LED Spectrum issue

Hello Ken. As I explained in our phone conversation today it seems like a power surge caused these lights to go out by possibly overloading the circuit. It very unlikly that the spectrum with such low power consumption could cause such an issue. As I explained ADJ would be more than happy to evelute the Spectrums and we would also cover them for you under the normal warranty they have since you mentioned they were recenyl purchased.

Thank you Ernie.

And as I said on the phone, also: the repair or the replacement of the Spectrums at $135.00 each was nothing compared to the $2,700 worth of other DMX data boards damaged in the entire chain.

This particular setup was one I've used close to 20 times in the past 9 months.

I was 99.9% sure ADJ was not about to stand up and take responsibility for this. The factors of other manufactuers products being in chain and the costs of those products affected by the Spectrum ROM chip were clearly going to be an issue.

Your call just confirmed my suspiscions.

The cheapest, entry-grade fixture I own brought that DMX system to it's knees and ADJ's stance to dodge ownership by correcting the situation, now has this going to YouTube and every "kiddie-grade, bedroom DJ" forum website.

On August 16, 2008 my lighting rig was powered up before an event. The moment the LED Spectrum mounted to stage left was introduced to the main power supply, the audible sound of an electrical pop and burn was heard. The lighting trees are similar to that pictured below.

I have to chime in, is it possible that you are the reason for the surge, you mentioned that you introduced the spectrum after all else was plug in and operating. If that was the case you caused the surge, if not the case and everything was turned off, then the culprit lies else where.

but as I re read your post it seems you are at fault. Never introduce additional electrical product to a live wire.

quote:

Originally posted by zhemihem:
I have to chime in, is it possible that you are the reason for the surge, you mentioned that you introduced the spectrum after all else was plug in and operating. If that was the case you caused the surge, if not the case and everything was turned off, then the culprit lies else where.

but as I re read your post it seems you are at fault. Never introduce additional electrical product to a live wire.

Interesting theory.

What we are working with is a load of 4 (four) fixtures that have no "ON/OFF" switches that were brought online at the same time (the Wizards I don't power-up until the lights are about to go live for the event). Those 4 (four) fixtures are 2-LED Spectrums and 2- LED ColorStrips. Barely any draw there. The sound system was routed to a seperate circuit. So at the time unswitched electrical products were given power was concurrently, they were 4 very low-draw ones.

The blow-out of the ROM was the key to sending voltage around my entire chain of lighting (Wizards, controller, other Spectrum and the Colorstrips).

All took the charge and rendered the XLR data ports useless.

Had the chip not blown, there'd be no post here. And ultimately, no one would have been given the ADJ blow-off.

ADJ can say "Send us the repair bills," this can be over and done with in one month, and there would be no issue.

But that is not what I got from my phonecall from Ernie.

Holy Cow. I dont mean to insult your wireing skills, but from what the pictures show it looks like you somehow got hooked up to a 220v circuit. From the picture it appears to be the microprocessor, not the rom. I have seen such dammage before in an amplifer. Two things come to mind especially since the entire DMX chain got toasted. Most (if not all) of the dmx chips are optically isolated. there is no electrial "conectivity" between them. It would almost be impossible for the "surge" to go beyond 1 fixture via the DMX cable. With this said, that leaves the AC power. I have seen (more than once) many plugs in hotels that are not wired correctly. A 'normal' plug (looking at it from the front)is a smiley face. The left "eye" should be the neutral wire, the right "eye" should be HOT (120V), and the mouth is ground. (FYI the ground and neutral are tied together at the breaker box). If 1 plug is wired backward, and you are using 2 plugs on seperate breakers, it is possible to have 220V fed into your fixtures. (The "mouth" ground completes the circuit) 120v+120v=240v. If you are one of those people who remove the "ground" plug from your plugs and install the plug "upside down" in a recepticle, its almost certain. I always use one of those plug testers (usually has three lights on it), before I plug any of my equpiment into strange sockets. Leave the jokes alone.. . If you can get one of those testers (ususally under 10 bucks at home depot) and go to the venue where the problem occured and test the sockets, it will tell a lot. I you find one of the hotel plugs wired backwards, (i would recommend taking a friend with you and videoing the test for documentation), then you might have grounds for suing the hotel for the repairs. This is just a educated guess from experiance and no I do not work for ADJ. Comments welcome.

Greg Higginbotham
Legacy Entertainment

quote:

Originally posted by greghig:
Holy Cow. I dont mean to insult your wireing skills, but from what the pictures show it looks like you somehow got hooked up to a 220v circuit.
(snip)
I always use one of those plug testers (usually has three lights on it), before I plug any of my equpiment into strange sockets. Leave the jokes alone.. . If you can get one of those testers (ususally under 10 bucks at home depot) and go to the venue where the problem occured and test the sockets, it will tell a lot. I you find one of the hotel plugs wired backwards, (i would recommend taking a friend with you and videoing the test for documentation), then you might have grounds for suing the hotel for the repairs.
(snip)
I have seen (more than once) many plugs in hotels that are not wired correctly. A 'normal' plug (looking at it from the front)is a smiley face. The left "eye" should be the neutral wire, the right "eye" should be HOT (120V), and the mouth is ground. (FYI the ground and neutral are tied together at the breaker box). If 1 plug is wired backward, and you are using 2 plugs on seperate breakers, it is possible to have 220V fed into your fixtures. (The "mouth" ground completes the circuit) 120v+120v=240v. If you are one of those people who remove the "ground" plug from your plugs and install the plug "upside down" in a recepticle, its almost certain.

No insult taken. The first thing I did right after the Spectrum blew was go to my odds-n-ends tub and get a multi-tester and that three-light wiring tester you speak of. I immediately thought they had a 220 on the stage. The three-light tester showed the wiring was correct, and the multi-tester reported 116v. So those suspicions were “out.”

quote:

Originally posted by greghig:
From the picture it appears to be the microprocessor, not the rom. I have seen such dammage before in an amplifer. Two things come to mind especially since the entire DMX chain got toasted. Most (if not all) of the dmx chips are optically isolated. there is no electrial "conectivity" between them. It would almost be impossible for the "surge" to go beyond 1 fixture via the DMX cable. With this said, that leaves the AC power. This is just a educated guess from experiance and no I do not work for ADJ. Comments welcome.
Greg Higginbotham
Legacy Entertainment

The idea of the DMX circuitry being separate from the AC circuitry was one worth going back and looking at again. This time, I looked the PCB area closer for “placements” of the AC and DMX components. What I found further made me certain that the Spectrum was the cause:
http://www.kensmilestones.com/lights/100_5161full_res_cropped.jpg

Notice the angles both of the wire harnesses (both, low voltage and AC).

This fixture was shipped with a potential (and later developed) potential of an intermittent arcing possibility.

This LED fixture from ADJ did destroy the DMX boards on $2,700.00 worth of fixtures, and ADJ lighting is not interested in owning up and fixing the situation.

Greg, thank you for intriguing me enough to look even deeper into the causation.

ADJ, my phone is on file with Ernie.

Brian Bel***, you can call me to start making things right.

Alfred, the invitation is open also.


A quote from one of about 6 other DJ forums I have told this story on:
[quote="dokai"]WOW! That sucks!
I seriously hope that ADJ takes this opportunity to show what a great company they are to do business with. Best of luck with your repairs![/quote]