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[Matthew Dickinson]

I have 8 Chauvet SLIMPAR 64 fixtures I am connecting to an Obey 10 controller. I have addressed them as suggested in the Obey manual.
 
When hooking up 7 fixtures, everything works fine. When I hook up the 8th fixture, the 2nd fixture stops working. I tried switching fixtures around and it is always the 8th and 2nd fixture.

I hooked up 4 fixtures with addresses 1, 17, 33 and 49 and they work. I hooked up the other 4 with the same addresses and they work. All 8 with 1, 17, 33, 49, 65, 81, 97 and 113 gives me the issues.

Using a 25` ACCU-Cable from the Obey to Fixture 1 and 5`ACCU-cable between each fixture.

Any assistance would be grateful.

Matt

[David Allred]

what happens if you assign the 8th fixture to a lower address?

[Jeff Lelko]

Hi Matt,

Try changing the addresses a little and see what that does.  If you read the post David made a few days ago, you'll find that you don't need to necessarily address the fixtures in the manner you have done.  Maybe set a few fixtures to the same address (temporarily) to rule out any issues with a fixture (though it seems like you've already done that).  If you can, define "stops working".  Does it not respond to DMX, does it go dark, etc.?  Hope this helps!

[Matthew Dickinson]

OK. So to the particular fixture doesn`t like being in a big group. I set all 8 fixtures to the same address(d.  1).

 The fixture worked in a group of 4, 5 and 6. Added number 7 and it started doing its own thing. With Fixture Button on the Obey 10 not pressed, as soon as I put the patch cable into the 7th fixture, the problem fixture came on and cycling through its colour patterns.
 
The dot beside the d (d. 1) on the back was still flashing. I scrolled through the menu back to (7-ch), hit enter, and the dot stops flashing.

We have 16 Slimpar64`s in total and I was going to use 4 of the 8 out front to stay solid white on the band members, so this fixture just got nominated. We`ve only had them a month, so I should return it just to be safe.

Thanks for the help!!

Matt

[Rob Gow]

I use 11 wash fixtures on my rear truss. I group them into pairs from the outside, so it's really only seen as 6 fixtures by the controller. Like this...

1 2 3 4 5 6 5 4 3 2 1

Then both 1's light up, both 2's etc etc. The odd number gives you a Center fixture if you alternate colors all across.

[David Allred]

Maybe a bad cable?.  Maybe you need a termination plug.

[Jeff Lelko]

Maybe a bad cable?.  Maybe you need a termination plug.

Quite possibly.  It almost seems as if the controller isn't generating enough signal strength to pass viable DMX through more than 6 fixtures...and 6 is way too few before these types of problems usually start turning up.  I'll admit that over the past 15 years I've never had a problem that using a terminator solved, but it can't hurt to try if you have one laying around.  I again agree with David - swap some cables and see what happens.  If you have a multimeter, check for proper continuity (or lack thereof) and see what the impedance is of a few cables, especially if you find one that's suspect.

[Matthew Dickinson]

That's how I was trying to run them on Thursday night in a cramped stage. 4 on each side, set up 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1. While programming the Obey, I was only using 4 fixtures, thinking the other 4 would do the opposite. Wasn't until I joined the other 4 that one of the first four acted up?

[Matthew Dickinson]

Ill check the resistance and move some cables around. It seems to be the light. Doesn't matter if it's at the start or end of the daisy chain, it's always that particular fixture. Ran the cable from the controller to either end of the chain also.

As if being the bass player and setting up the PA isn't enough, I get to play with the lights too!

Thanks for the help

[Jeff Lelko]

See if there's a setting in the light's menu that might be causing the problem. I don't believe these fixtures support master/slave configuration, but if one of the lights is in a different mode than the others you might see some strange behavior...  You shouldn't, but it's just one more thing to rule out. 

As painful as it sounds, label everything (fixtures and cables) and start swapping them around until you notice a pattern of where the problem starts.  Hopefully you can trace it down to a single fixture or cable!  If that's the case, you should be able to run 7 lights in any combination and not see a problem until you add the 8th faulty light or cable.  If you can never get to that point, there's either more than one thing wrong or a deeper problem going on.  Good luck!

[David Allred]

Ill check the resistance and move some cables around. It seems to be the light. Doesn't matter if it's at the start or end of the daisy chain, it's always that particular fixture. Ran the cable from the controller to either end of the chain also.

As if being the bass player and setting up the PA isn't enough, I get to play with the lights too!

Thanks for the help

What is the latest on this? 

[Matthew Dickinson]

The lights are working!! I had to Terminate with extreme prejudice. An XLR end with a 120 ohm resistor did the trick. Only had  a 25`cable and (7) 5`cables. can`t wait to add 8 more fixtures and another 130`of cable.

Thanks for all the input.

Matt

[Jeff Lelko]

I'm glad to hear that everything is working!  Something still isn't sitting right with me though.  While I do terminate my DMX runs, I've never had a problem that was definitively solved with a terminator, particularly on cable runs as short as yours.  Occasional glitches - maybe.  A repeatable, predictable problem - no.  If I were you, I'd still step through the entire system one cable/fixture at a time and see if you can narrow things down to a suspect item.  It's quite possible that there's a bad solder joint somewhere in all this that is causing some signal distortion.  A weak console signal would also amplify this problem.  Good luck!

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