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Electronic Theatre Controls Inc

Eos Family Console Not Outputting or Talking to Lights

Issue

My EOS family console is not outputting to my lights.

Explanation

There are several things to check if your EOS Family Console is not talking to your lights. To narrow it down, the first step is to confirm whether the issue is on the console side or somewhere else in the system. If you determine the issue is with the console itself (and sometimes it is easiest to start there), there are several software and connectivity items to check before suspecting a hardware issue.

Things to Check on The System

  1. What path is the console using to talk to the lights? Is this strictly a DMX path, a DMX to network, or network only path?
  2. Who sits between the console and the lights? Have we verified good communication at each of those points?

Things to Check at the Console

  1. What is plugged into the back of the console?
    1. keep in mind that each network port and DMX port can be individually configured. If you know you are talking to your lights on universe 1 (addresses 1-512) but you are plugged into DMX port 2, which defaults to universe 2 (addresses 513-1024). You will either need to re-address the port or change your cable to a port that outputs what you need.
  2. Are the Grandmaster and Crossfader pair faders all in the up position? Most consoles have these faders and they need to be up to output.
  3. Most consoles have a Blackout key. If yours does, make sure it is not illuminated red.
  4. If you hit the [About] key, what do you see for the following:
    1. System count. This should have a number higher than 0.
    2. Assigned as. This should be Primary. Offline will not output at all,
  5. Can you output to some lights but not others? If it is only some lights, look at those channels in Live Table or Live Summary. What is different? The color of their level data will tell you what is putting them at that level (e.g. red is manual, yellow is sub). Little numbers or letters in the channel cell can also give a hint (e.g. P is for park)
  6. Navigate to the Patch tab and check for the following:
    1. Channels should have assigned addresses and types per your preferred patch.
    2. The interface column for your preferred output (DMX vs sACN vs EDMX vs ARTNet) should have asterisks or plus signs for the channels you wish to use.
  7. Do your fixtures require constant power in addition to DMX control? Many LED fixtures require this, and you  will need to determine if you've patched the power sources as addresses/channels in the console. You may need to park those addresses/channels at full.
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