Minimum operating voltage?

[SteveParticipant]

I was fortunate enough to help out with a live sound event (private, less than 15 people at the event (all friends/family, all distanced, all masked, and all had COVID tests prior)) and it was fantastic, save for two random issues with the dLive console.

Set-up included:
1x C1500 console at FOH
1x Waves Mobile server at FOH
1x Apple MBP laptop at FOH
1x CDM32 MixRack located at SR position
1x Furman PL-PRO-PLUS power strip at SR position

The venue was outdoors, and I had access to two (2) distinct 110-volt, 20-amp circuits. I used one (1) of the 20-amp circuits to provide power to the dLive rig and nothing else.

I used the other 20-amp circuit to run the small PA system. The small PA consisted of: 3x Yamaha DSR112 speakers, 2x JTR Captivator C215Pro subs, and a Shure PSM1000 IEM rig. I ran the speakers at ridiculously low levels… Subs were at -25dB on fader, Mains and FF were at -20dB. I have metered this exact rig before at *full* tilt and it draws less than 10-amps while hammering away. Regardless, this all ran on a separate 20-amp circuit from FOH.

The Furman at SR received its main power from the other 20-amp circuit via a 25-foot 12AWG SOOW extension cord. FOH mix position was located about 60-feet from the MixRack, so I ran a 100-foot 12AWG SOOW extension cord from the Furman at SR to the FOH tent.

Twice during the show, at completely random times, the C1500 lost all power and shut down. The MixRack continued to pass audio, but I had zero control while the C1500 rebooted itself. The logs don’t show much of anything other than the C1500 lost connectivity to the MixRack.

I metered the voltage at the Furman and it indicated 109-110 volts. A tad lower than I would’ve liked… but the subs, mains, front fill, PSM1000, and MixRack seemed happy/stable. The C1500 was the only item that rebooted itself at two random times. The WSG server stayed powered-on and working, and it was connected to the same 100-foot 12AWG feed that the console was.

If my calculations are correct, the voltage drop over the extension cords is negligible… I should’ve had 106-volts minimum, even under heavy load.

I can’t figure out why the C1500 decided to reboot itself twice. It’s been otherwise stable – I rehearsed on it for 12-14 hours a day, four days in a row prior to the event and it never once complained or acted up. Prior to that, I used it multiple times per week, without any issues.

Is there a minimum voltage for the C1500? Or any ideas what may have caused it to randomly reboot during the show? Again, the MixRack, WSG Mobile, laptop, Shure PSM1000, and PA all continued to work during while the console rebooted itself.

[SteffenRParticipant]

Is there a minimum voltage for the C1500?

Mains Power 100-240V AC, 50-60Hz, 110W max

https://www.allen-heath.com/ahproducts/c1500/

I had the same issue years before with my iLive
and after some hours of search I noticed that my mains plug slips out just a little bit every time I touched the R72
but most of the time it was ok…

rearranged the cables and everything was good again

[SteffenRParticipant]

something went wrong with the link, so again…

Documents C1500

[ScottParticipant]

12 AWG extensions, and a online UPS should help. A 15-amp circuit should have been enough to run your FOH gear, so a 20 should be more than enough. I suspect that maybe someone/something else was sharing the circuit with your gear.

[Jack_AHModerator]

Hi Steve,

Can you send the USB logs? We can have a look and see if there are any clues as to what might be going on.

When the console restarted, was any action on your part required to get it up and running again? (Did you have to physically turn the power off and on to get it to connect again?)

Did the LCD scribble strips turn off too?

Although the console is ‘rated’ for 100v – 250v the power supplies will usually work down a lot lower than that so I don’t think 106v would be an issue.

My gut feeling from what you’ve said is this is more likely to be an issue with the cable, or maybe even the socket the IEC cable going into the console was connected too rather than an issue with the console itself, but I’d be more than happy to check out the logs to try and at least rule out some issues with the console.

Jack

[SteveParticipant]

Hi Jack,

I sure can – want me to submit a ticket and include the logs?

The entire board rebooted – no scribble strips, and nothing required on my part… it just shutdown, rebooted, and picked-up where it left off.

I was using locking IEC connectors into the console and MixRack. I confirmed I couldn’t pull out the IEC cable from the console after the show, as my first thought was a bad cable as well.

100% certain the circuit wasn’t shared with anything else, and it was distinct/separate from the PA circuit. I used a DVOM to measure across the hot side of each plug and measured 220-volts, indicating two separate circuits. We also measured/tested for good ground/neutral, as well as any voltage leaking across neutral.

Definitely a head-scratcher.

[Author]

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