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Lectrosonics Transmitter Question


Brian Milliken

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I had a different SMQV on a different shoot that didn't seem to want to last more than 1 day on any set of batteries. I suspect the power was set too high, but it wouldn't let me adjust anything in the menu, I couldn't seem to get it to go into that menu, it just kept telling me the compatibility mode. I need to go back and check on which firmware versions these were running, because I suspect it was an older one. Thoughts / suggestions? I don't need 250mW power b/c these are all being used with less than 100 feet to the VR Field receiver, 50mW should be just fine.

You may have already thought of this, but are you sure it was an SMQV and not an older SMQ or SMQa? Those older models look almost the same but only offer 1 power setting, either 250 mW (SMQ) or 100 mW (SMD or SMDa). Any SMQV, regardless of firmware version, offers the power settings.

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Actually, I hadn't thought of that, thanks! That would explain a LOT about the battery drain, I never checked the long-running ones for power level, so they could have easily been the SMD. If the battery-sucker was an SMQ fixed at 250, that would explain both the lack of menu option and the battery life.

What is the way to know the difference? I was only aware of the blue-top for them, and none of the units I have worked with have that. The dual-battery units all appear the same to me, but I'm also probing the dusty recesses of my mind right now b/c they were rental units and not owned.

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Hi Jim,

The SMD and SMQ variants and will say "Lectrosonics" along the top of the front panel, above the LCD, and have a model number also, like "SMDa", below the LCD. The newer ones only have our logo (the offset circles with Lectrosonics across the middle) on the front panel, below the LCD to the left, and no model number - the model number is only on the little blue plate at the top, to the left of the 5-pin connector.

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Thanks for the info Karl, I'll have to take a good look at these the next time I check them out for use (If I do before getting my own!) but that would explain a great deal. All of the ones that I have worked with are the older style without the blue top, so it is possible that one or more had been replaced by the rental house and they just sent out whatever had been ordered.

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Here's the SMv or SMQv sleep fix process:

1. Customer emails (preferably) or calls the service department with his shipping address, contact info, number of SMv or SMQv units and serial numbers (for your protection if units are lost).

2. We email a printable prepaid UPS shipping label and an RA number to the customer.

3. Customer prints out the label, UPS's the units to us 2nd day air Blue with the prepaid label and the RA number on the box.

4. Service will load in the new firmware, check that the insomnia is cured and return the units by 2nd day air Blue.

Let us know what your must have date is so we can schedule customers with time emergencies. The service crew is good about such things. You can send in the units during a break any time in 2012 (2013 may not get here).

email is service@lectrosonics.com (best)

or 800 821-1121 (second best)

Use a good stout box with sufficient packing so the units don't crash into each other. Honest to God, in the past, we've gotten two SM's in a 1 cu ft box without a scrap of packing material inside. They looked pretty lonely in there.

Best Regards,

Larry Fisher

Lectrosonics

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Any SMv or SMqv. The bug was introduced with the variable power. A memory location is not being properly refreshed with the 4x DSP slowdown to save power. The older SM and SMa sleep properly. The version comes up in the bootup screen. New sleep version with the original PLL will be 1.9, i.e., any lower 1.x needs to go to 1.9 for proper sleep. The replacement PLL uses 2.x firmware and will go to 3.0. So 3.0+ or 1.9 is fixed; all else is borked.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

What version of software are affected on the SMQV? Or is it all of them? And how do you tell what version the SMQV are running?

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Use a good stout box with sufficient packing so the units don't crash into each other. Honest to God, in the past, we've gotten two SM's in a 1 cu ft box without a scrap of packing material inside. They looked pretty lonely in there.

Wow... I know Lectro's stuff is pretty tough in the field, but THAT has got to be a hell of an abuse test environment! So tell us... Did those sad SMs survive the trip with the UPS gorilla-box-testing-squad?

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There were definitely some spots with extra polishing on the metal. It was hard to tell about dings because units get dropped on concrete, etc., in normal use anyway. Later, we found out that the production company had some goffer (gopher?), not the owner, ship them to us.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

Wow... I know Lectro's stuff is pretty tough in the field, but THAT has got to be a hell of an abuse test environment! So tell us... Did those sad SMs survive the trip with the UPS gorilla-box-testing-squad?

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This thread is a great example of proving that "calling the manufacturer" is not always necessary. The OP, asked a question which evolved into the discovery that some Lectro TX's had a bug and were not "sleeping".

Would this bug have been discovered otherwise? Maybe but we all learnt something and saw the progress along the way. If the OP called the manufacturer instead of posting here, the bug may not have been discovered or if it had, we may not know about it.

Of course with Larry's and Lectro's awesome support, I'm sure it will be noted on the Lectro website and Larry would probably have let us know here but the point is, if we all listened to a certain repetitive mantra, we would all be worse off.

Posting on this forum is actually the same as contacting the manufacturer directly in most cases because people like LarryF, Glenn Sanders, Matt Mayer, John Tatooles and sales reps from the stores like Trew, Coffey etc etc all reply here and we all benefit from it.

Now that I have that off my chest, Larry, could you please tell us exactly which models and/or serial numbers require the bug fix. Since your answers are spread over a couple of posts in this thread, a single post with all the info would be cool. I hope you can find the time.

Thanks Larry for your amazing customer support.

Cheers

Peter Mega

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Hi Peter,

All units with a "v" ; SMv and SMQv. Since all the Euro units are derived from the SMv at the low power setting of 50 mW, they can use the fix also. The variable power code introduced the bug to the code. Any units shipped after January of 2012 will have the update. Look for version 3.0 on the boot up screen. I don't think there is any gray area but if you have a question, email service@lectrosonics.com with serial numbers and model info.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

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There are definitely some clowns on this site. And yes, it was funny.

Service@lectrosonics.com has been aliased over to service.repair@lectrosonics.com as it should have been. Either will now work.

Best,

Larry (version 1.0) Fisher

Lectrosonics

All will be okay once Larry is updated to 3.0 firmware.

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