How to go about making sure things work:

Possible faulty components: lamp, cable connectors, cable, patch, softpatch, dimmer.

Approach to problem solving: Isolate variables.

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During hang for on stage electrics:

• Pretest instruments hung in hard to reach locations - such as on stage electrics.
• Hot patch each circuit by plugging it into constant.
• If all circuits work, fly to trim height.
• If instruments do not work, solve problems before flying out electric.
• If circuits are dropped from grid, hot patch all grid circuits being used and record circuit data on light plot.
• Multi-cable circuits are color coded if cables needs to be traced.

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If a fixture doesn't work:

• Use circuit tester first.
• Circuit tested will indicate if electricity is reaching the light fixture.
  
  
• If circuit tester works along the instrument cable, replace lamp. 90 % of all troubleshooting can be resolved by replacing the lamp, but do not make this assumption until all other possibilities are eliminated.

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• If tester doesn't work, move the circuit tester along cable tracing your way back to where the instrument is plugged in until you detect power. Trouble must be downstream of any working cable.
• Problem is probably a cable with a bad connector.

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• If there is no power to circuit, hot patch circuit at patch panel.
  
  
• If hot patch works, check to see if soft patch on control console is one-to-one.
  
  
• If channel and dimmer are the same, there is dimmer trouble - contact John Heil to turn dimmer breaker on in MPAC 112.

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If you don't have a circuit tester:

• Use an instrument that is working nearby to test circuit. (This is called cross wiring.)
  
  
• If working instrument doesn't come on, check patch, soft patch, and finally individual cables.
  
  
• Remember to re-cable instruments into proper circuits after problem is resolved.

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If you don't have a constant:

• Use a non-dim, or
  
  
• Patch working circuit into suspect dimmer. (Do not patch suspect circuit into a different dimmer, it will only trip the breaker for yet another dimmer.)
  
  
• Patch suspect circuit into working dimmer only after problem is identified and corrected.

Trouble Shooting Diagram