Ghosts in the Pangolin Software - the impossible happened

[Lasermad]

Ghosts in the Pangolin Software - the impossible happened

Well , actually lets face it NOTHINGS impossible , really it seems its getting that way , the word impossible should really be removed from the dictionary. Theres some scientists reckon in 20 years time it could be feasible to have an "atom builder" machine in every house ... you simply tell it what you want , that being ANYTHING YOU WANT ... and it builds it up one atom at a time !

Anyways , i digress

I should explain, i have been naughty , i reckon this issue has ZILCH , nothing , nupta to do with pangolin software , but i know if i involved the word pangolin it would get more readers LOL therefore more ideas as to WTF happened.

Certainly i had GHOSTS in my machines , but i dont think it was the dac and software !

So heres the setup
QUICKSHOW RC 263 , with 2 fb3s attached , track 1- graphics , track 2- beams , music mp3 , all pulled together in Quickshow TIMELINE ,

TRACK ONE - 1st FB3 -Supplying signals to one RGB projecting on a screen - WORKED FLAWLESSLY

TRACK TWO - 2nd FB3 - supplying signals to first 1 watt green laser , that signal is then daisychained to 3 other green 1 watt lasers

Heres were it all went strange .....

Laser 1 , accepted and projected the first cue and stuck with it throughout the show
Laser 2 , accepted and projected the first cue and stuck with it throughout the show
Laser 3 , was a good boy and did everything it was told
Laser 4 , decided it just wanted to do nice solid single beam


Im hoping to get time this weekend to set up everything again and see if i can recreate the issue , then troubleshoot , also hoping to have some video available next week

But do you agree , in theory this should have been IMPOSSIBLE ! how can a signal bypass and be ignored by lasers 1 and 2 and arrive at 3 perfect ... 4 just did its own thing , didnt accept any cues at all , just simply a full on beam !

Just to confuse matters further i have had all of these daisychained plenty time before and thay have all done as they are told in past , this is the first time i ever came across anything like this.

Any thoughts for possible causess and troubleshooting

PAUL

[soforene]

Dodgy cable.

[dave]

No safety board? ;-)

[flecom]

Dodgy cable.

likely explanation

[White-Light]

likely explanation

My thoughts or alternatively a dodgy pass through ILDA connection inside the projector - either a wrong wire or dry joint.

[flecom]

My thoughts or alternatively a dodgy pass through ILDA connection inside the projector - either a wrong wire or dry joint.

also entirely possible... another theory is if they were physically far away from each other and on different circuits venue wiring could have had different ground potentials which could definitely mess with your signals

[taggalucci]

also entirely possible... another theory is if they were physically far away from each other and on different circuits venue wiring could have had different ground potentials which could definitely mess with your signals

Out of interest, if one were using a single point grounding scheme for DC isolated from the single point grounding scheme for AC, could the ground potentials be different enough to mess with the signals?

[Lasermad]

"another theory is if they were physically far away from each other "

outdoor event , all power for laptop ,and all lasers from same generator ,and all lasers no more than 10 meters
from each other

paul

[badger1666]

"another theory is if they were physically far away from each other "

outdoor event , all power for laptop ,and all lasers from same generator ,and all lasers no more than 10 meters
from each other

paul

hey paul try a different generator or test on regular ac supply beause some smp's dont like the power from generators as some gen sets supplys are not clean enough

[White-Light]

For trouble shooting I'd start from the basics.

1. Try each projector on its own with the show and use the same single ILDA cable to test in each case using mains electricity. This checks each and every one works individually. This rules out any problem with the ILDA in ports / the cable your using in that test.

2. Then using the a projector and the Fb3 alone that you know worked in 1. above, try swapping each ILDA cable in turn (hopefully this will rule out the cables)

3. If nothing is found, then start daisy chaining but by adding a single projector at a time (ie running the show after each addition) until you hit a problem. When you do this suggests the problem lies with the output / internal ilda wiring of the next to last projector (if you followed the above checks you've already eliminated inputs and cables so it has to be the output to the projector you just connected).

4. If you still haven't found a problem, switch from mains to the generator and see if it occcurs. If it does it may be RF intereference through the cabling.

At least thats how I'd approach the testing.

Others may know better ways.