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[Craig Hauber]

Craig,

I have two Ui24R's and have had issues a couple of times which, I believe can be attributed to excessive heat.  I installed an upfiring fan on a vented 1u rack shelf underneath to keep some air moving through the chassis and keep an open space above.  There are mounting holes and a power connection for a fan as shipped, but opening the unit can void your warranty...

I have also read people who are drawing too much through their USB ports sometimes have these issues (a powered USB hub is highly recommended).

Let me know if you have more questions regarding the above.

Dave

Got some time to get the unit and take it home for some bench testing in my air conditioned shop.
Had it sitting out in the open on spacers so bottom vents weren't blocked and got the problem to re-create itself so no issues there (hate random intermittent ones).

Yes it definitely gets warm inside -the converter board right behind the XLR panel is really cooking!  But audio is passing with no issues so figure that must be normal.  (I have a video switcher that runs hotter than anything in this Ui24 so that level of heat isn't out of the ordinary)

Disabled all the internal wireless functions and ran it with an HDMI monitor and mouse.
Took the top lid off to help it breathe a bit better -absolutely no change to the problem.  Checked all connections were proper too.

Actually got a few instances of it failing on boot-up -audio comes back but the loading-circle freezes and I never get UI.  Another time the green lights on the mix outputs did their initial power-on fade in/out continuously and never snapped out of it. 

I now have a brick because it locked-up in the middle of attempting a firmware update.  (Well a brick that passes stereo playback audio from the RCA's to the mains with my last made settings)

So do I pack and ship it to the factory repair directly or go through a more nearby dealer? 
I have to ship it somewhere no matter what as it's 12hrs to Minneapolis from here and about 11 to Denver for nearest authorized service centers so if theres any LABsters with service centers I'll gladly support them.

Would getting my hands on a new processor daughtercard be a possibility?  (Looks like that would be an easy swap)

We probably won't have any shows anytime soon -December is still a possibility, but there's plenty of other loaner mixers available so time is definitly not a priority right now.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

[Mark Scrivener]

If you can get in touch with Soundcraft tech support/service, perhaps they can ship you some boards to try swapping out. If they will agree to it that might be cheaper and faster than shipping your mixer to them. While they probably have some diagnostic equipment to troubleshoot various boards, I'd be shocked if they do anything other than replace entire boards. Component level repair (other than a fuse) on digital boards is pretty rare these days.

[Craig Hauber]

If you can get in touch with Soundcraft tech support/service, perhaps they can ship you some boards to try swapping out. If they will agree to it that might be cheaper and faster than shipping your mixer to them. While they probably have some diagnostic equipment to troubleshoot various boards, I'd be shocked if they do anything other than replace entire boards. Component level repair (other than a fuse) on digital boards is pretty rare these days.

Yes, there is not much in the box.  3 boards and a small switching supply.  The DSP and the Processor board are nested but connect with a couple ribbons.
I've attached a pic for curiosity sake with some of my observations mentioned below.

I am a bit surprised at the amount of heat rolling off the front mounted A/D D/A board and see no reason for not having some kind of fan.  Definitely anyone racking this box make sure the bottom and top vents are clear and there's no major heat sources below.
I was also amazed to see no strain relief on the wiring going from front to back -putting this thing in a bouncy truck or trailer for any length of time could flap those free-span wires enough to harm their terminations.  (perhaps this product is more intended for the studio?)
Just FYI, the power switch is on the incoming mains -no soft power control like on modern computer motherboards.  So no internal shutdown software sequence and I didn't really notice a battery on cursory inspection. 
Too fast of a power cycle could throw a glitch if there is a drain-down time so I did all my testing today with minimum 15-sec off time before re-powering.

The boards are all SMD and probably multi-layer so depending on their costs are probably not worth any reworking.  My wild stab in the dark would be to just replace the processor card.  So I will see what Harman has to say about it.
(I do think the unit is over a year old so warranty is not a concern with my opening of it)

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.
In better times I would just replace the mixer and get on with the shows.  But incomes all around are non-existent and lower than they even normally are in the theater arts so everyone is just trying to fix and maintain what they already have  (flog the almost dead horses for another season or two)

[Scott Bolt]

Yes, there is not much in the box.  3 boards and a small switching supply.  The DSP and the Processor board are nested but connect with a couple ribbons.
I've attached a pic for curiosity sake with some of my observations mentioned below.

I am a bit surprised at the amount of heat rolling off the front mounted A/D D/A board and see no reason for not having some kind of fan.  Definitely anyone racking this box make sure the bottom and top vents are clear and there's no major heat sources below.
I was also amazed to see no strain relief on the wiring going from front to back -putting this thing in a bouncy truck or trailer for any length of time could flap those free-span wires enough to harm their terminations.  (perhaps this product is more intended for the studio?)
Just FYI, the power switch is on the incoming mains -no soft power control like on modern computer motherboards.  So no internal shutdown software sequence and I didn't really notice a battery on cursory inspection. 
Too fast of a power cycle could throw a glitch if there is a drain-down time so I did all my testing today with minimum 15-sec off time before re-powering.

