QU16 faders not playing the game

[man in charge]

Here is a thing, we have 6 QU16 of which 2 maybe 3 are exhibiting interesting faults.
One is when going from say Mix 1 to Mix 2 the settings of the faders stays on Mix 1, which has caused a few issues.
Two is when going into the faderflip from mix the faders stay where they were making the graphic sound a bit rough.

Now when back in the unit nothing can be reproduced but we have had feedback from several of our engineers saying it has happened to them on site along with jumping fader issue which is described further back in the forum.

The ‘cure’ of hard wipe the desk then re-calibrate the faders has been done, engineers shown and training done but the desks still are doing their thing on site.
Anybody else having this issue? Any fixes? Any cures? Our best guess is the main processor is having a real problem communicating with the faders motors.

[Dick Rees]

Scenario: Problems in the field cannot be replicated in the shop.

Possible variance between venues: Power.

Things to try:

1. In the field…double-conversion in-line UPS to stabilize power.

2. In the shop…VARIAC, lighting controllers/dimmers in the circuit, etc. Anything that might introduce hash or voltage spikes inot the AC.

3. Try Qu-pad in the field during recurrence if possible to separate the problem into physical and digi-control realms.
Good luck.

[man in charge]

Thanks you for your ideas but we had this discussion about power with the show techs and engineers and no other equipment suffered a power related problem (video, audio, Lighting, computers) We did have a brief go in the warehouse with power supply and no problem repeated.
We have sent the desks out on other shows, with reluctance it must be said, to other countries, off generators and similar and still the problem occurs.And then back at home…..
We brought these desks as they seem to have many functions for the price but now to add a UPS of quality to sort out a what we see as a design problem makes them not worth the money.
And today yet another desk has been reported as playing up. I’ll let you know the details.

[Anonymous]

I have to suggest that as a reasonably large operator (6 desks implies some sort of scale) that I’d be wanting to pop a simple camera over the desk to record entire gigs, in the hope of capturing the issue on video.

Mostly because I subscribe to the ‘show me’ method of question asking (“All diagnosticians are from Missouri.” https://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#beprecise)

[MarkPAman]

So something is wrong with many/all of your desks, but does not seem to be a widely reported issue for others, so far as I know.

Firmware? Have you updated them all from one stick/download? May be worth a fresh download, reformatted stick, and re-install.

If you use dSnake, is there anything in common with the cable and/or boxes used when this happens?

Same question if you connect an ME system and for you WiFi kit I guess.

[man in charge]

Thanks for the information on how to act on forums.
Now, we brought these desks to do a job of work not to fault find for manufacturers. If I have to rig a camera on every desk along with a UPS and other diagnostic recording equipment to find a fault on every show I would lose valuable time on the rig/de-rig.
I just would like to know why these desks ore misbehaving.

[Giga]

Are you also using Ipads with Qu-Pad running ? If so, are they functioning correctly ?

Giga

[man in charge]

The firmware is the latest from the site, we are not using the desks with dSnake as the usage is stand alone smaller rooms and so far we have not run the desks with Qu-pad.

We will try the reload of the firmware and let you know.

[Anonymous]

Apologies – it wasn’t directed at your question asking style. It was a reference to the ‘collect all the data you can’.

I was literally thinking of a £30 cheap camera on a mic stand/shelf

[man in charge]

Hi All
Please see below a video from one of our onsite techs demonstrating the problem.

Youtube video of issue

[man in charge]

I’ll try that again. A youtube video of the issue from one of our onsite tech.
Youtube video of QU-16 faders not playing ball

[Dick Rees]

It appears from the video that the desk is being shut down (crashed) by powering down simply by hitting the power button without doing the Home > Shut down > OK to shut down procedure…BUT…

Since the camera zooms to just the techs LH and it is not showing what his right hand is doing the “crashing the board” scenario is not for sure. IF the desks are being crashed instead of following the proper power-down sequence there is always the chance that something in the OS may be corrupted.

Just a possibility, but worth investigating. Also, when re-loading the firmware it is advisable to get a fresh download rather than jst re-loading what’s on the computer from the last download. But you know that, I presume. Just mentioning it for other interested readers.

Lastly, the USB stick for firmware transfer should be a proper one and freshly formatted. Again I presume you’ve done this and include the recommendation for other interested parties.

Good luck. Don’t crash the consoles.

[Dick Rees]

Edit above: upon re-watching the video

The tech is using his right hand to power down, so appears to be crashing the desk.

No offense, but this is a no-no. Follwing manufacturer recommended power-down procedure is just “playing the game” on the part of the user.

Shut down process

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[man in charge]

I did have a online chat with most of the technicians who have reported faults and some had powered down but on the whole the desk had been left on for from setup until the show when the problems occurred.
Following the power down procedure all the time cannot be done in the real world can it? There are instances were power is out of the operators control.
It still seems that the customer is doing the R&D for Allen and Heath as I have had no reply from Allen and Heath direct on these issues.

[Anonymous]

Power down can be done correctly in the real world.

There are occasions when the power is outside your control, but they are actually pretty rare. If you find that power is frequently an issue then I’d recommend an inline UPS. Just a little one.

[Author]

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