LX7s Not Running During Night

[DFR]

Background
I have 2 LX7s being controlled by my P4. The firmware on all devices are up to date (P4:7.36/7202, 7206:1.15/7202, 7204:1.15/7202). They have been running like this since around 2021/2022 (when I transferred control over to the p4) with no issues.
Around August/September, I noticed the Moonlights were no longer running during the night but I chalked it up as probably a new moon. By November lights still never turned on at night so I started periodically making changes, still to no avail. I believe the last updates may have introduced a bug (or some incompatibility between the P4 and LX7) as it worked fine prior.

Settings
All channels turn on at 7:31am>Ramp to desired intensity at 8:00am>hold intensity until 7:00pm>ramp down to off at 7:30pm. All channels have “depend on clouds”, “seasonal lighting”, and “darkened by thunderstorm“ enabled.
I ran only Channel 7 (Sky White) while all other lights are off (7:31pm-7:30am), and this was the only channel that “depends on moon phase” was enabled.

Experiment
I most recently experimented with channel 3 (Cool White) and there are discrepancies shown on the screen of the LX7, the app for the LX7s, and the app for the P4. All still resulted in the light being off.
LX7

P4

Simulation Settings on P4


I purposely set the moonlight to 100% to ensure the minimum threshold to turn the light on has been met. “Depend on moon phase” is also purposely not enabled as to reduce possible variables. The results are still no lights on at night. As it stands, my only real issues are during the night (7:31pm-7:30am). But it must be noted that while not testing, I now remove all of the night schedule as it causes weird things to happen during the day on the LX7 despite being displayed correctly on the P4. I also usually try these experiments ~5am on weekends (like I did today) or ~7/8pm after the lights go out.

Has anyone else observed issues running these lights through the P4 at night? @Lasse i know you run the lightbars, do you run yours at night or noticed any periods of no illuminations? @Gaël @Vinny@GHLUSA do you see anything wrong with the programming, or have you heard of similar issues?

I know the question will be asked, so to answer it… Yes, I have read the manual, the programing guide, the KB and watched pertinent videos for both the P4 as well as the LX7.

 

[Lasse]

@Lasse i know you run the lightbars, do you run yours at night or noticed any periods of no illuminations?

I´ll check - when you mention it - I have wounder a little if I really have any moon light lately. But I´ll check - running Illumination overview in GCC - they works as they should. Have set it to work from 00.00 this night - and I´ll be awake

Sincerely Lasse

 

[DFR]

Haha, I’m usually counting sheep at midnight. Thanks for the reminder Lasse, I forgot I could test illumination in GCC.

So I connected a USB to the P4 (which is a major pain), entered and saved a nighttime schedule, ran the scene at 00.00. Same thing, all lights off.

At some point, I’ll remove control of the lights from the P4, replicate the schedule for all the channels directly on the LX7s, and check to see if problem persists.

 

[Lasse]

So I connected a USB to the P4 (which is a major pain),

You know that you can use GCC with TCP/IP if you are on the same network?

In the black marking put your IP address for your P4 192.168.xxx.xxx. When you have save it. Shout down GCC and restart it and chose this instead of USB connection. You need to shout down GCC and restart it after configuring a TCP/IP connection - I do not think they have fixed that bug yet

Sincerely Lasse

Sincerely Lasse

 

[DFR]

Yes, I am aware. I typically only use GCC for updates (and major issues), and use the app for everything else. GCC only displays about 3 device connections, so to keep things simple, I only keep the USB connection for my devices saved.
It’s just a little easier to open an app than it is to go dig out the laptop, but if the need for GCC increases, I’ll definitely add the wireless connection.

 

[Lasse]

Klick in the red circle - chose Navigate pain option and you will find all of your created connection. Using move up - move down - you decide what you should see in the main window,

Sincerely Lasse

 

[DFR]

Ahh, well that easier than what I would normally do (administrate…>select device>hit close>select connect). In my defense I’m a Mac user and only got this laptop to update my GHL equipment

 

[Lasse]

Checked now - my bars works as they should according to moonlight

Sincerely Lasse

 

[DFR]

Checked now - my bars works as they should according to moonlight

Sincerely Lasse

Thanks Lasse, looks like this is probably isolated to the LX7 series and not the lightbars.
Unfortunately mine still don’t work as it should. I did find a workaround, so I’ll probably stick with that for now. The main problem now is, there is a gradual shift in spectrum as the lights ramp, but at least moonlights are on now.

 

[BeanAnimal]

My moon lighting on LX7 was working last I checked.

 

[DFR]

My moon lighting on LX7 was working last I checked.

Thanks for checking. I haven’t touched it since I implemented my little work-around.

It’s just strange that the last time I recall it running properly was prior to the update. I have Seasonal Lighting and Clouds enabled, as well as control it through my P4, so there are a multitude of things that could impact this if changed.

To make it work, I essentially now never turn off the channel used for moonlight. This way, as the light ramps up/down in intensity, the spectrum now slightly shifts more towards this channel (every channel ramps down to 0, whereas the channel used for moonlight ramps to 2%).

 

[DFR]

I´ll check - when you mention it - I have wounder a little if I really have any moon light lately. But I´ll check - running Illumination overview in GCC - they works as they should. Have set it to work from 00.00 this night - and I´ll be awake

Sincerely Lasse

Lasse, I just realized I never mentioned this. I found this is also possible through the app. I just had to bring all the channels into the Multichannel Setup, then that feature is under charts.

 

[Cali9dub]

My moon lighting on LX7 was working last I checked.

I could never land on a moonlight schedule that wasn’t too bright !

 

[BeanAnimal]

I could never land on a moonlight schedule that wasn’t too bright !

I will post mine. It is too bright some evenings but I am too lazy to adjust further.

 

[Cali9dub]

I will post mine. It is too bright some evenings but I am too lazy to adjust further.

I know the feeling !