fb3 qs problems dim green channel

[badger1666]

hi
at last i find time to play with my new fb3 qs, but i am having problems the green line is dim on most rgb cue's/animations yet if i slide the colour bar to green it goes to full brightness
there are a few que's that it seem to be ok but 90% have the dim green problem all cables and projector are fine ,its just the fb3 that having trouble with the green line
so all rgb projection the colour balance is wrong
any ideas

thanks

[Pangolin]

This could be a low frequency version of what I call "jelly beaning". This is where the power of the laser changes -- in some cases dramatically -- depending on the nature of the modulation. In fact I have a few lasers that are like this as well.

Unfortunately the solution is to get a different green laser.

This makes the assumption that my diagnosis is correct. Given only words, it is difficult to understand visual phenomenon, let alone diagnose problems...

If you've got a buddy with a projector and within driving distance, perhaps you can try your setup on their projector and see if this is a projector/laser problem or a cabling/software/FB3 problem.

One thing that makes me comfortable is the history of the FB3. Since we started putting the FB3 out in 2006, there have been only perhaps three or four actual hardware failures. So it's doubtful that you have an FB3 problem.

Also, just a point of correction. I believe you have an FB3-XE, not an FB3-QS...

Best regards,

William Benner

[badger1666]

hi bill
ooopps my bad fb3-xe
my projector worked fine on somone elses fb3 setup a few weeks ago at the uk meet
worked fine on my mamba two weeks ago, but i sold it
so i am .

anyone near west sussex in the uk that can test a fb3 for me

This could be a low frequency version of what I call "jelly beaning". This is where the power of the laser changes -- in some cases dramatically -- depending on the nature of the modulation. In fact I have a few lasers that are like this as well.

Unfortunately the solution is to get a different green laser.

This makes the assumption that my diagnosis is correct. Given only words, it is difficult to understand visual phenomenon, let alone diagnose problems...

If you've got a buddy with a projector and within driving distance, perhaps you can try your setup on their projector and see if this is a projector/laser problem or a cabling/software/FB3 problem.

One thing that makes me comfortable is the history of the FB3. Since we started putting the FB3 out in 2006, there have been only perhaps three or four actual hardware failures. So it's doubtful that you have an FB3 problem.

Also, just a point of correction. I believe you have an FB3-XE, not an FB3-QS...

Best regards,

William Benner

[badger1666]

i have done more testing today by swapping the green and blue lines around in the projector
this improved brightness a bit ,but this also shows that both the green and blue lines are far dimmer than the red
i have to turn down the red to 50% to get a colour balance
so i have no idea of whats wrong other than the fb3 will not work with my dpss lasers properly the green and blue just wont put out the power they should while playing rgb animations,but that said some and only a handfull do work,and if when i play an rgb animation i change colour so the whole animation is either red green or blue i get full brightness
any ideas anyone

[norty303]

You seem to have done everything apart from the obvious one - check it on the red line too.
If its still dim then you know its not the FB3.
Could this be an impedance issue? Is it a Laserwave green?

[Doc]

Sounds more like a duty cycle thing with your lasers to me.

In other words they are not waking up thermally until they are being asked to project the entire pattern.

[Carl B]

I am also having a similar issue with one of my RGB's. The green that looks dim on certain cues is a Laserwave. All of my other greens are CNI and perform far better than the Laserwave. If a cue has a lot of green present then the Laserwave green dose start to perform better.

The problem I'm having is definitely with the Laserwave head and not my FB3-XE.

Carl

[badger1666]

hi
also i measure the rgb voltages while displaying a white circle and its lower on the green and blue lines i get 3.7v on g/b lines and 4v on the red, i know using a multimeter
does not read correct voltage but it does show theres a difference

i did notice if i draw one white circle and measure the beam power i get 150mw out
but if i draw five white circles i get full 700mw beam power, why does the fb3 work like that ??
when i had mamba and did that test i would get 700mw no matter how many circles i displayed starting to wish i had not sold it

does anyone know if there is a fix for the laserwave lasers if it is them thats the problem they seem quite happy on all the other dac's i tried them on

@carl b
so you say some cue's your green is ok and others its not ??
that the trouble i have with both green and blue they are both laserwave

[Doc]

The behavior you mention is by design.

Say you are displaying a white circle, then the next sequence in your show has that circle being met with another circle or square or whatever graphic; the circle won't lose brightness as there is spare power in the form of duty cycle for the additional graphics.

This is great for graphics but as frustrating as hell when you only do beam shows and need all the power in one place.

Last I heard from Pangolin was just before Christmas when Bill asked evertbody with the issue for their FB3 serial numbers.

I have since given up looking for a solution as the particular club that was complaining about my "weedy looking" 3W laser now uses another laser company (with a 3W laser).

[badger1666]

The behavior you mention is by design.

Say you are displaying a white circle, then the next sequence in your show has that circle being met with another circle or square or whatever graphic; the circle won't lose brightness as there is spare power in the form of duty cycle for the additional graphics.

This is great for graphics but as frustrating as hell when you only do beam shows and need all the power in one place.

Last I heard from Pangolin was just before Christmas when Bill asked evertbody with the issue for their FB3 serial numbers.

I have since given up looking for a solution as the particular club that was complaining about my "weedy looking" 3W laser now uses another laser company (with a 3W laser).

so your saying the fb3 falls over doing beam shows ?
what i just dont get is some cues display ok some are crap but the most annoying thing is if i set up colour balance so the crap ones look ok then it way off for the others, i only do beam shows and have a 700mw that stuggles to do 200mw even drawing my own cues does not help at all ,what i dont get is red laser is ok the green hardly lights up the blue not much better, and i dont think its the impedence issue that was written about that was only an issue with 500mv being knocked off the 5v input
and would not reduce the lasers to the kind of low power i get, i can draw a green fan
and be lucky to see 50mw out of 300mw sorry to rant on but waited weeks to find some playtime only to be dissapointed