acme dynamo help

[Jay]

Hey,

My 4 new acme dynamos came today, i got them fitted to have a little play, heres how they are setup.

on the master unit, to which the CA-8 controller is plugged in only the first dip switch is on (001) then the other 3 units are linked via dmx cables and the last 3 units have the first 3 dip switches set to on. This is what it said to do in the instructions.

THe problems is that the 3 slave units all show the same color, gobo but the master one is always different, and when i press standby on the remote it stays on yellow even when the others are off.

Do I have this setup right or do you think it could be a faulty light? THe CA-8 controller seems hard to work but I understand lots of people on here use them so some info on that would be great too.

Thanks in advance,
Jay

[OllieJames]

Yay, a topic i can actually help on!

My dynamos are set like this:

unit1 - dip 1 - controller plugged into this one
unit2 - dip 1,2 & 10
unit3 - dip 1 & 3
unit4 - dip 1,2,3 & 10

As for the controller, top button is standby (blackout), holding the second button is strobe, pressing the bottom button twice, is slow mode.

hope this helps!

[Jay]

thanks for that, the problem was because I think that one of the 4 is faulty. its the master and whenever the gobos are changing the master is the only one that makes ths grinding noise, as if its struggling to change round. thats why it was stuck on yellow, I gave it a little knock and then it was ok for a bit but it keeps on getting stuck, so I guess i'll have to get onto them asap.

thanks alot

[HTG Events]

Hi...I had exactly this problem, returned the faulty unit and its worked fine ever since - send it back!

[andyw]

i'm no expert but i think dip swithch 1 should be on on the master and off on the others. make sure you have the dmx cables the right way round always best to start with the master out,the ca 8 should be plugged into the master ,you have 3 buttons the top one is on/off the bottom one is speed, light on is slow(don't strobe in this mode) then there is light off slightly faster actions then there is flashing which is the fastest setting the middle swicth changes the pattern/gobbo we use this button a lot at school disco's to bypass the strobe . hopefully that may help,
ps if you think the master is faulty just plug the other 3 in and use another as the master.one other thing i did not realise until lately the master has to be the first light turned on or the ca 8 won't work properly(well on mine it dont)

[andyw]

just found the online manual here

http://www.eclipseav.com/html/manuals.htm
interesting this paragraph in the manual

In Master/Slave mode, the master unit’s DMX start address must be set on CH
1 ( DMX value – 1 ) and the salve units DMX start address must be NOT set on
CH 1.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I haven't used my Dynamos for months but I am getting them out for a prom night I am doing tomorrow. If I remember correctly, mine are set as follows :

Master set to 1 - 2nd Light set to 10 - 3rd Light set to 10 - 4th Light set to 1

I was given that information on here ages ago and what it means is that the 2 middle lights do the opposite to the 2 end lights.

[andyw]

your right shakermaker dip swith 10 makes the lights do the opposite so in your case when lights 1 & 4 move to the left lights 2 & 3 go to the right or when 1& 4 go, up 2&3 will go down, we used to have ours the same until we were guests at a function and saw a set of dynamos from the dancefloor side.although we recognised what they were doing felt it looked random so now we use all ours in sync.thats just our preferrence.i would recomend anyone using them to watch them (if you get chance f)from the audience side,
i think your light 4 will be swithched off on all dip switches

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I think you are right actually. When I wrote that bit I was thinking "If I put that they are all off on the last light, someone may correct me"...hahaha
I'll try a couple of things tomorrow with them. I'm thinking of using them with the Dynarocks so it would look like:

Dynamo - Dynarock - Dynamo - Wildtech - Dynamo - Dynarock - Dynamo

[andyw]

that should look good,never used dynarocks what are they like we have the scimiters,would of thought dynarock are very similar .

[Tom]

When I use all 4 of my dynamo I have them set like this

Light 1 = Dips 1
Light 2 = Dips 1, 5 & 10
Light 3 = Dips 1, 6
Light 4 = Dips 1 ,5, 6 and 10


These setting work wonders. The lights will all be in sync then when you press the function button they split up and spead light off in different directions. Plus if I wish to go from the CA-8 to the dmx controller all I need to do is turn on the dmx controller and I then have full power over the lights as I have already set the dips according the manual for the controller.

This is how I do it.

[Jay]

Thanks for all your help guys. I'm going to get onto the company this morning and get a replacement, hope it doesn't take too long.

[andyw]

jay before you do,try the master one on his own just have the ca8 controller plugged in see if it works like that,then truy the other3 together without the master,if that works put the in position no.4 with dip switch 1 off
good luck

[Jay]

I tried the master one on its own and it still wasn't working properly. You can hear the gobo wheel grinding as it changes whereas the others are silent. I hooked the other 3 remaining lights with a new master and they work flawlessly.

I have allready been onto the company and they are sending out a brand new light out on wednesday and simply picking up the old light. So can't complain really as I onlyh need them by next Monday.

[andyw]

glad you got it sorted,you can still use just 3 if you needed tp we do in smaller rooms

[Jay]

yeah 3 is still ok I'd say for small venues i'd get away with 2 as I have other lights to go with it but iv'e paid for 4 and **** sure want them working lol..