Lights flickering due to ShowXpress problem?

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Lights flickering due to ShowXpress problem?

Postby chibbert » 19 November 2013, 21:38

I have a set of four Blizzard Puck Fab 5s. http://www.blizzardlighting.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&layout=item&id=172&Itemid=151.

I've noticed a distinct, intermittent flicker in these lights, and have been trying to track down the source. The flicker happens at least once (sometimes much more than once) every 15-30 seconds. It makes the lights almost useless in many circumstances.

The tech support rep at Blizzard suggested the issue was my controller (ShowXpress 6.33 with an Xpress 512). He said my controller was refreshing at a frame rate that was too low for the lights, creating a flicker.

He asked me to disconnect DMX and set the Puck to a static color, and see if the issue persisted. During the duration of my phone call, the Puck didn't flicker. I haven't yet done a longer test.

I remain skeptical that the issue is ShowXpress, given that nothing else in my lighting inventory has ever had any problem at all with ShowXpress.

Can anyone speak to this issue? Could ShowXpress be the problem?
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Re: Lights flickering due to ShowXpress problem?

Postby chibbert » 19 November 2013, 21:47

I should also note that I am using ShowXpress on a MacBook Air (which has USB 3.0) ports.

Is USB 3.0 an issue on the Mac? (wondered after seeing this thread viewtopic.php?f=50&t=1861)
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Re: Lights flickering due to ShowXpress problem?

Postby Pink LD » 20 November 2013, 06:22

The flickering I have had has been due to an old analogue console I use as a wing. I now keep a reptile undertank heater under the console and a IR lamp over the console for any winter tent gigs I have had. It solved my flicker issues.
In the settings you can change your DMX streaming frequency. It has never caused me any problems so I just leave it on High.
Elsewhere on the forum has been conversations about cheap Chinese fixtures that would flicker. But again that was the fixture not the software/hubs.
Some people swear by DMX terminators, I personally can't say I have ever noticed a difference but for a few bucks at the end of each universes daisy chain; what's the harm eh?
Occasionally I have found that once I went to LED fixtures that it is not always easy to identify where a cable issue is because sometimes the faulty fixture sends faulty data both ways. So I have to interrupt the daisy chain by halves until I find the offending cable/fixture. Again, not a software/hub issue.
In my experience? 98% of the time the problem is not the hub/software. I have used my hubs for 5 years (Opto-isolated, of course) for an average of 80 three hour shows a year, plus all the times I have had the hubs up for programming at home.
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Re: Lights flickering due to ShowXpress problem?

Postby support » 20 November 2013, 08:41

The Lighting Controller
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Re: Lights flickering due to ShowXpress problem?

Postby chibbert » 21 November 2013, 03:43

I've tried inserting both a USB 2.0 hub, and an optically isolated splitter (the Enttec D-split, http://www.enttec.com/?main_menu=Products&pn=70572) between my MacBook and the first Puck in the chain, but neither of them had any effect on the problem.

Any other suggestions?
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Re: Lights flickering due to ShowXpress problem?

Postby Pink LD » 21 November 2013, 04:12

I'm not a Mac guy. So I am at my limit of suggestions. But good luck. I am sure it'll get figured out by someone here.
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