Help Please - LEDJ Colourbursts

Send me a link to the manual for the DMX traits and ill get right on it. i apologize for the delay. I was unavailable to work. Welcome to the forums.
Sincerely,

Many thanks for the offer of help Jingles, I really appreciate it and no need at all to apologise.

PM coming your way now along with links for LEDJ Colourbursts and Mystics.

Many Thanks again
Gary

Sorry, can't see where I can PM you so hope you don't mind me putting the links here on the forum.

LEDJ Colourbursts - http://www.jpleisure.co.uk/ColourBurstUserManual.pdf

ADJ Mystic LED's - Manual at bottom of page.
http://www.ukdj.com/index.asp?...IEWPROD&ProdID=31708

This forum does not allow for Private messaging. and its ok about the link. if i ask for it and you dont want to email then go ahead and post it. i can delete the link later. This is a simple profile. expect it done and in your inbox by the end of today.
Sincerely,

Thanks very much.

Jingles,

Thanks for your help today.
I have looked into it a bit more and have emailed you the following information to as I am still not having any luck with the software at all. I am copying it here aswell in the hope that someone may have had the same problem and will be able to tell me how to rectify the situation. I hope that's ok.

I also posted this on another forum.

I've just read the manual again and right at the bottom of the very last page title 'Troubleshooting' it says the following:

"Please try testing on a different PC before contacting your retailer for an exchange" (I did this and no difference).

"Typically, you should only ask for an exchange if No LED's turn on, even when you have moved the power switch on the interface" (Firstly, which power switch? All I can see is a slot that says 'lock')..."Only the yellow LED turns on" (There is no yellow LED, just a red and two flashing greens)..."The drivers seem to be installed correctly, but the interface/software doesn't work, and the Device Manager name for the USB device is 'SUIDI-OUT' instead of 'Intelligent USB DMX Interface'. (In my Device Manager list, the USB is named as 'Intelligent USB DMX Interface (low cost U6)' and on the bottom of the actual MYDMX software screen it reads 'USB Mode 1: SIUDI 6C Ver:2.00 S/N 61877600'.

Something is definitely wrong here as even I aint that stupid.....am I?
I will post this on the MYDMX forum too to see if it rings any bells.

You know if you still have it try a different USB cable. sometimes they can be a little faulty.
Sincerely,

Hi Jingles,

I did that and still had the same thing. I went back to the shop I purchased it from and as I have faith in the product, I decided to exchange for a new copy incase mine was faulty. Sadly, it's giving me the exact same problems BUT ONLY WITH THE LEDJ COLOURBURSTS, which I find totally wierd because the Acme Dynamos and Mystic LED's work perfectly.

The guy at the shop didn't have time today to test it for himself but he tells me he will be looking into it tomorrow and will test some Colourbursts out and get back to me. I am hoping that it's just me being a dork and that he has a solution. I'll keep you updated.

How about trying this:

If you have access to a DMX controller(say, a DMX Operator, or something simple along those lines), go direct from that controller to the LEDJ Colorbursts. I'm trying to figure out if it's a polarity problem.

Where do these colorbursts fit into your overall scheme of things? As in "where in the DMX signal chain are these sitting?" At the end? At the begining? In the middle?

Are the Colorbursts set to DMX mode. Forgive my ignorance, I'm not going to take the time to investigate this fixture. I'm doing other things at the moment.

If the Colorbursts, assuming they have a Master/Slave, Sound Active and DMX modes are set to DMX mode, the DMX channels are set properly(start at 1, make it easy right now) and are NOT responding to a DMX Operator, then flip the polarity switch and try again. Same results? Bad light or bad cabling. Oh, and if you have to manually set DIP switches, PLEASE power cycle the fixture after setting the switches.

Words of wisdom:
You don't need to use a profile with a fixture to make it work. Those are merely to help us humans better relate to the fixture. So, any movement on those channels WILL cause that fixture to operate. So, you can't use the "there's no profile" as an excuse for it not working.

