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[Tim Weaver]

So, I have a small 1 universe rig in our youth room. Chamsys MagicQPC>Chamsys Mini Wing>Chauvet Splitter>lights.

I was having this problem so I went in and trimmed all the fat out of the rig. The Splitter was in a terrible place, so I moved it up the chain (one line between mini wing and splitter now) and branched out to all of the fixtures. My biggest chain of fixtures is like 10 pieces now. I removed tons of extra dmx and adaptors. I removed all the janky chinese fixtures. I have made it about as simple as I possibly can. Yet still the whole rig blinks at random times.

I'm thinking that it may not be a DMX issue like I first thought. Has anyone had an issue with a PC based desk causing problems? Could it be the Mini Wing? I have a chamsys dongle I could check it with I suppose.

Any ideas? I'm not sure where to go from here.

[John L Nobile]

So, I have a small 1 universe rig in our youth room. Chamsys MagicQPC>Chamsys Mini Wing>Chauvet Splitter>lights.

I was having this problem so I went in and trimmed all the fat out of the rig. The Splitter was in a terrible place, so I moved it up the chain (one line between mini wing and splitter now) and branched out to all of the fixtures. My biggest chain of fixtures is like 10 pieces now. I removed tons of extra dmx and adaptors. I removed all the janky chinese fixtures. I have made it about as simple as I possibly can. Yet still the whole rig blinks at random times.

I'm thinking that it may not be a DMX issue like I first thought. Has anyone had an issue with a PC based desk causing problems? Could it be the Mini Wing? I have a chamsys dongle I could check it with I suppose.

Any ideas? I'm not sure where to go from here.

Do you have a DMX terminator on the last light in the chain?

[Don T. Williams]

Tim I would definitely check it with the dongle.  Is the cable between the mini wing and the splitter a "real" DMX cable?  I would also plug the main cable coming from the wing directly to each "chain" of light by unplugging that chain from the splitter output and plugging directly to that cable.  If every "chain" of light still has the problem its before the splitter.  I have also had problems where I used the "thru" output on a splitter which has no isolation.  The individual outputs should isolate but something bad on the "thru" can cause havoc.  You could also have a bad splitter.  I've seen that happen.

[Dave Garoutte]

I've seen a single wonky fixture cause issues on the whole chain.
Is the entire setup blinking, or just one split?
Another way to split is using Donner receivers, which isolate each leg; also saves a ton of cable.

[Tim Weaver]

Do you have a DMX terminator on the last light in the chain?

Which chain? lol

There's 5 different chains of lights off the splitter.

And no, there's no terminators anywhere, but I've never actually seen a terminator fix a problem. Not on modern lights anyway.

[Tim Weaver]

I've seen a single wonky fixture cause issues on the whole chain.
Is the entire setup blinking, or just one split?
Another way to split is using Donner receivers, which isolate each leg; also saves a ton of cable.

Entire rig.

[Tim Weaver]

Tim I would definitely check it with the dongle.  Is the cable between the mini wing and the splitter a "real" DMX cable?  I would also plug the main cable coming from the wing directly to each "chain" of light by unplugging that chain from the splitter output and plugging directly to that cable.  If every "chain" of light still has the problem its before the splitter.  I have also had problems where I used the "thru" output on a splitter which has no isolation.  The individual outputs should isolate but something bad on the "thru" can cause havoc.  You could also have a bad splitter.  I've seen that happen.

It should be DMX cable, but honestly I din't install that particular cable. I'll double check.

I will throw the dongle on it and watch it for a while.

I'm not using the "thru" output, but I am doing a split at one of the iso outs. I'm using both the 3 pin and the 5 pin out on that channel. I know that's frowned upon. But it's blinking everywhere and not just that chain.

Could be a bad splitter I guess.

[Debbie Dunkley]

I've seen a single wonky fixture cause issues on the whole chain.

Me too... it's the weirdest thing. More than once I have had one specific lamp (or a few lamps) behave strangely, flashing etc,  only to find in fact it is a totally different lamp in the chain that is the defective one. Same with cables..

[Jeff Lelko]

Hey Tim, thinking outside the box here - are you sure it's not coming from MagicQ?  More than once I've unknowingly had something running off-screen that was causing what I thought was a system glitch... 

Also, is it just the intensities that are blinking or are other attributes running wild as well?  I'm trying to recall the where and when, but I seem to remember noting that a version of MagicQ now randomly flashes intensities to prohibit professional use under certain circumstances.  With a wing that shouldn't be a problem if it even exists, but just giving you a few more things to dig into!  Hope this helps!

[Scott Hofmann]

Does the software have a provision to adjust the DMX output rate? Could be that the fixtures can't update fast enough and you need to set to a slower data rate.
If you have access to another console or a DMX tester that would be something to try.

[ProSoundWeb Community]