Q Light Controller+

Hello Massimo,

you had asked to describe the behavior I observed in a new thread. I'm trying it here ...

I have reduced the attached file to such an extent that the complexity is as low as possible, but the phenomenon still occurs.

My (output) interface is a "DMX USB FT232R USB UART" which I use for many years without problems. There is only one universe.

There is no additional input hardware. The functionality is selected via the touch surface of the original Pi 7" touchscreen, but in the attached file you will not see much of it - as mentioned above ...

All sliders should remain in the "supplied" state. So they have no additional influence on the "error state". Since the functionality of the moving heads has also been removed, the right-hand slider here is also completely non-functional. But it may still have an influence on the overall behavior. The moving heads are not controlled by any function (everything has been removed to reduce complexity ...).

It takes many hours (about 6 - 9), then the brightness of all lamps begins to fluctuate quite violently (a kind of brightness modulation, as could be achieved with the Master slider - by hand ...).

Then, maybe 30 minutes later, the functions stop and the display "falls back" on the Linux shell ... (see the attached image below).

>>> One addition: Only for these test purposes I have connected an USB keyboard ! <<<

Now (after logging in "pi" and the password "raspberry") you can enter the command via the keyboard
sudo service qlcplus restart
and the application starts again immediately.

The command
sudo service qlcplus start
has no effect,
but in the order
sudo service qlcplus stop
sudo service qlcplus start
one achieves (of course) the same effect of the restart.

Please let me know what additional information may be important that I should deliver (maybe the fixture definitions used?).

Thanks in advance
Frank

Ah, wait a second. I noticed that newer kernels are more demanding than before.
I noticed this in particular on Kodi, but also when building QLC+ on a RPi 3.
Solution: I bought a new 2.5A power supply. No more issues.

If you have the chance, can you please test with a more powerful power supply ?

When I can, I'll try to run your project too, and see what happens.

Hello Massimo,

thank you for your hint!

So far, I have used a Samsung power supply that provides 5V, 2A.

However, you have to keep in mind that the Pi 7" touch screen is also supplied with it !!! That's really a lot ... But, it was the power adapter that did not show a "lightning bolt" on the display (under-voltage indicator or something like that).

Fortunately, I still have a 5V, 3A power supply in my "collection", which I have now connected. I'll test it and report (tomorrow morning at the latest).

Many Thanks
Frank

Hello Massimo,

unfortunately I have to report this morning now that the stronger power supply part has brought no improvement for the described problem.
The same behavior as described above ...

Do you still need the fixture definitions that I have been using for a long time?
I have adjusted these slightly to be able to adjust some lamps together via a slider in terms of brightness, so to speak as a "group" ... ***)

Thanks in advance
Frank


***) For this purpose, I have defined the (master) dimmer of such devices as an "effect" (instead of the default parameter "intensity"), so that they can be controlled together by a single slider ...

Hi Massimo,

thank you very much for your great job. I don't use a lot QLC+ because I don't do lot of light show and when I do it I used now Avolites Arena console... other price ! but I use QLC+ for autonomous christmas light show on Rpi...

I see the same problem describe with my Rpi 3 + Bitwizard DMX interface + 3A 5V power supply + nothing ! (no keyboard, no mouse, no screen, no network...) The QLC app crash after some hours. But linux still run, SSH is ok I connect Rpi to network. If I restart QLC service it run again some hours. If I stop the show, but keep it on a screen, the application don't crash.

I try the same show on an old Rpi 2 with package 20170624 and other Bitwizard DMX interface without any problem from some days !

I don't need a solution now because my show run on Rpi 2 but I can help for debugging.

I can try :
- package 20170624 on Rpi 3 (next step ?)
- remove bitwizard DMX interface and replace it by official entec interface or run on artnet...

I am more interested in what kind of functions you are running. RGB matrix ? EFX ? Chasers ? Sequences ?
That would give me an indication where to look at.

Hello Massimo,

the problems I described already occur in the tiny example I attached above!

It is named "4.12.0-Test.qxw" and it only contains one chaser consisting of 22 scenes.

The moving heads (see tab "devices" if you're loading the example into "Q Light Controller Plus") are not controlled at all, only the right slider makes reference to them (for brightness control) ...

I hope it helps a bit. I like to test further, if it helps you...

Regards
Frank

Frank, calm down, your project uses FIVE custom fixtures that you didn't provide.
How can I possibly reproduce an issue in this condition ?
Either make a ZIP files of the definitions or use fixtures bundled in QLC+.

Hello Massimo,

please excuse me a lot (... so I asked in the first post if "they" would be needed ...).

Regards
Frank


Explanations regarding these fixture modifications:
The now attached fixtures are largely the same as the originals. I'd only - if a (master) dimmer channel was present - this channel assigned to the type "Effect" (instead of the type "Intensity"), in order to control the brightness separately.

Without this assignment ("Dimmer" to the "Effect" type) such lamps are dimmed by the Grand Master "twice as strong", because both - the color channels (R, G, B) and the (master) dimmer - are simultaneously influenced by the Grand Master !!!
-----------------------

Is there a fix for the crashing issue meanwhile? I have the same problem with this image.
Does it work with the new released image for RPI?
Thank you for a quick reply

Hi,

I have the same issues with crashing using 9 Generic RGB fixtures. I have a raspi 3B+ with 7" Display and a DMX King ultra micro USB->DMX converter. I use a 5V 3A power supply. After some hours of running nothing qlc+ crashes. I run virtual console in kiosk mode. Any news on how this issue is to fix. The lightshow consists only on blinking trying to simulate a heartbeat.