Divide and conquer.

Thanks for the advice and if you don't mind, I have a lengthy reply for you and hope that it may help people for future reference. I now have the Program working with the LEDJ Colourbursts. This was achieved with the help of a guy that just happened to be in the place where I purchased the unit when I went to return it earlier today.

I have been DJing for 22 years but have never looked into DMX. I have always linked my lights togeather but never used a controller so I have left them to communicate with eachother via sound activated mode. When I saw the MYDMX product I was interested straight away because, in theory....even for a newbie like me, it looked very easy to use.

I have a number of things to mention here so bear with me ok.

Firstly, the manual that you get with the product isn't very helpful in my opinion. Ok, when it comes to the creation of scenes and the indepth explanations on how to do stuff...yes, that's great and I will be using that help obviously. It's the basic stuff really that doesn't help.

For example, it says in the manual that on the Dongle there should be 3 lights...A Red, Yellow and Green. Sorry, no yellow light on mine just Red and 2 Green (DMX and USB). It also says that there is a power switch on the back of the dongle...er...where? There's a little slit on the back that says LOCK and that's it so that information is wrong straight away.

Jingles was great and I can't fault his customer service whatsoever. He tried to help me and sent me a .ssl file that he created for the LEDJ Colourbursts but it didn't work unfortunately. I have since been sent another .ssl file for them and this works perfectly. The one Jingles sent me had Ch1 Dimmer/Strobe, Ch2 Red, Ch3 Green and Ch4 Blue and as I said, this didn't work.

The .ssl file that I was sent this morning is set up as Ch1 Red, Ch2 Green, Ch3 Blue and Ch4 Dimmer/Strobe and this worked instantly.

I also noticed that on the main screen, when you click on the fixture and it gives you the Dip Switch settings..these were wrong too and the Dip Switch image is also upside down. This may well seem very, very obvious to people out there that know their DMXing but when you haven't got a clue like me, this doesn't help. Even I am not that silly and I worked that out straight away and tried different things but no joy.

The solution, and as I was told this morning, was to have Dip Switch 10 on aswell so 1 Unit would be Dip Switch 1 and 10 ON instead of just Dip Switch 1 ON as MYDMX tells you. There is NO mention whatsoever about using Dip Switch 10 ON and if you haven't got a clue, it's confusing to say the least.

I think the product is great and I am now looking forward to using it to it's maximum ability but I feel that there are a number of things that, if you are very new to it all aswell and buying it because it looks easy, then you can get confused quite easily.

I hope this isn't seen as a negative because it's not supposed to come across like that. I wanted to put this down on here so that if someone, like me who hasn't got a clue and wants to use LEDJ Colourbursts aswell, can look back on this subject and get a quick solution.

Gary

Gary - It's Martyn, the guy from the store who helped you earlier today

Whilst there are a few problems with the manual for the MyDMX system, these are, as I hope you will agree, relatively trivial... but putting that aside, there is one thing which must be remembered when working with DMX based lighting... you MUST always read the manual for the lighting unit aswell as for the DMX controller.

Your ColourBurst lights are a very good example of this, each one requires that in order to enter DMX mode the number 10 dip-switch has to be set, this is relatively unusual in a lighting unit, and therefore is not something that MyDMX accommodates for.

I know it sounds almost like a dig at you, it really isn't, but every user of DMX based lighting must read all manuals thoroughly before even attemptint to start setting up.

on a lighter note, I'm glad I was able to be of assistance

Thanks Martyn for your help.
Really appreciated it and your post explains everything.
Cheers
G

Just an FYI. As Martyn stated, usually, DIP 10 is off for DMX and on for stand alone modes.

If you cannot control a light, as I found out, sometimes the traits are not printed correctly. The Chavuet? Colorbursts were not correct - as you found out. Wish i had read this after your first post.

