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Thread: Help: Microh Plasmawave 1 Not working

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Posts
    3

    Default Help: Microh Plasmawave 1 Not working

    Alright, lets get to this, I am fairly new to lasers. My first ILDA laser, a Microh Plasmawave 1w was my pride and joy until the key to the ILDA lockout was lost. So i decided to open her up and bypass the lock by snipping the cables and twisting them together. This didnt work. Before i opened her up, the LED display screen functioned and i just couldnt get an output. After snipping the cables and putting it back together, i turned her on and the LED display lit up, but it didnt show any options or words. Then display just died completely.

    I took the unit to a friends house and we opened her up and started disconnecting different things. The unit still powers on, the LED display still dead. But when the RGB ports are disconnected from the ILDA ports board, all the diodes light up again. So i believe the issue is caused by a faulty control board of some sort. Sounds like i have multiple problems now, im afraid i may of shorted out the LED display some how? Ontop of losing the key and snipping the locks cables, someone suggested that there may be a resistor load in the lock that isnt being registered?

    So i feel my solutions are find a new ILDA control board from somewhere, i dont feel like this will fix my LED display, but id atleast get IDLA function back? Its unfortunate that the board doesnt work because the Plasmawave is loaded with an FX wheel, Grater, Lumia, Burst etc. And i feel like ill lose that function of it as well.

    To top it all off, Microh has seemingly gone out of business, as their websites are down, their listed phone number is no longer in service, and ive never gotten response from their FB page. So i turn to all you! Please any information regarding any of this would be appreciated beyond belief!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Posts
    3

    Default

    Alright! As it saddens me no ones replied to this. I have been reading around the forums and have gathered insight. I've learned that the ILDA breakout board is all i need for functioning of the ILDA function, and all the other control boards/LED display just deal with the DMX side of the fixture. With that being said, i disconnected all of the "unnecessary" ports, and plugged the laser in to pangolin/ILDA. And low and behold! what i thought was just the laser turning on and not doing anything was incorrect. I could actually toggle the laser on and off and select colours. But it seems that i dont have communication to the galvo scanners, resulting in just a beam being emitted upwards, i can only see this because the top of the laser's housing isnt on. But i am extremely pleased knowing i have controlled the laser with ILDA.

    Now my issues so far in terms of getting ilda control is i have no scanners, And there are times when i disable laser output on pangolin, a couple random diodes will turn on and off. Leading me to believe i have a voltage short somewhere.

    With these updates, can anyone tell me where i go from here? or suggest the best route of troubleshooting.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    St. Louis, MO
    Posts
    1,198

    Default

    If you lose a power supply, or sometimes just a ground - the scanners can deflect max plus or minus...
    "There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun." Pablo Picasso

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Charleston, SC
    Posts
    2,147,489,446

    Default

    First, some pictures would definitely help...

    You are using confusing terms, which is probably why no one has tried to help troubleshoot your problem. You say you lost your "ILDA lockout". Do you mean you lost the key for the keyswitch, or did you lose the interlock dongle that plugs into the interlock connector?

    If it's just the key that you lost, and you bypassed this by shorting the two wires on the keyswitch together, then that would not have caused any further problems. (Meaning that the troubles you're having now are caused by something else.)

    HOWEVER, if you actually shorted the wires together from the interlock connector (especially if there are more than 2 wires on said connector), then you may have caused further damage. Different manufacturers have different signals connected to the interlock connector, so depending on how your specific projector was wired, if you shorted the wrong wires together you could have damaged something.

    Assuming that you have not damaged anything, I would first verify that you have continuity from the ILDA input port on the back of the projector to the inputs on the scanner amps. X+ is on pin 1 of the 25-pin ILDA port, and X- is on pin 14. Unplug your projector, remove the connector on the X input to the scanner amp, and see if you have a clear path from the ILDA port to this connector. Then do the same for the connector on the Y amp.

    If you have continuity to both scanner inputs, then you should check the +/- 24V power supply to the scanner amps. And if that checks out OK, then you have a fault with the scanners or the amps themselves.

    Note that the Y scanner itself may have rotated in the mount, causing the beam to be reflected at a steep angle towards the lid of the projector. If the scanners are otherwise moving correctly, then you can try loosening the mount and rotating the scanner to bring the beam back down. But if the Y scanner is being FORCED to that position due to an electrical fault or a signal problem, then you need to solve that problem first, before you start adjusting the physical position of the scanner in the mount.

    Adam

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