AR2412 Expander Port issue?

[JeffParticipant]

Hi folks,
I have a main dual-GLD system in our Sanctuary (FOH and Broadcast via M-ACE card) with the dSnake output run over 150′ to an AR2412 and AB168 pair (via 3′ CAT6 patch cable) in a backstage equipment rack, and the surface Expander output to an AR84 in the tech booth via about 6′ of CAT cable. All that works great.

When we do our portable system, we typically use the Broadcast GLD with a second AR2412 and AR84 pair in a rolling stage rack and no surface Expander. Last time we used it, we ran a 100′ Ethercon cable (armored CAT6) to the stage box rack with a roughly 3′ CAT cable connecting the two AR’s together.

So, both setups identical except for what is paired with the AR2412, and the length of the CAT cable interconnections.

This year we’re running the AR2412 at the booth off of the dSnake output via about a 15′ CAT6 cable to accomodate 16 wireless mic channels, and have the AR84 that it’s normally paired with mounted in the amp rack on stage via 100′ Ethercon cable out of the AR2412 Expander port to feed the amps and receive a few wired stage mic inputs. This is the same wired setup we normally use, except that there is more cabling between the AR2412 and the AR84.

The problem is, we could not keep the AR84 reliably linked with the AR2412 and it kept falling offline. The GLD home page kept giving us an OS Recover Error (can’t recall the exact wording) and we were initially able to get it back connected by power cycling one or the other stage box, but it was too finicky. We ended up moving the 100′ Ethercon cable from the AR2412 Expander output to the GLD Surface Expander output and had no further issues at all. No disconnects, no errors, nothing.

The dSnake and Expander connections are spec’d at 120 meters per connection, i.e. you can run 120m (that’s 394 ft) from the GLD dSnake output to any stage box model, and then, if you have an AR2412, you can run another 120m from the stagebox Expander port to an AB168 or AR84. The GLD Expander output can similarly run 120m to an AR84. (Note: it is recommended to limit distances to 100 meters to be safe and avoid “QoS Errors”).

My AR84 did fine over 100′ of Ethercon cable from the GLD surface Expander output, but it wouldn’t stay connected (and got QoS errors) when using the same 100′ of cable to connect to the AR2412’s Expander output (that’s 100 FEET, not meters, so 1/3 of the recommended max to-be-safe distance).

Has anyone experienced this? Is there a typo in the manual and the distance limit from AR2412 Expander to AB168 or AR84 is LESS than the spec’d 100 meters? Do the AR2412 Expander outputs have a history of failure?

Thanks for any info,
Jeff

[Anonymous]

@jeff
I had an input DS board on an AR84 [purple series] go intermittent quite some years back. Unfortunately, I had vocals in the AR84 and didn’t realise you could just unplug and replug the cat to get it working again.
I have used the AR84 30 metres away off the output of the AR2408 multiple times with no issues.
However, it seems to be in your case the output of the AR2408?
I was using QU32

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