did some testing, need thoughts on what is happening (Video to show)

[MicahT]

OK so the wife and I decieded to do a test on the 2 arches and Star last night, everything was good except for what you see in the video at the time frames I have pointed. just wanted to get some idea's on what people think it could be. as far as setup, I adjusted the channels so that the star and arches were on the same controller for testing. Also the controller was on one power source with both sides plugged in. The star is made from GE LED C9 bulbs, the arches are normal 100 ct mini. the wires did wrap over each other. seems like a bleeding of channels just not sure how or why. Anyways Take a look.

Thanks!

First link 17Sec and 22secs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RYqwu4AFcs


Second link 36 38 40 sec time frame and continues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VkBsNOrKP8


Here is another one, this is exact from Holdman Christmas, so you should know what it is supposed to look like. sorry for the sideways recording.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJb_L4362dg

[kychristmas]

assuming the sequence is good at those points, it looks like those optos/triacs are not turning on at the lower intensity. Try upping the insensity at that point and see what happens. At the higher inensitys they seem to be working fine. Although I haven't seen it like that, I would make sure all of the solder joints are good on those optos and triacs. Are the brands of lights identical? If not, they could be affecting the way some of them react poorly at low levels, but others don't. I believe this is what the Dimming curves are about. Different brands and types of light strings look different at the same intensity levels.

[MicahT]

When they come on there is nothing telling them to come on, thats what makes this weird. although it seems like this happens only when the star is on, but yet not all the time the star is on. Also these are the same brand lights, I picked up boxes of them from Lowes, so no mixed brands. and just to clarify, the lights coming on on the times are mention should be off, but something is triggering them to come on. I had the Preview on the screen and ran that near me so I can look at that when the lights come on which on the montior showed them blacked out. also on the program screen, nothing was set on.

[kychristmas]

Sorry, didn't understand what the exact problem was. There are some threads on channel bleeding. Do a search.

[RPM]

What kind of controllers/protocol are you using and what sequencing software?

[chelmuth]

It could be the same thing one of the other users was having an issue with and I believe Matcyl (I know I butchered that name sorry). Found out there were (Phantom Cells).. they looked like they were supposed to be off but were actually on.. go through all the "OFF" bits and make sure they are off turn them on then back off and save.. I believe there is also a way in Vixen to show the "ACTUAL" intensity number in the cell and this was also a way to see they were not set to "0" as it appeared they should be..

[Mactayl]

It could be the same thing one of the other users was having an issue with and I believe Matcyl (I know I butchered that name sorry). Found out there were (Phantom Cells).. they looked like they were supposed to be off but were actually on.. go through all the "OFF" bits and make sure they are off turn them on then back off and save.. I believe there is also a way in Vixen to show the "ACTUAL" intensity number in the cell and this was also a way to see they were not set to "0" as it appeared they should be..

That's OK you were close enough, (Mactayl), and yes I have seen this problem and it mostly occurs with LED lights, sometimes when you have a sequence that looks like there is nothing on in a cell it will not show up in you sequence if it is less then a 5% intensity and it will make LED lights flicker and go on when you think they are supposed to be off. to be sure they are off I would go to that area of the sequence and re-write those cells off again.. If you are using Vixen 2.5x you can display the cell intensities in your sequence which is button on the tool bar and it says 25% on the tab and you can check it that way to see if they are all off,, not saying this is your problem but you should check it anyway.

Mac

[Skunberg]

Might be a LED problem that a snubber would fix. Do a search and read up on it. But I would check the offs first as others mentioned.

Brian

[MicahT]

What kind of controllers/protocol are you using and what sequencing software?

Ss24's and vixen 2.1? Connected serial at 56k

[MicahT]

Well search on this in the morning. Thank you all!

[mattrob]

I had a similar problem last year with several channels of incadescnet lights firing when not instructed. I resolved it by splitting my channels among two serial ports (I was running 200+ channels daisy chained at the last 16 channels had issues. This was within theoretical limits, but I suspect outside the limits of my laptop/USB-RS232 adapter). I certainly wouldn't expect (19 of) 72 channels to cause that problem though.

[bcstuff]

I assume these are from your RenSS24, it might help others too if you specify the type of data connection and how long. What program, and How do you have electric wires connected to the controllers and lights. Have you tried unplugging and swapping the 2 arches connections, in other words most of the flicker was on the left arch, if you swap the power out to the arches is it now the right arch or still the left one.

Some other suggestions that may help, which are problems I have experienced before.

1) Channel bleeding, but it is usually opposite from what you have, the LEDs are the ones that are flickering normally, not the incandescent lights.
Not likely but this is fixed by placing a snubber (47k ohm resistor plugged into a string on each channel) You can buy some 47k 1/2 watt from radio shack to see if it makes a difference.

2) Interference from the data cable and or the power cables. Try rerouting your data cable and power cables to keep from crossing as much. I had some cheap extension cords that caused some problems that I was able to fix by moving them away from other extension cords and data cables. You could also try out a ferrite core on you data line.

Maybe some others will suggest some additional ways to help.

Oops, you posted while i was and answered some of the questions that were asked.

[Penfold]

Try making the strands full wave with either four rectified diodes or the route I go with is a DF06 chip that does the same thing.
Just remember to place them before the resistors, and if you have say a 90 count led you are going to have to trace it up to the first thirty and flip the two wires. Then you are going to have to go down another thirty and do the same thing. I am actually rebuilding my light arches right now and making them full wave. Definite pain in the ###. You could also have a light that has to much corrosion causing problems especially if it's a retail light strand. In my revamping the arches I have come across three or four lights that were corroded and had to squirt dielectric grease on the leads and seal it with silicon.

chip: 625-DF06MA-E3 (http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Vishay-Semiconductors/DF06MA-E3-45/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsYCk4rqFpP%2fRiRIy4Ubiuq)

P.S. I really love the 3D effect of the cat in the second vid!