Smart Scan 2 Not working to standard! Please Read

[thecassidy92]

Hi, my name is James and I have two smart scan II - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=97831 (Hover of the light). And Chauvet Show Express - http://www.ukdj.com/index.asp?PageActio ... odID=18982. I have created my smart scans in fixture creature and all works fine. Set the addresses okay and 1 works fine but the other one works okay but then pauses for lets say from 5 sec to 10 sec, then returns to where i put it to. Please anyopn ehelp me. It's really annoying. Any help appreciated.

James

[djSupport]

could it be faulty? take it back explain the problem and get maplins to replace it!

[sijones]

I think this is a very rare bug between freestyler and the smart scan 2.

I have to smart scans too, and they work shortly and then go out of sync and dont respond, i have 2 other lights, LED ones from htfr and they respond fine even while the smart scans dont.

If i use the velleman software they respond and stay sync'd and work perfect, so this seems to be some wierd bug in the interface code, maybe needs to have a call put in to call some sort of sync?

does this need to be bug reported???

[sijones]

Sorry, i have hijacked your thread!!! am using the Velleman interface, and yes its fully supported otherwise i wouldnt have the LED's working...

It seems like the smart scan does something weird with freestyler...

[remco_k]

Please anyopn ehelp me. It's really annoying. Any help appreciated.

You need to isolate the problem more to determine where the problem source is.
ONLY connect the fixture that has this problem and try it out.
Is your DMX line terminated?
Is your fixture configured the same as the other. Some fixtures have mode settings and other settings to do other things, like closing the shutter while pan and tilt are changing.
Are you sure they are both configured for DMX (and not standalone more, wich some fixtures have)
Are you using proper DMX cabling? (e.g. you should NOT be using XLR audio cables, although it works most of the time...)
The same questions are for 'Hijacker' sijones.

If i use the velleman software they respond and stay sync'd and work perfect, so this seems to be some wierd bug in the interface code, maybe needs to have a call put in to call some sort of sync?

First of all; There is no sync at all between FreeStyler and the actual DMX line. Your fixtures are responsible for following the DMX protocol.
So if they lose sync, you have bad cabling, no termination or your fixtures are defective.
Creating a sync between FS and the DMX line is not possible and not needed. The DMX protocol itself has inbuilt sync (sort of).

What I'm missing in the whole story is HOW and WHEN your fixtures stop responding. That is very important information when determining what is going wrong. So what did you do when your fixtures stop and what can you do if it keeps working correctly.
Second; see the DMX output window in FS, is it still sending out proper DMX values on the right channels, or is'nt it?

Comparing to the Vellemans delivered software is somewhat not a good comparison.
2 Reasons for that: FreeStyler 3.0.1 (and lower) always sends 512 DMX channels and has a pretty low refresh rate of 50msec to your interface.
The next version of FS has a configurable number output channels and configurable refresh rate.
The Velleman delivered software transmits way lesser DMX channels, as many as needed, for faster response times and could be the 'cause' of why your fixtures work correctly with that.
I don't know if this have anything to do with your (sijones and thecassidy92) problems, but it could.
More info:
FS always outputs 512 channels?
'Slow' response on flash button
Now I know that the topic titles are not indicating that this could be related to your problems, but it might be.
Another reason could be that the fixture file you are using is faulty.

[sijones]

I think i have found my problem, i tried using the interface connected to a pc rather than a laptop, altho the config i did was a bit of a fun...

I'll explain, i have a pc with linux on, which i used VirtualBox to run XP which i then ran freestyler under and worked perfect...

So am going with the USB port is not giving enough power out, as once i start connecting all the lights it fails with all software not just freestyler... It is wierd that the LED lights seem to always work no mater what tho!

So just to let you know, currently i can't run it under vista on a laptop but am going to get a usb powered hub and see if that works an then i might alter the interface to support an external adapter so there will be enough power then, am guessing the RS485 signal isnt upto standard.

I'll drop updates as i go...

[sijones]

The USB hub idea hasn't worked... bit lost now what could be wrong... the smart scan wont respond now to any software... it just sits there and randomly moves... and yes it's terminated... and it works fine on a pc... just not on a laptop...

