S Link Died?

[Grace GCF]

We’ve had our SQ7 for 5 years, and it has worked flawlessly until this morning when I came in to get the worship team ready for service. When I turned it on, it made a strange noise, almost like a dying fan, and it didn’t want to power up. After several minutes, it finally booted, and I thought everything was working fine. However, after some troubleshooting, I realized the built-in S-Link isn’t working. Has anyone experienced this before? How would I go about replacing it?

Second question: I have a second Dante card in the board. Is there a way to use the secondary port on the Dante card as a replacement for the internal S-Link?

[Mike C]

How did you determine that it was the S Link port on the mixer that was the issue.

If it is the S Link port on the mixer you would need an S Link card for the card slot….
unless you have a Dante option stage box.

[Grace GCF]

Good question. Every local input and output on the board works fine; however, the inputs and monitor outputs on my Dante-enabled stage boxes weren’t working. Additionally, the inputs on both stage boxes that require phantom power weren’t showing the red phantom light. Another clue was that the link light next to the S-Link port on the back of my board wasn’t working either. Based on the process of elimination, I determined that the issue is with the S-Link.

[KeithJ A&H]

@Grace GCF

“I have a second Dante card in the board” – There is only one I/O Port in the SQ, so it’s only possible to have one card fitted.
“Is there a way to use the secondary port on the Dante card as a replacement for the internal S-Link?” – No. The SLink port runs A&H Protocols and the Dante card allows connection to a Dante network (using the Dante protocol).
“the inputs and monitor outputs on my Dante-enabled stage boxes weren’t working” – If you’re using DT expanders, these use the Dante protocol and as such can only be connected to the SQ via a Dante option card.

With all these points together, is it just that you have connected DT/Dante expanders directly to the SLink port rather than the Dante option card?

Thanks,
Keith.

[Grace GCF]

I guess I miss spoke. So our stage boxes are DX168 so I guess they just use straight s link and when I spoke about Dante, I meant the port that says secondary on the Dante card I have installed. So back to my original question is there a way to replace the built in s link port on the back of the sq7 board?

[Mike C]

Is this a system that get set up and taken down or an installed system that never
gets moved?

When you tested it did you take the stage box to the mixer and try it a just a short jumper cable connecting the box to the mixer?

[Grace GCF]

No the system has been in the same place for years never gets moved. I can try that but I highly doubt it’s the cable. It’s a high end cat 7 cable and it was working just fine the day before. When I turned the system on Sunday morning, the board did not want to turn on at first. It made a strange noise and took about 5 minutes to boot up.

[Brian]

I’m speculating, but based on personal experience I suspect you had some storms over the weekend and a nearby lightning strike has damaged some of the equipment. (Our church lost a X32 to lightning a few years ago). However the bigger question is if the console and/or the stagebox are experiencing problems. Given the fact that you said the stage box isn’t showing phantom power, it sounds like it has some issues. However it is also very common for the lightning “surge” to come through network cables, and it may be that the SLink port in the console is also damaged.

Is it possible to borrow another stage box to test the system? Either another box in your facility, or perhaps a nearby church also uses A&H and has a DX box you could use to test the system with. That will give you a better idea where the problem lies.

[Grace GCF]

Yes I was told we had a power surge after I had left the day before. The all the systems were off and behind a double layer of surge protection. But that doesn’t mean much. Also if the s link port is bad that would explain why no phantom power is going to the stage boxes since that is the only way for them to connect to the board. Unfortunately I do not have access to another stage box locally.

[Brian]

The stage boxes provide their own phantom power for any stage box inputs. The console only provides phantom power to the local analog inputs physically located on the back of the console. This is why I think your stage boxes have been damaged. The unknown question is if the SLink port was also damaged, but I would say the odds are pretty high that it has been. Of course connecting a working stage box to the SLink port will quickly confirm if the port is working or damaged – hence my suggestion to see if you can borrow one to troubleshoot with.

Surges can come through in a variety of ways. The main power circuits are only one way. It is extremely common for surges to go through the facility’s network connections, telephone lines, etc and even long cable runs can act as an antenna and “absorb” energy from nearby lightning.

After loosing our X32 (and about 20k in other equipment around the facility) to lighting that likely went through our facility’s local network wiring, we now completely unplug our Avantis when it is not being used. This means physically unplugging the 120v power cord as well as the network cable, the SLink connection to our stage boxes, and even the Dante card connections. The only things left plugged in are the local analog input and outputs. Everything else gets unplugged as a precaution.

[Grace GCF]

Correct me if I am wrong the signal to tell the stage boxes to provide phantom power comes from the board via the slink? That is why I was saying that. I know the power doesn’t physically come from the board but the signal to tell the stage boxes to provide the phantom power does. Waiting for a local friend at another church to see if I can test my stage boxes on his sq7.

[Brian]

Ah, I understand what you are saying now with regard to phantom power. Obviously the signal to change phantom power on/off comes from the console and goes to the stage box, but I would bet that data is only being sent on a change of status. I don’t think the signal needs to be present all of the time in order to have phantom power active on the stage box. So if the stage box had channels with phantom power “on” prior to the surge, and now none of the stage box inputs have phantom power active (or at least the LED light isn’t active on any channel), I think that it is still likely a hardware failure on the stage box side.

[Author]

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