The boards are all SMD and probably multi-layer so depending on their costs are probably not worth any reworking.  My wild stab in the dark would be to just replace the processor card.  So I will see what Harman has to say about it.
(I do think the unit is over a year old so warranty is not a concern with my opening of it)

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.
In better times I would just replace the mixer and get on with the shows.  But incomes all around are non-existent and lower than they even normally are in the theater arts so everyone is just trying to fix and maintain what they already have  (flog the almost dead horses for another season or two)

Hi Craig,

I don't like the way that left ribbon cable looks.  It appears that it is pretty tight and pulled a bit (might just be the angle).  I would un-seat and re-seat the ribbon cables (all of them) to see if it is an issue with the connections.  Of course, this is only valid if the unit isn't under warranty.  If it is under warranty, I would just send it in.

Good luck!

[Mal Brown]

ping Thomas Der at soundcraft.  best bet IMO.

[Dave Pluke]

I am a bit surprised at the amount of heat rolling off the front mounted A/D D/A board and see no reason for not having some kind of fan.

The omission of the fan (which has mounting provisions on the case and a power connector on the board) was likely a Bean Counter decision.  The Vents on top and bottom of the Ui24R are not ideal for simple convection cooling.  As I mentioned, I placed an upfiring fan underneath the unit and it's better than nothing.  But, the case appears to be designed for a side-to-side flow through a case-mounted fan.

There is so much I like about the Soundcraft Ui24R.  Unfortunately, the heat sensitivity and USB power draw issues are concerns.

Dave

[Mark Scrivener]

There is so much I like about the Soundcraft Ui24R.  Unfortunately, the heat sensitivity and USB power draw issues are concerns.

Dave

Fortunately both can be easily solved. A pity we have to do it ourselves, but as noted it is quite easy to mount a fan inside the unit, and a powered USB hub will eliminate the USB power draw issue. Personally I think they would have been smarter to charge $50 more for the unit and include these things (not that these upgrades would have cost them anywhere near that).

[Mal Brown]

In my opinion, the Ui-24r smokes the competition as a design  It is also priced quite a bit higher than say the XR-18.  Another $50 in MSRP probably wouldn't help unit sales even if it made the box that much better.  There is a point where marketing says " you are past the price point" and the bean counter says "great product, too little profit to justify the overhead".

My two aren't racked.  I've run them in full summer sun.  Never had one go over temp - I have had several iPad thermal events in the same conditions though... 

I also haven't experienced the issues with USB power.  The documentation and forum and ex- Product Manager all say USB stick and make recommendations for which stick or the performance parameters for the stick.  Is it really a flaw that there is power to support that recommendation but not exceed it ?  If you want to use a hard drive, you have to use a powered hub...

My dream for the UI-24 would be that I could use my Impact or SI-1 as a control surface for it...  I have at least 1 FOH guy in my network that simply won't work without knobs and faders ...I am not holding me breath...

[Jay Marr]

In my opinion, the Ui-24r smokes the competition as a design  It is also priced quite a bit higher than say the XR-18.

What in your opinion smokes the competition (serious question)?
Based on price point, it's competiation is the X32-Rack (or X32 Core with a S16 - which gets you the same form factor - 3 rack space with front facing connections).

I want to like the Soundcraft (and I keep toying with buying one), but the X32 platform just has so many more features.  Matrix Mixes (which are critical for me), Xover filters on any outputs are two of my most important.

Would like to hear what you like better on the Soundcraft.

[Mark Scrivener]

What in your opinion smokes the competition (serious question)?
Based on price point, it's competiation is the X32-Rack (or X32 Core with a S16 - which gets you the same form factor - 3 rack space with front facing connections).

I want to like the Soundcraft (and I keep toying with buying one), but the X32 platform just has so many more features.  Matrix Mixes (which are critical for me), Xover filters on any outputs are two of my most important.

Would like to hear what you like better on the Soundcraft.

Any output on the Ui24r can be a matrix. Cross over (LP & HP) are also available on every output. Go play with the Ui24r software demo page on Soundcraft's web site and tell us what is you find lacking. If you prefer the X32 that's great, but I don't see how the Ui24r is lacking in comparison. There are pro's and con's to each, but either one can get the job done all day long. Personally I prefer the Ui24r since any web client can control it - meaning I can always find more control options in a pinch. I wish the Ui24r had options for physical faders like the x32, but a 24" touchscreen connected via ethernet makes a pretty nice control surface.

[ProSoundWeb Community]