No DMX, but lights are on? Help

Hello everyone,

I have an older light jockey dongle. The DMX seems to have stopped working, but all the lights say other wise. Could it be repaired? Any ideas would be great.

Cheers,
Clinton

Do you have access to another console with DMX input that you can use to confirm there is no output?

Yes, I have tried 2 different computers running LJ (Same version) and nothing. :frowning:

What I mean is, can you take the output of your LightJockey dongle, and plug it into ANOTHER console’s INPUT to view the incoming DMX values? This way you would be able to confirm that it is the dongle which is failing, rather than a bad cable, a bad light, or possibly a bad configuration.

I will try and get back to you. All I can say right now is, light jockey see’s the dongle and says its working, yet nothing happens.

Cheers,
Clinton

Sounds like your dmx driver is damaged. It is not cost efficient to repair by Martin and no parts are available for this device due to its age.

That’s what I thought. Thanks for your help.

That may not be strictly true. It could very well be that something simple and easily replaceable has “popped” (like a capacitor for instance) or it may be suffering from dry solder joints (not uncommon in any older gear), both of which are fixable by anyone handy with a soldering iron in a few minutes.

You won’t know though until you take the thing apart, and as its waaaaaaay out of its warranty period there’s not exactly a lot to be lost by taking it apart and having a look for anything obvious. If the old dongle is still sufficient for your needs you could end up saving a not insignificant amount of cash, over buying a new dongle, when the fix could be possibly be easy and cheap.

Just take it apart and see if you can see anything wrong. If you don’t know what you’re looking for you could take it to a local electronics repair specialist (of the kind that repair TVs, washing machines, and all kinds of home electronics…I know few still exist but there are some still about) who will probably be able to tell you within seconds if there is something wrong, such as the above mentioned problems, that can easily be fixed… and, given its size, you’d have to be seriously unlucky to find a repairer thats mean spirited enough to charge you just for taking a quick look at it.

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