Just bought this Max on eBay - any ideas?

i have no clue. that is a really old light from adj. try calling them here is there info:
4295 Charter Street
Los Angeles, CA 90058
phone: (323) 582-2650
fax: (323) 582-2610
peace! jingles!!
oh one more thing. maybe the mic that is used for the dound active mode is busted. could be just in need for a new mic. see if u can hook it up to a controller and then tells us what happens. heck try taking it in to a music shop and see if u can hook it up to theirs for a min.

I printed out the manual and will try a few things before I send it off to ADJ. The mic, check the dip switches, hook up a controller..

Ok, it arrived today. Below is a link to a video I took of it running through it's automated routine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlfl_iQPx2I

Behavior:
The bulb lights fine, horizontal rotation is fine, the motor for vertical rotation must be fine as it will rotate the light down when powered up if you turn the yoke up while it's off. The gobo wheel and color wheel never change, nor does the strobe arm.

What I checked:
The gobo and color wheel spin freely, nothing is bound up.
Both fuses are good
The microphone for music activated mode works. If you put it in music activated mode, it will do horizontal rotation with the sound.
All connectors seem to be plugged in, no loose wires, etc.
dip switches are set to stand-alone mode.
I do not have a dmx controller to plug in, will in a few days.

A couple of shots of the inside of the head:





My thoughts as to what the problem might be:
1) the circuit board that controls the gobo/color change and/or vertical rotation is bad.
2) the stepper motor for the gobo/color change is bad and causes the other odd behavior as well.

Any ideas/suggestions? I will probably end up sending it off to American DJ for repair if no one has any ideas.

u said it spins freely? meaning it spins continuosly? or naot at all? look and see if there are any sensors on the wheels. they look like lil cylinder magnets and the ntere will be a 3black metal piese sticking up behind those. if there are then if it is spinning nonstop u might want to stop it on the sensor and wait for it to register and maybe it will work. i had a simialr problem with my performance scan color wheel. it would not stop spinning so i had to stop it and once it registered with the inital start up everything worked fine. try that and get back to me. peace! jingles!

The gobo/color/strobe steppers never move at all.

Each Stepper motor (3 of them - gobo change, color wheel change, strobe dowsing bar) has 4 wires on a plug going into it blue,yellow,red,brown. All 3 stepper motors have the same numbers: TYPE 42 BYG 023 -0/A NO: 170526

I checked both circuit boards in the head portion and there are no visible burnt spots or damaged components. I believe there is a third board in the base, but I am assuming that the stepper drivers would be on the two boards in the head. The labels on the two boards in the head are MAX TOP and HB1-2 TOP

I checked both the gobo and color wheels, which never spin at all and did not see any magnetic or optical sensor devices, but each has a recessed allen screw in the collar holding it on the shaft as well as a long allen screw with a large head which extends about a half inch from the shaft, I assume that is what the sensor reads. As I mentioned, all of these wheels spin freely, no binding.

i have no clue. u could mess with the allen screws and see what it does. or wait till u get a controller. but i would say def. at least call adj! my two watts! peace! jingles!

Hooking it up to a DMX controller will give you a certain answer as to what works and what does not.

If the sympotms that the fixture exhibits now persist with the use of a DMX controller, I think you may be thinking in the right direction as to what to troubleshoot and replace/repair.

Just from the looks of the pictures, was that wire harness always running over the edge of that metal plate like that, or did you just move it while inspecting the fixture. I say this because it is supposed to lay in the channeled groove/notch to the right of where they are right now. As when the case is closed, that is a really tight space and forcing the cover on could pinch/sever a wire or wires and could be the culprit. That may be a long shot, but just something I see right off the bat.

Best,
-Tech

The wire was always laying there. I checked and the length of the wires are not such that it can reach the channel to the side. I inspected the wires and don't see any insulation abraded off or anything, however. It would appear that's the factory location, be interested to see inside pics of another of the same model.

I called ADJ and they gave me an RA number to send it in, the tech I spoke to said it sounded like a sub $100 fix based on the behavior...which is really good news if it holds true.

I am not an electronics tech, just a pretty good shadetree on mechanical and electrical matters, but without spare parts to swap out, my ability is limited. I have no problem paying other folks to fix things that are beyond me, I just get really mad at myself if it turns out to be something simple that I could have done.

If they are able to repair it for under $100, I will have less than $250 invested in the unit, which is a pretty good deal considering the versatility of the unit, at least I think so.