Author Topic: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter  (Read 8137 times)

Offline twooly

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 837
  • Blah
    • Todd Woolums
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #30 on: November 27, 2012, »
So I had a strange one much like what you are seeing.

I've got the same transmitter, both the transmitter and conductor are on a shelf in my garage about a foot apart with the extra cable wound up between the 2.  I've had this same setup running since Friday without issue.  I did have my conductor sitting on a spare etherdongle I use to test with.

So today I made a couple tweaks to some sequences.  Grab the card to format/put all the sequences back on and since I'm not really testing anymore didn't think I needed to leave my spare etherdongle out there and removed that from the shelf and put the card back in.  Tonight lights started up like normal, 10 mins later I walked by a window and noticed the lights were off.  Took a peak at the conductor and it was sitting at waiting and next show was tomorrow.  Odd.  Did a manual play of the show it started up but the music was extremely slow meaning it was like 3 to 4 times slower than normal but the lights were still going at normal speed, it would only play the first sequence also. 

So I tried a reformat start over with the card again and this time the show wouldn't even start.  After unplugging everything I remembered this post.  So I unplugged my audio cable from the conductor and what do you know the lights started.  So I moved the audio cable from where it was (just let it hang not touching anything besides the connection points in the conductor and transmitter).  Show would play, music was fine and it would play more than one sequence.  Very carefully put the cable back up and all seems to be good now. 

Very odd is all I can say.  Side note I'm on 91.7.  I knew I shouldn't have touched anything  :)

--Todd
« Last Edit: November 27, 2012, by twooly »
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Offline zwiller

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1740
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #31 on: November 30, 2012, »
Hang in there guys.  Built mine last but I didn't have the correct card reader to go any further.   <fp. 

Are there some measurements we can take from the transmitter cable/jack to see if it is indeed feeding back? 

Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

"Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

Offline zwiller

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1740
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #32 on: December 01, 2012, »
Having an issue with an "RTC Error" with my newly built conductor.  I plan to order another RTC unit. 

I see other posts about audio/fm interference.  Starting to wonder if it could actually be the conductor. 
Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

"Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

Offline duane.mosley

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 988
    • hearthstonelights.com
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #33 on: December 01, 2012, »
i knew i saw this thread some where! lol with out use of the conductor, my ED was interfering with my radio in my garage with out any connections of audio to the ED. not sure if it was my ED or the active hub running the smart strings but every time i sent signal to the smart strings, it interfered with the radio.


duane
Florence, KY


facebook.com/hearthstonelights

Offline sebjsan

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 438
  • Sebastian from California
Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #34 on: December 01, 2012, »
Sam , others had that same issue and they re soldered all cf connections and verified all correct files where in. That seemed to solve the problem for them.

Duane, where you using a fm transmitter?
« Last Edit: December 01, 2012, by sebjsan »
Sebastian from California

Offline duane.mosley

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 988
    • hearthstonelights.com
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #35 on: December 01, 2012, »


Duane, where you using a fm transmitter?
[/quote]


i will be using an fm transmitter in my show, but when i was using the ED, i was just testing my smart strings in the garage. when ever i sent data to the smart string, the radio would pulse with the flash of the nodes.


duane
Florence, KY


facebook.com/hearthstonelights

Offline zwiller

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1740
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #36 on: December 01, 2012, »
Maybe someone else can confirm but my take was that "card error" was due to pins/files but "RTC error" was a bad clock. 

Really wish I could get her going so I could use my tape deck to troubleshoot the radio issue. 
Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

"Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

Offline chrisatpsu

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3729
  • ahhh, yes... my new blink-i-nator 3000!!!
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #37 on: December 01, 2012, »
have you guys tried wrapping the ed (still in the case) with aluminum foil, then grounding it?
To rule the entire tri-state area!  What's that? Perry the Platypus!!!

Offline keitha43

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1182
Re: Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #38 on: December 01, 2012, »
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
have you guys tried wrapping the ed (still in the case) with aluminum foil, then grounding it?
Keeps Aliens from reading the Conducters mind as a bonus!

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2.


Offline rm357

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1282
  • 31088
Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #39 on: December 01, 2012, »
I noticed last year that my ss tree interfered with the radio broadcast. Close to the house, i could not hear the interference, but as you got a little further from the house, the interference got louder and the fm range was greatly reduced from 2010 with no changes to the transmitter...
Robert
Warner Robins, Georgia, USA

Offline zwiller

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1740
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #40 on: December 07, 2012, »
Ok guys.  Replaced my RTC and I am back in the game.  Just did a very quick test and unfortunately/fortunately I am not having issues with the audio or FM transmitter stopping my conductor.  Station is set to 92.9fm.  Will report back tomorrow as I plan to run show with it for first time.  That is after I revert to the previous LSP release to get sparkle and shimmer effects back... 
Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

"Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

Offline sebjsan

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 438
  • Sebastian from California
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #41 on: December 07, 2012, »
Hmm. I am watching this thread very closely. For now my show is running with LSP Scheduler, i will fiddle around with the conductor after the season.
« Last Edit: December 07, 2012, by sebjsan »
Sebastian from California

Offline duane.mosley

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 988
    • hearthstonelights.com
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #42 on: December 07, 2012, »
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
Hang in there guys.  Built mine last but I didn't have the correct card reader to go any further.   <fp. 

Are there some measurements we can take from the transmitter cable/jack to see if it is indeed feeding back?

what is the correct card reader to have? i am going to purchase mine today with hopes of having the conductor running by the end of the weekend. i used my laptop for all my sequencing and light show work, but i also use it for work and want the conductor going asap. last night i didn't get home until 7 so my show was down for an hour and a half. go figure, a friend drove 15 miles to come see my show and it wasn't on.  :(


duane
Florence, KY


facebook.com/hearthstonelights

Offline zwiller

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1740
Re: Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #43 on: December 08, 2012, »
You need a cf (compact flash) reader.  I went to best buy and they were like "oooh you need the BIG ONE!?"  I suppose it could be fair to say most folks will need to buy a cf card reader to use the conductor since it is not a popular size.  I found a combo unit at Target for $20. 

A thought I am having about you guys with fm transmitter issues is with regard to soldering the audio jack.  I would be absolutely sure it is wired right.  I think the instructions are a tad fuzzy and you could wire it wrong.  Not entirely sure that it would fix the issue but I have learned well this year the tiniest of mistakes make a world of difference.  Not to rub salt on any wounds but my fm transmitter and conductor sit next to one another and I have no issues whatsoever.   

Hope you guys get yours working.  Don't give up on it. 

« Last Edit: December 08, 2012, by zwiller »
Sam, who is happy he flashed his etherdongle with newest firmware!

"Now, I had heard that word at least ten times a day from my old man. He worked in profanity the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It was his true medium; a master."

Offline sebjsan

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 438
  • Sebastian from California
Conductor acts up with FM transmitter
« Reply #44 on: December 08, 2012, »
What type of wire are you using for the audio jack connections. I am using the 20 awg stranded wire I got from ray.
Sebastian from California