Hello,
I am totally new to programming lights however I do have experience running lights at various venues. I own a Scene Setter 24 and have scoured over the manual many times but I just can't seem to get started. All 19 of my fixtures are plugged in but I believe I don't even have them addressed correctly, can anyone help me get started?!?

Hi Betty Crocker and welcome to the forums. Sorry for the delayed response.

Anyway, if you feel its an addressing problem, what are you trying to address your dimmers packs at and what type of dimmer packs are you using? Let us know and hopefully we can help from there.

Ok, here we go... I don't have any dimmer packs, all of my lights are intelligent with DMX 512 programming... I notice boards like the Chauvet Obey 40 have a section of buttons labeled "Fixtures" making it easier to select each light, set the colors and gobos and build a scene. Is my board capable of achieving this or am I mildly retarded and completely missing something?

Thank you for your responses, I really appreciate the help
-Betty

A Scene Setter can program chases (it calls these scenes for some reason). The difference is a chase is a series of steps/looks in a row that loop over and over again. A scene is simply one look. So basically, you can call a chase a series of scenes.

Now, the Scene Setter is mainly used for conventional lighting (lights that work off a dimmer pack like par cans) and can be used for LED lighting as well but isn't the best console in the world for it. Which fixtures are you using? Maybe you are using the wrong type of console for your situation and that is what is causing the headaches?

OK, I'm back and I now have a DMX Operator but I still can't even get started. Everything is powered up, cabled up, addressed correctly and nothing will respond to the board. Right off the bat I noticed that my American DJ mega flash strobes' DMX indicator light isn't lighting up, do strobes spell trouble for my signal path? Also I am lacking a DMX signal terminator, I've heard they aren't totally necessary... Is there any start up procedure to get the lights respond to the controls (the board was brand new)?

Hmmm, and when the Scene Setter is plugged in, the Mega Flash says its getting DMX?

Are you using DMX cable? How many fixtures are you using? About how long is your DMX run?

The Mega Flashes weren't responding to the scene setter either. I have about 19 total fixtures including 4 mega flashes, 6 off-brand LED washes, 2 Chauvet Q-Spots, 2 Chauvet Intimidators, 2 American DJ Pocket Scans, 1 240 Mw Laser, 1 off-brand LED color splash jr. and a Chauvet Hurricane Fogger. Even when I just plug one light into the board and set the address to 1 then hit the Fixture 1 button none of the faders control the light, is there some obvious step or piece of hardware I'm missing or am I just totally mental?
PS- Thank you so much for your help!

Alright scratch that last post, I plugged my chauvet fixtures in and took the off brand stuff and the strobes out of the loop and the fixtures were responding to the board, Im slowly narrowing down the prob here....

That is a common problem with off brand stuff. The DMX drives in them don't play well with others/cut the DMX signal down. Some Chauvet stuff has this problem as well and wants to be first or last in the DMX chain to play with others.

With that many fixtures, I would recommend getting a DMX Splitter. It would help boost the DMX signal and you can put problem fixtures on their own line so they don't effect other fixtures. Elation makes two, the DMX Branch 4 and the Opto Branch 4. They are the same unit, just one is a single space rack mount unit and the other is a stand alone but comes with rack ears. It takes two spaces in a rack however.

You rock SerraAva!!! Thanks for all your help,
-Betty

My pleasure. Glad to be of assistance.