Forgive this dig, but I have to say it:

It's been shown REPEATEDLY that a profile(.ssl file) is NOT necessary in order to control a fixture. Plug it in, assign the channels(on the fixture) and then you can start controlling it via MyDMX. There. Simple. Easy.

Profiles serve 1 purpose only: To make it more human friendly for end users who make the rightful decision to NOT memorize every single function and setting for a light.

Also as has been said before:
Read manuals. If you read the manuals, you would have learned about that DIP switch 10 issue.

Not to knock Chauvet, but their manuals are not always the best. My recommendation applies for not only Chauvet but any lighting company. Typically, the PDF files online that are hopefully downloadable, often tend to be more current and accurate than manuals that ship with the product. That's just how it goes sometimes. In the case of ADJ, I think the manual for MyDMX included with the product isn't all that wonderful mainly because the graphics often greatly benefit from being in color. Color printing costs more. For me, I download manuals for almost all my gear and store them on a USB memory stick that goes with me to shows. This includes manuals for some software, almost all lighting gear, nearly all audio gear and for sure for every microphone(although I typically don't need those manuals).

Always do your "homework". Even a quick read through can often address most issues. If after reading a manual and things aren't working, perhaps it's time to get a downloaded manual off the manufacturer's web site and see if there are changes.

Referring back to the Chauvet manual being wrong issue again(and this can happen just as easily for ADJ products): Download a more current manual and see if there are changes. I have a feeling that the people who write the manuals are not the same group as the people making chipsets and ROMs. Worse case scenario is you contact the maker directly and get the straight story from them. Ive been lucky, all mine have lined up perfectly for the time being.

My MyDMX dongle has no power switch. That slot for a lock is for installing a laptop-type locking device for security. Mine also has no yellow light. On one side I have a red and gree, and the other a green only. I had to buy some 3mm LED's recently, so now I know what LED's cost. Red, yellow, green, orange, white, all cost the same. Blues are expensive. Go figure. And I hate that glaring blue LED at the front of my M-Audio Firewire 410, too bright!

Chris

Whilst I myself know that profiles are not required to make any item work, they are, as you state, a nice way for users to get a feel for the system. and whilst we can agree on that, there is also some confusion from a lot of dmx newbies in that they don't know this fact, and who can blame them?

I think that the lesson to learn is simple, make sure you read any manuals before even attempting to set up a dmx based system. It makes life so much easier. And if you still want a profile, just ask on here, or even create one yourself, it isn't all that hard to do, just be logical about it, because, after all, the lighting units work with just that... logic

Well, not only that, but if you need help, especially with making profiles, I've had Jingles cross-check some of my work and that's where I learned some of my "extra work" was not necessary.

Newbies need to keep in mind that they are newbies. This is the time to develop good habits. Reading manuals is always a must. I jumped from a Mackie 1604 VLZ to an Allen & Heath ML 5000 with VCA automation. While VCA autmation was new to me, I didn't need the A&H manual to get flying with that. That's mainly because I got the console the day before the event I needed it for. But, I've since read the manual.

Even us experienced people should remember to read manuals. We often take for granted our knowledge and expect to skate by. Even a quick read is better than nothing.

I will say this, while I don't visit the Elation forum unless asked to(mainly since I'm constantly busy), I do note that both the ADJ forums and Elation forums are busy and active. While I stopped using it years ago, the Mackie one was quite busy as well. From what I see the Digidesign one is also quite active. My observation is that typically speaking, BETTER supported products tend to have busy and active forums if they provide one.

A competing company to ADJ, which will remain nameless, doesn't seem to have a forum that is active. While they also make a decent product, I'm not as impressed overall with that company, and I find it an odd coincidence that their user support forums are nowhere near as active.

Yeah, I think I'll be sticking to ADJ from now on. Sure, it may limit my choices a little, but I think I'll be just fine. With users supporting users as well as good telephone support, ADJ has set a good example.

Is it possible someone could send me the profile for this too please? (ledj colourburst)
many thanks

Please post all profile request in the profile request thread in this section of the forums.