. I know Duane said find a show designer but that doesnt seem to be available and this could be a straight trade....

thoughts?

[John Strzalkowski]

Where are you located? Maybe find someone who owns an LJ box to do the update, takes all of 5 minutes to do.

The operator control board is a terrible piece. It is a pain to program with, especially if you have that many different fixtures.

[Mark Holley]

Where are you located? Maybe find someone who owns an LJ box to do the update, takes all of 5 minutes to do.

The operator control board is a terrible piece. It is a pain to program with, especially if you have that many different fixtures.

Located in Norman, OK.....
I contacted the only authorized Martin dealer/distributor here local and they were less than helpful....  I tried the only other source for high end lighting that I know of and they use elation gear exclusively :-(  I sure wish I could invert the pan on the martins as they would be useable right straight away on my current rig.... I have 4 channels I can spare and can squeeze a couple of fixtures down to 2 channels... 

That seems to be the general consensus on the operator pro controller :-( was just a way for me to get a free controller that would handle more channels than my current 32 max im running now and im running that 32 on two separate universes i.e. two separate 16 channel boards. as well as pick up 4 movers.....   the accu scans are going to require a fair amount of work to be up to snuff and then they are heavy and I dont run truss yet just sticks and 6ft. t-bars....   not sure I can sell the accu scans in their current state, to finance a show designer which would be the way to go....   spending money is an issue as this is a sideline right now... family and all... I try to trade/barter and make the band/lighting thing self supporting, lol

[duane massey]

The Accu-series is was decent gear in it's day, but the arrival of the new LED fixtures really make their resale value shrink. Probably have a bad motor on the one fixture, and that's not a difficult fix, nor very expensive if you DIY or have a friend who could help. The non-working display indicates a much more serious ($$) issue. Since you have several fixtures it would be fairly straight-forward to swap parts between working and non-working fixtures to ID the bad component(s).  You can buy parts online from ADJ, but definitely verify via email what part # you need, as their parts list is vague.
Another point to consider is balance, The 250w discharge fixtures are significantly brighter than anything else you've got, and (other than the Roller) would really make keeping a balance difficult.
If I remember correctly, Norman doesn't have much in the way of pro lighting or sound companies. Makes it rather difficult to sell or trade gear.

[Mark Holley]

The Accu-series is was decent gear in it's day, but the arrival of the new LED fixtures really make their resale value shrink. Probably have a bad motor on the one fixture, and that's not a difficult fix, nor very expensive if you DIY or have a friend who could help. The non-working display indicates a much more serious ($$) issue. Since you have several fixtures it would be fairly straight-forward to swap parts between working and non-working fixtures to ID the bad component(s).  You can buy parts online from ADJ, but definitely verify via email what part # you need, as their parts list is vague.
Another point to consider is balance, The 250w discharge fixtures are significantly brighter than anything else you've got, and (other than the Roller) would really make keeping a balance difficult.
If I remember correctly, Norman doesn't have much in the way of pro lighting or sound companies. Makes it rather difficult to sell or trade gear.

I can tell just by tinkering with the accuscan that it is fairly bright but not really any brighter than the 250w intimidators with phillips bulbs in them... i would think with that huge bulb though that they would be... i thought about keeping the roller as it was totally different than anything else and like you said might be cool behind a drum riser a couple of feet off the floor.  All my stuff is 250w either ELC or EXY bulbed fixtures except the martins are 150w. Then I have 6 LED pars and 2 strips -  all of that run in the back and 8 par 38 with 100w spots in the front for lighting faces... i gel those with magenta, light amber and open....  To be honest, all I really ever do is run small to medium club stages.. Occasionally I get to do an outdoor event on a about a 30 ft stage and I add 8 600w par 64 as side lighting or use them as front cans if the trim height is 20'... most of the time the front of stage is only about 15' high so the 38's do fine.

I'd love to have a 60k rig or even a 30k, which would certainly open up opportunities for jobs in the local festival range... but all the little things required, distros, truss, lifts, hoists, soco, all of that is just waaaay out of my $$$ range... i guess i have that backwards... a bunch of pars are the little things i suppose in that respect... all the other stuff kills the wallet... i can buy loaded par 64s for $20 a pop just no way to run all that, lol.

There are actually several pro audio/lighting companys local...  OKC Backup, Toucan, Miller Audio, Ford Audio, Lawrence, etc.  All of those are capable of full on venue support with most of them sporting a full 120k rig canopied stage with either flown EAW, COBRA or JBL full rigs.  I wish one of them used Martin lightjockey, lol!

THANKS for the info and thoughts though... it helps to be educated a bit on things before diving head first, ehe.

[duane massey]

Something must be awry, as there is no comparison between the AccuScan and any fixture with an ELC or EXY. Moot point unless you plan on keeping them. Definitely consider keeping the roller, as it is a unique creature, especially with smoke/fog.
Save up a few $$ and keep watching Ebay. Even the original Showdesigner would be a better controller than what you've got, but the SD 1 does have slightly better software. If you are diligent you can sometimes catch one for $250-300. Getting started can be frustrating, but you will be amazed at how much better your lights will look.

[Mark Holley]

Something must be awry, as there is no comparison between the AccuScan and any fixture with an ELC or EXY. Moot point unless you plan on keeping them. Definitely consider keeping the roller, as it is a unique creature, especially with smoke/fog.
Save up a few $$ and keep watching Ebay. Even the original Showdesigner would be a better controller than what you've got, but the SD 1 does have slightly better software. If you are diligent you can sometimes catch one for $250-300. Getting started can be frustrating, but you will be amazed at how much better your lights will look.

I worked with the roller last night and found that it is working fine... before, when I was testing it, it was in a strange mode, now that I figured that out, every function works perfectly!  It is very cool and bright... throws 6 beams and the spin, rotate, scroll and everything works great... i figured out after a few minutes that the fans aren't working when I started to smell a burning smell, so turned it off... that should be an easy fix... so yeah, might just keep that :-)   thanks man!

[ProSoundWeb Community]