Lighting Malfunction

[Casual77]

I did my biggest gig last night, a marquis wedding for around 250 people, and encountered my first major lighting problem.

I set up the same lighting rig that I've used for several other gigs without problem, including a gig I did last week. It consisted of running DMX from a Wifly NE1 to a pair of ADJ Inno Pocket Spots, Acme Dynamic 25 spins and Chauvet Mini Kintas. I daisy chained the IEC cables and turned it all on but it didn't work as it has done previously. I think one of the Mini Kintas has developed some kind of power fault because it kept going off for a few seconds and then coming back on . I decided to take the faulty Kinta out of the system to see if that would solve the problem (which messed up my daisy chaining configuration), but even with that removed, the remaining lights didn't behave as they should have done. It was all pretty stressful but thankfully there was a ceilidh band on which gave me enough time to remove all the DMX cables and run everything on sound to light, which was less than ideal because it was a bit frenetic, but at least it got me through the night.

I've got a wedding on Saturday night so I want to get the lighting working again but I'm not sure where to start. As I see it, the problem could be a fault with the Wifly, the individual lights or the DMX/IEC cables running between them and I'm not sure where best to start to work it out. Is there a methodological way I should approach the trouble shooting or is it just a matter of working through all the permutations until I find something that doesn't work properly? Also, is it worth trying to get the Mini Kinta fixed or should I just accept that it is a fairly inexpensive unit with a limited lifespan and buy another to replace it?

[deltic]

Buy yourself a cable tester,less than 20 quid and money well spent.

[Casual77]

Would that test IEC, DMX cables or both?

[deltic]

signal cables linky

[Casual77]

signal cables linky

Cheers for that. I think I will buy one of those.

[deltic]

Possibly cheaper from cpc

[Platinumeventsolutions]

Setup your spots master slave and see if that works you can then use this set up to test your other dmx cables.
Then link the controller to your 1st light and get that working then add each unit in turn til you find the fault

[Nakatomi]

As with anything else, start at the bottom & work up. Test the cables first. Next, go one fixture at a time on the controller. Check the DMX addresses on the controller & fixtures are right. Off by one & interesting things can happen.

For the dud kinta, if it's in warranty still, return it for repair. If not, either sell it as is or have somebody look at it. It's probably only a power supply problem inside.

[Casual77]

Setup your spots master slave and see if that works you can then use this set up to test your other dmx cables.
Then link the controller to your 1st light and get that working then add each unit in turn til you find the fault

That sounds like a sensible approach to find which if any of the lights are at fault. I'm thinking that buying a cable tester might be a good investment though at under £30.

[Casual77]

For the dud kinta, if it's in warranty still, return it for repair. If not, either sell it as is or have somebody look at it. It's probably only a power supply problem inside.

I bought the Kinta second-hand from a fellow forum member and it is probably a few years old now, so no warranty. I think I may have inadvertently caused the problem myself. I did a garden gazebo party in Harrogate last Saturday and because I was stopping over and it was a late finish I decided to bag everything up and leave it in the gazebo overnight. It was a dry night but there was quite a bit of dew and I think it's possible that moisture in the lights could have caused the problem. On a positive note, the Inno pocket spots, Spins and other Kinta seemed to work alright in sound to light so hopefully it will end up being just a faulty DMX cable in the chain that caused the problem.

Assuming you're right and it is a power supply problem with the Kinta would that likely be an easy/cheap fix?