Lights flicker, no control

[kolbymc]

Hi, I am using the box with Lightronics AS-42 dimmers to control some par-cans. Whenever I turn on power to the Lightronics devices, nothing happens unless there is a connection to the Sweetlight box. Unfortunaltly, even with a connection, I still have no actual control over the lights themselves. They just sort of flicker on and off, occasionally one will stay on full for a long period of time, then begin to flicker again. This only happens when there is an active connection to the box. If the box is powered off, i.e. not plugged into the computer or power source, then there is no activity from the lights what-so-ever. I have verified that I have the proper channels on the dimmer and software, and that doesn't help either. I am running version 6.27 of the software.

[tomrbland]

If the box is powered off, i.e. not plugged into the computer or power source, then there is no activity from the lights what-so-ever.

So the error occurs when the Lightronics dimmer is powered up but sweetlight is not plugged in?

Do you have access to another controller to check if it is the DMX in on the dimmer or from Sweetlight?

[kolbymc]

No, the issues occurs when the both the dimmer and Sweetlight are plugged in. If the dimmer isn't receiving a signal from the box, then it just sits there and does nothing. But as soon as it starts receiving any sort of signal from the box, it goes crazy. I have tried two different dimmers with the same result, and unfortunately, I don't have access to any other DMX controllers to check on that.

[tomrbland]

Im not sure if it will help but you could try going to settings - other - DMX streaming frequency. Set this a bit lower and see if it helps. Its worth a shot...

[kolbymc]

Alright, I tried lowering the bitrate, and that seems to have helped stop the flickering, but I the lights don't do anything now. I don't seem to have any control of them at all. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here.

[tomrbland]

Have they every been used with DMX? How old are they? It may be a silly question but have you checked that they are set up correctly?

(they being the dimmers!)

[kolbymc]

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, I'm working two jobs and my job as a network admin has kind of taken over lately. I know very little about the dimmers themselves. They were purchased by the guy who ran the department that my boss took over from. He didn't exactly tell my boss about anything before he left. He just kind of found them a couple months ago and decided to use them. They are addressed properly, if that is what you are asking, but other than that, I don't know for sure how to set them up. I looked at the manual for them, and as far as I can tell, they should be working fine.
Just something else that occurred to me, The sweetlight control board software is the software that is used to run it, correct? Thats the only software on the site, but the box doesn't appear to be sold any more. is there, by any chance, some other software that I'm supposed to be using?

[marco]

hi
how are the dipswitches? what adres did u try?

u can try to put all switches down, (channel1), then go to editor,put dmx on and try slider 1,2,3,4
does anything happen?
u dont need to program it in setup to try
if iread the manual correct the first 3 switches should always be down for dmx opperation.the last 7 set the adres
but look out! bit 1= always on, bit 2 always off( these 2 are not on the dipswitch)

tab for dip setting
dip1 -keep it off
dip2 -keep it off
dip3 -for dmx keep it off
dip4 - adress +256
dip5 - adress +128
dip6 - adress +64
dip7 - adress +32
dip8 - adress+16
dip9 - adress +8
dip10- adress+4

is there perhaps a standalone scene stored in the box?

good luck
marco

[kahilzinger]

Seems like Network Admins are prone to doing this kind of job...I am one, too.