Master/Slave with Chauvet 4 Bar

[BillESC]

No, probably not kill anyone. Do you know a scratch on the face or other normally exposed flesh can be worth a half million dollars? And lawers are willing to sue anybody just to see what sticks?

 

If equipment is not used as designed and intended, the liability will shed to the user. This will put you up Sh*ts Creek, without a paddle.

[jwlussow]

I was trying to be facetious. Way too many people taking chances that can ruin their lives. We take a lot of care in cord placement and protection, making sure our gear is stable and we carry insurance. Many bands do none of that.

[BillESC]

Of that I have no doubt.

 

My point is there are two ways to do something, one offers peace of mind and the other doesn't have a paddle.

[ZubenElGenubi]

Hey...new Chauvet user here. I've got two relatively new 4BARs and they've been just fine for our band (one slaved to the other and mirrored like Plan-B suggested above. Worked like a charm until today...

 

The slave wouldn't power up properly (with single flash of all lights) kept going into a quick version of the auto program. After several tries powering up with and without DMX cable (yes, real DMX) it now is flashing all lights about once per second.

 

Haven't contacted Chauvet yet, but is there a master reset of some sort? This behavior isn't listed in the Troubleshooting section of the manual. Rats.

[steveosplace]

When they flash on power up usually its just a matter of changing the order they are plugged in (master/slave/controller) or checking my dmx cable connection. It quickly goes away so I havent given it much thought.

 

As far as getting more height goes, I've found this stand set works for an extra $150, have a set myself.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Musician%27s-Gear-Lighting-Stand-with-Truss?sku=451068

 

Ive never used it for this purpose (its for my par38's) but I tried it and the 4bars will sit snug on the top instead of using the included top bars. Its an option I keep in mind if I ever do want to mount them higher.

[Kojack]

I searched this topic as I was also unable to sync our two new Chauvet 4Bar units. The solution in my situation was fairly simple. All my problems were solved when I used a DMX cable rather than a mic cable. For what it's worth, my units would not sync when connected by standard microphone cables (and I tried several). Bought a DMX cable, connected the units (DMX Out from the Master DMX In to the Slave), and immediately they synced up. In my case, it doesn't matter what the Master Unit is set on, as long as the Slave Unit is set to S12 and program 1. These units will also sync when running off of different electrical circuits.

The units are a breeze to set up. While not as bright as our Par can set up, they are much lighter weight, take up less space and cooler to operate.

 

Thanks to all the contributors to this thread. Lot's of useful information that I have put to use.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[soulyard]

I have this 4 bar system(2 bars) I cannot get them to communicate with each other either so I can use one foot controller. I have spoke to chauvet and I beleive they have a faulty product period. I had a friend who is a manager at a well know music store here in Tampa call chauvet also and they cannot seem to get their info right on how to set up these 2 4 bars to operate with one foot controller.

[jwlussow]

Are you using DMX cables and a terminator?

[ZubenElGenubi]

Long delay on the followup to my problem (five posts up)..Chauvet sent me a new controller board (Ver 2) and a new power supply which I replaced on my own. It ended up that there was a fault in the power supply, but I don't know what exactly (I didn't test individual components and Chauvet didn't want the old one). Our new powerup procedure from now on is: Power Master 4BAR (with footswitch), Power Slave 4BAR, connect DMX. Has been working fine for a month.

[Bashar_Teg]

I know thread is dated but I was having the same problems and found this via a search. I may be able to add some info in case anyone else runs across this. What was not clear to me is the way the MENU and UP / DOWN buttons work on the lights. It is not intuitive. What you need to do is make sure the slave is in d 1 mode. Easier said than done as often you can press the MENU button all you like and you may never see dXXX. What you need to do is hook up the lights with the footpedal and DMX cable from master to slave. On the slave unit, Hit menu until you see SND. While HOLDING THE MENU BUTTON DOWN press UP or DOWN. This will take you to a 3-CHAN menu entry. Now in this menu you may see a d option but the UP and DOWN buttons will not change it. Hit MENU until you see Axxx. Then use the UP or DOWN to set this to A 1. Now after a few seconds, the light will default back to D 1 and the system should work. As a summary, I think the big take away is often to get to the correct menu options you have hold the MENU button down while you use the Up and Down buttons. This was not clear to me and is actually quite cumbersome if you have big hands like myself. Hope this helps others that may be stuck in the 4Bar menu rabbit hole as I was.

[djshannon]

Other than the crazy menu buttons without having an enter button (took a while to figure that out) I am having an issue with these lights shutting off with bass notes...this happens in all modes, dmx, sound, auto and with or without the footswitch.  If I power them down, they work as they should until the next bass note hits and then they go black again (usually black, occasionally, one or two lights will stay lit a static color instead)  any ideas?