Run of luck - Repairs

[welby]

Hi all,

I must be having a run of luck when it comes to repairs.

HP - 4D Smoke machine stopped working after I accidently kicked the remote receiver and pulled the wires out of the IEC plug on the remote receiver - the magnets on this things are weak as winkle doo dah! and it fell off the back of the smoke machine and bigfoot here kicked it across the room! oops!

So my next dilemma was which wire goes where as I had no circuit so I guessed that green is Earth - Red Live and Blue Neutral - (Note: I knew this was not 240 ac as it is only used for low voltage switching on the remote) ok so far no BANG but it still didn't work - so then I decided to open up the actual remote receiver.

Well not much in there one little board with a couple of components and a daughter board which has the antenna circuit on. I decided to get the magnifying glass out as my eyesight is not good for close work and noticed that the daughter board was attached to the main board by 5 pins. On closer inspection I noticed one of the pins was not even soldered.

So I soldered that joint and tested and hey presto - one working smoke machine. I must admit this smoke machine was always hit and miss when pressing the remote fob, so I am guessing this was the cause of that.

I have tested it many times to make sure and it works every time.

Prolight LEDJ StarCloth was missing some sequences so I noticed the wires into the plug that attaches to the power supply unit was loose so I stripped and resoldered those. No Joy, so I looked at the power supply/controller unit. Tested each channels output and noticed one was not producing 18v DC so I pulled out the main board, and flipped it over and guess what, yup another poorly soldered joint - I cleaned and resoldered - tested ok all 4 channels have 18V so refitted board and tested all ok full working starcloth.

Now I wouldn't advocate anyone ripping the lid of any electrical fitting without some common sense - I am a trained electrician so I am aware of the dangers.

But it goes to show what shoddy workmanship these things are under the bonnet.

[Larry B Entertainment]

I have found a few bad solder joints on various bits of kit lately. I dont think the solder they use is as good as it used to be.

I bought a little smoke machine the other day brand new and then discovered that the remote wasnt working. Any normal person would have taken it back to the shop...Not me...I spent 2 hours diagnosing it and tracked down 2 foot of dead wire in the middle of the cable so had to rewire the remote altogether.
My mrs moans at me because I turn the living room into a workshop sometimes with bits and pieces all over the place lol

[welby]

I have found a few bad solder joints on various bits of kit lately. I dont think the solder they use is as good as it used to be.

I bought a little smoke machine the other day brand new and then discovered that the remote wasnt working. Any normal person would have taken it back to the shop...Not me...I spent 2 hours diagnosing it and tracked down 2 foot of dead wire in the middle of the cable so had to rewire the remote altogether.
My mrs moans at me because I turn the living room into a workshop sometimes with bits and pieces all over the place lol

HeHe sounds just like me except I use the kitchen!

[NKR]

Still trying to diagnose my fault with my EFX 500's. A faulty motherboard on one of them is looking like the culprit. Still trying to work out which of the pair is the duff one as there is something wrong with master slave. Definite problem in their somewhere. My Martin engineer friend couldn't diagnose as he only had the unit which i thought had a faulty stepper motor and could only test on full DMX and sound to light and both were good. Stepper was fine, which was pleasing, problem is much larger was not.

So its either motherboard fault on the one he had and couln't test or a data out on the other. Tried last night and was unable to get them to work in the opposite direction so it looks like master slave motherboard function issue.

Sooner I get them onto ligh jockey and DMX the better, which will solve the problem anyway.

The joys!

[welby]

Still trying to diagnose my fault with my EFX 500's. A faulty motherboard on one of them is looking like the culprit. Still trying to work out which of the pair is the duff one as there is something wrong with master slave. Definite problem in their somewhere. My Martin engineer friend couldn't diagnose as he only had the unit which i thought had a faulty stepper motor and could only test on full DMX and sound to light and both were good. Stepper was fine, which was pleasing, problem is much larger was not.

So its either motherboard fault on the one he had and couln't test or a data out on the other. Tried last night and was unable to get them to work in the opposite direction so it looks like master slave motherboard function issue.

Sooner I get them onto ligh jockey and DMX the better, which will solve the problem anyway.

The joys!

I'm sure there are peeps on here who can give you guidance on setting them up. I only have one EFX500 so it's not a problem for me - soz!

[Digital Jack]

I have found a few bad solder joints on various bits of kit lately. I dont think the solder they use is as good as it used to be.

Yup , there's a directive that's been in force for a while now.
Solder now has no lead in it , the lack of lead causes no shortage of problems nowadays - particularly with graphics chips on laptop motherboards.

[Jason]

The no-lead directive has been out for years... I remember one of my first jobs changing to this type of stuff (and everyone hating it.. lol).
This must have been 20years ago..

I rarely see a problem, and the products I develop run over a wide temperature range (-40c to +85c), but we're paying good prices for quality PCB and assembly (with inspection).

Simply put, cheap products (or manufacturers cutting corners) will always this type of problems.

[NKR]

I'm sure there are peeps on here who can give you guidance on setting them up. I only have one EFX500 so it's not a problem for me - soz!

I know how to set them up.

I have actually now diagnosed the issue after a couple of hours playing. Data send on one of the units is not working correctly, which was causing stepper lag and sync issues.

Means that will need to be my chain end when I go full DMX, otherwise I can now work round it.

[Excalibur]

I know how to set them up.

I have actually now diagnosed the issue after a couple of hours playing. Data send on one of the units is not working correctly, which was causing stepper lag and sync issues.
Means that will need to be my chain end when I go full DMX, otherwise I can now work round it.

Over the years, I have had quite a few Geni Spin 3's. When running Master /Slave, they go often out of sequence on some units, and then come back again. When run DMX, never a hiccup. Similar issue, I suspect.