Lights are running on their own

Wow. That's weird. Let me talk with my developer and get back to you probably Monday.
Sincerely,

From my Developer.
"I have no clue other than:

- did they have exactly the same Emulation version on both MAC and PC?
- did they have exactly the same show file on both MAC and PC?
- did they perhaps by accident have two instances of Emulation running on the PC?

They cable does not need any sort of resetting when switching between MAC and PC."
Let me know.
Sincerely,

The versions were the exact same version. We went to the upgrade site & found a newer version & installed it on the PC. We downloaded the Mac version while we were there.

We haven't loaded a show file on the PC as we haven't had a chance to create one on it yet. We were going to transfer the files created on the Mac over to the PC if we can get this problem fixed.

Not running 2 version of emulation, as the same problem occurred when we loaded it on another PC & tried it.

The only thing we can come up with is that there is something weird going on in the cable, or in the PC software. It found the cue cable when we connected it. It asked for a driver, but we backed out & loaded the cue cable software along with the Emulation.

When we first finished the mounting the lights we loaded the Emulation software on the PC & started setting up the software, etc. The PC had a bad power supply & wouldn't boot up after that. We replaced the power supply & now it's back & running find with the exception of this problem.

Anything suggestions for us to try???
Thanks,
Chris

OK I have some new info.

We installed Emulation on a WinXP laptop. It was working fine on the laptop. We could do everything as we should. Since the laptops screen was a little small & the Emulation software panel didn't fit well, my associate plugged in a external monitor.

As soon as the VGA plug touch the connection on the laptop, the lights started doing their rampage as they were doing on the other desktop that we couldn't get to work.

Would the monitor have anything to do with the lights running out of control? We were thinking that we would get a better monitor with a digital input, put an adapter on it, & plug it into the laptop before we started it up.

Also would the fact that the laptop had dual monitor capability have anything to do with this problem??

The former desktop we were trying to use has a dual monitor video card. On this card it has a digital (DVI) port. We were thinking of using that port with a monitor that supports it & try it again. Would this make any difference?

Thanks!

On my desktop I run two monitors. one 19 and one 20 inch. both are run from my graphic card with DVI out to VGA adapters. I have never had any problems. Have you tried plugging in the second monitor with the program not running or the computer off?
Sincerely,

We are going to do some other test this week & this is one of them. My concern was whether I needed a DVI monitor, better quality monitor, or some other type of monitor for the desktop. We have run Emulation with no problems on 3 laptops, one was a Mac, one was a Vista laptop, & the other was this one XP laptop. Just haven't had any luck on the desktop yet.

Ok. Keep us updated as we may have some other test for you to run aswell based off of your testing.
Sincerely,

James,
I work with Phuztone and this issue.
We went out and bought a mini mac. 2.4 gig processor 2 gigs of ram running snow leopard. down loaded and installed emulation. the midicon is working and I have a red light for the dmx. when I plug it into our system we get the same thing... All lights are turning on and off randomly. the movers are twisting, throwing up random color, gobos, etc.
When I hook up my mac book pro laptop it works great. PLEASE EXPLAIN.

Does your mini meet the hardware specs on the elation page?

Yes, We also just found out it is tied to the monitor. when we unplug the monitor everything goes back to normal except I can't see my screen now.

We also tried both the hdmi and vga both with the same result.

That's very strange. I have a email in too one of my techs. He should let me know by tomorrow afternoon.
Sincerely,

Cool, and thanks for the quick response.
Randy

It sounds like a low dmx signal. The connection of the monitors may be lowering the voltage in the computer. This may have an effect on the dmx output. I would try inserting an active dmx isolation splitter directly to the end of the usb/dmx cable. You may also have a termination problem. Try testing with a single fixture connected directly to the usb/dmx cable, making sure that the fixture has proper termination. (if you need a terminator you can build one by placing a 120 ohm 1/4 watt resistor between pins 2 and 3 of a male xlr connector.

If this voltage is a problem, why didn't the manufacturers of the cable take this into consideration & either building a solution into the cable or informing the customer that this may be a problem & provide a solution at the "get-go"?

Well this could most likely be a ground-loop problem. This will only occur when using a desktop computer that is connected to earth (like a mac-mini). It will not occur when a computer is not-connected to the earth/ground (like macbook or other laptop, especially when running from the battery). For a solution please connect a optically-isolated DMX splitter between the Emulation dongle and the fixtures.
Or Try exchanging the Cue cable for a different one to rule out a faulty cable. To do that you would have to call our service dept.
Sincerely,

I've had a similar problem. Moving heads 'home' after reaching cue setting and randomly change colour. My DMX chain is running around the whole theatre and probably subject to all sorts of interference from power, audio and video signals. Is an end of line terminator imperative in these cases?

Paulnick

Yea. And also a dmx splitter like our opto branch 4.

I made a dmx end of line termination plug today and the rig is as stable as stool! No moving heads with a mind of their own, no phantom sliders jumping on the virtual desk and no lighting designer and director feeling the stress. I haven't used an opto isolator but since the DMX chain goes into and out of a Demux box first (which feeds the dimmer racks) I guess it might have one built in.

This has been a useful set of posts. Thank you.

Paulnick

Glad you got it working paul.