[remco_k]

The USB hub idea hasn't worked... bit lost now what could be wrong... the smart scan wont respond now to any software... it just sits there and randomly moves... and yes it's terminated... and it works fine on a pc... just not on a laptop...

Remember if it did not work out of the USB port, adding a USB hub from that port will still not work.

I don't agree on that.
De Velleman DMX interface gets its power from the USB source, in the case of sijones its his laptop.
If his laptop somehow don't give enough electrical power through its USB ports, then there will be problems.
Now, if sijones connect a powered USB hub (read as active USB hub) then the hub delivers the power to the Velleman DMX interface, not the laptop.
So if the laptop delivered bad power, connecting the active USB hub could be the solution.
Obviously, in this case it was not, so there is something else wrong.

One of my laptops is a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo and it has 3 USB 2.0 ports but they are actually only connected to a USB 1.1 root internally, it confused the hell out of me.
Ports, Hubs and roots are not all the same thing as I found out. I had to buy a card slot USB Hub to get true USB 2.0 root as well so my external USB 2.0 hard drive would work at full speed.
Luckily my Sony Vaio has proper USB 2.0 ports so no probs there.

What about this; I have a computer that has a USB 2.0 chipset on the mainboard, but the actual ports are 1.1.
Took me installing the drivers multiple times before I figured out the ports were never gonna go on USB 2.0.
Kind off offtopic, because this computer is'nt used for FreeStyler, but automatic audio playout.

Anyway, a USB 1.1 port stil has a fast enough transfer rate to do the DMX transfer.
USB 1.1 is 12Mbit/s, DMX about 250kbit/s.
Except that the 12Mbit/s is a maximum speed under ideal circumstances. I think that sijones should test the speed of his USB port by connecting a harddisk(or memory stick) and time how long a filecopy of a 100MB (or bigger) file takes from the laptop hdd to the external HDD.
Then he'll know the actual transfer speed. If it gets real low (like <2Mbit/s) sijones should also consider buying a USB 2.0 pcmcia card.

Sijones, could you give us some more info about your laptop:
-Specifications (What CPU, Memory, operating system, USB 1.1 or 2.0, Laptop brand and model ... etc)
-What is the CPU load when running FreeStyler?

[sijones]

Hi guys,

sorry for the length of time but i have solved the issue.

Just for reference, the laptop is a HP Pavillion DV6552ea, AMD Turion 64 x2 Dual Core 1.9Ghz, 2Gb Mem, Nvidia chipset, Vista Home Premium

I have bought an express card usb adapter and use the velleman through this which has an NEC chipset and all works fine.

Its very weird that it's only one type of light that seems not to work but never mind the card was only £14 so bargain!

Hope this gives help to anyone else...

[Sparko]

As a reasonably new member, I have just discovered this thread, but can add some information from my own experiments.
I have 2 smart scan 2s and 2 unmarked generic scanners that I got cheap from ebay. They all worked fine with a GENI Digi Master so I know that the units etc are ok. I found the Digi Master horrible to use so wanted an alternative.
I use Velleman interface with my freestyler. All the rest of the kit is the same, (cable and terminator etc). The generic scanners work fine with the new set up.This proves that the freesyler, interface and laptop USB are all ok. The Smart 2s work with the DMX demo software supplied with the Velleman interface, but not with freestyler. The same as other users have described, the scanners respond after several seconds, not at all or do their own thing, while the other scanners do what they are told!
I am no electronics or computer expert, but I think this shows that the Smart 2 does not like freestyler as all the other components of the system have been shown to work ok.

[CutDMX12]

Hi,

I have the same problem, I have 5 of them!!!!!

I have recently added them to the lighting rig at woodchurch and I had this problem... I found out after playing with it for hours that one of my scanners "the first one I ever got" was the problem

I think it is the frame ware on the scanners as the NEWER ones seam to work fine for now!!! I hope lol

I can't remember how I fixed this out of sync when I just had the scanners on there own I think it was a laptop with a duo core processor that worked?!?! But still there must be something wrong about these scanners anyway let me have a long think and I’ll come back to this

C12,

p.s. don't get what i'am saying??? Sorry it is my poor English skills lol I did check this before I posted this on word