Helix V3 main board + Helix Network Supervisor Questions

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Danevandy99

New member
While testing my Helix system, I have run into a couple of problems:

#1. The RTC on the Helix is calibrated correctly, but the audio is not synchronized with the lights. The lights flash about 1 second to early.

#2. In the tools section of the Helix Network Supervisor V3, the options to test channels or send the system a sequence are grayed out.

Does anyone know what could be wrong?
 
#1 - Don't know if this will help, but make sure you select the correct MP3 player (VS1053) during your setup? Also, make sure your mp3 is encoded at 128kbps and the Vixen event period must be >= 50ms and must be a whole multiple of 5ms, i.e. 50ms or 55ms not 52ms or 53 ms.

See the post below.

http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?12191-Helix-Network-Supervisor&highlight=calibration


#2 - If you are just trying to test all of your outputs, there is a test switch on the Helix Main Board. Pressing and releasing this switch on the Helix Network Controller will turn all of the lights on to 50% intensity. Pressing and releasing it again will turn all of the lights off. Those same HNS buttons are greyed out on mine as well. I don't recall if they are operational or not. I'll try connecting to my Helix Main board and see if that option is available or not.
http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?21780-Helix-V3-Update&highlight=test+channels
 
blantrip said:
#1 - Don't know if this will help, but make sure you select the correct MP3 player (VS1053) during your setup? Also, make sure your mp3 is encoded at 128kbps and the Vixen event period must be >= 50ms and must be a whole multiple of 5ms, i.e. 50ms or 55ms not 52ms or 53 ms.

See the post below.

http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?12191-Helix-Network-Supervisor&highlight=calibration
Click to expand...
I went through the setup wizard again and selected the correct MP3 player. Also, all of the songs are 128kbps and the sequences are at 100ms, and the lights are still faster than the music.

#2 - If you are just trying to test all of your outputs, there is a test switch on the Helix Main Board. Pressing and releasing this switch on the Helix Network Controller will turn all of the lights on to 50% intensity. Pressing and releasing it again will turn all of the lights off. Those same HNS buttons are greyed out on mine as well. I don't recall if they are operational or not. I'll try connecting to my Helix Main board and see if that option is available or not.
http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?21780-Helix-V3-Update&highlight=test+channels
Click to expand...
The test channel button on my Helix works fine. I just wanted to be able to send it test sequences without having to reload the microSD card every time. Could the grayed out buttons have something to do with the mode it is in or something with the headers? This is my first year with the Helix, so I'm still figuring a lot of things out.
 
Welcome to the Helix family.

Sorry to hear you are having problems. I've never had this specific issue so I'm not sure what else to try. Looking through the past posts I see that Greg had these issues way back on the first version of his board, but it seemed like that was all fixed.

Regarding the grayed out items, I suspect those are options that aren't implemented yet and not available.

I'm sure you are getting anxious for a fix to your issue so I suggest emailing Greg directly. If I come up with any other ideas I'll post it.

Good Luck.
 
Danevandy99 said:
While testing my Helix system, I have run into a couple of problems:

#1. The RTC on the Helix is calibrated correctly, but the audio is not synchronized with the lights. The lights flash about 1 second to early.
Click to expand...

That is an interesting problem. I've never encountered this before. What version of Vixen did you use to create your sequences?

Danevandy99 said:
#2. In the tools section of the Helix Network Supervisor V3, the options to test channels or send the system a sequence are grayed out.

Does anyone know what could be wrong?
Click to expand...

The testing section of the tools hasn't been fully developed. The framework is in the Helix firmware and the HNS but I just haven't been able to flesh it out yet.
 
gmbartlett said:
That is an interesting problem. I've never encountered this before. What version of Vixen did you use to create your sequences?
Click to expand...
I am using Vixen 2.1.1.0. ( BTW I started sequencing on a lubuntu laptop, (with WINE) and finished up on a Windows 8 laptop.) The lights are all synchronized on the preview though.


The testing section of the tools hasn't been fully developed. The framework is in the Helix firmware and the HNS but I just haven't been able to flesh it out yet.
Click to expand...
OK. There's no rush. I was just curious as to if I could change something I was doing to make the testing options become available.
 
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