Problem

This article works for our standard USB Turntables (sold between 2014 and 2019), not for Arduino jewelry models, Silver Series or for Platinum Series Turntables.

  1. The standard turntable starts and it then turns continuously until I power it down.  In other words, the table can be started from Shutter Stream but it cannot be stopped or controlled.
  2. The turntable seems to skip as it captures 360 images.
  3. Turntable miss-behaves when using strobe-lights.

If you see this happening to your turntable, then something is interfering with the USB controller or there is a hardware failure.  Here are a few possible reasons and ways that you can try to resolve them.  If these solutions do not help, then contact the Iconasys Service Desk.

Continuous Spin Troubleshooting and Possible Solutions

One cause for a continuous turn is that the table encoder has gone bad or an internal wire to the table encoder has become loose.  Here is what you can do to determine if this is the case:

  1. Power on the table. 
  2. If the turntable starts to rotate right away and it never stops, take a look at the LED panel on the side of the table.  You should have at least one yellow LED light blinking.  If none of the yellow LEDs blink, then the encoder is not working and you will need to contact our service desk.

If one of the yellow LEDs is blinking and the table continues to turn without control and without stopping, then take a look at the 10th LED (the red LED being the first).

  1. If the 10th LED is on, then wait a little and see if it turns off.
  2. If the 10th LED is off and the table continues to rotate, then either the table relay is malfunctioning or the USB controller lost connection to the computer.
    1. If the relay malfunctioned you should have heard a clicking sound right as the 10th LED turned off.  In this case, you should contact our service desk for a possible repair or replacement.
    2. To determine whether the USB controller lost connection to the computer, try the following:
      1. Without turning off the turntable, shut down Shutter Stream and restart it again.
      2. Go into the 360 controller dialog.  If you receive an error message, then most likely the USB controller lost connection to the computer.
      3. If you don't receive an error message, then contact our Service Desk.

If the USB controller lost connection to the PC, then this is most likely due to a noisy power line.  Try the following:

  1. If using strobe lights please read the next section: Strobe Lights Interference
  2. If the turntable power is connected to a power extension strip shared by other devices, especially ones that can create noise on the line, such as: refrigerators, air conditioning units, kitchen equipment, or even strobe lights, then move the turntable power to a clean power source.
  3. If available, try to power the turntable through a battery backup unit, as these tend to provide power line voltage filtering, which should help.
  4. Finally, if nothing seems to work, contact our Service Desk.

Turntable Skips and Possible Solutions

Please try the following steps:

  1. First, please go through the troubleshooting steps for a continuous spin.

  2. The challenge with some of the earlier versions of our turntables (which used a continuous DC motor with an encoder) is that some tables could develop play, over time.  This was simply due to the fact that earlier tables were made entirely of plastic and as the plastic wore down more play developed.  Again, the was true only of the initial, continuous motor models.  (All newer turntable models that are based on stepper motor designs, do not have this issue.)  Therefore, even when the tables were stopped, under certain conditions, the table could continue to move forward because of the play.  For those cases, the solution is to eliminate the play by adding a mechanical "break."  This mechanical break can be added if you send your table back to us for repairs.  To test whether or not the skip is due to the large amount of play, you can add a temporary break to the table.  You can test this in two ways:

    1. First, you can do a test rotation while holding your thumb on the top of the table and placing enough pressure to eliminate the free play in the table.  If this eliminates the skip, then a mechanical break will solve the issue.

    2. Second, you can improvise a mechanical break by adding a temporary folded-paper-break between the rotating top and the non-moving-base.  Fold a piece of paper (a few times if you have to) and insert it between the top and the base.  Insert the folded-paper-break at three different positions along the table circumference, about 120 degrees apart.  The folded paper should be thick enough to create enough of a breaking pressure on the top, so as to eliminate the play.  The play is eliminated when you cannot easily move the top back and forth, with your bare hand and a minimal amount of force.
    3. If the temporary mechanical break fixes the skip, then send your table for repairs and Iconasys will install a permanent mechanical break that will remove the play in the table and eliminate the random skips.
  3. Please go to the Turntable SDK page and test the turntable using steps of 5 degrees and a total of 72 steps.  If the turntable makes a full 360 degree turn, then the table is OK.  If it does not, then please contact our technical support team.  You might need to have your turntable repaired.
  4. If you are using any type of strobe or flash lights, please turn them off and see if the turntable works OK without them.  If it does work without the flash/strobe lights but not with them, then please see the following section.

Strobe Lights Interference

Certain strobe lights sometimes cause interference with the circuitry in the turntable. If you are shooting 360 with strobe-lights and the table seems to miss-behave in certain situations, the the first thing you need to do is to turn off the strobe-lights and to see if the turntable continues to miss-behave without the strobe lights.  If it does not, then there's strong indication that the strobe-lights are interfering with the circuitry in the turntable.  Most likely, there is EMI (electro-magnetical interference) between the strobe lights and the turntable controller.  You can try to alleviate the problem with the following potential solutions:

  1. Move the strobe lights controller further from the turntable.  If you have extensions for your lights, try to extend them as far as you can and have the actual trigger/strobe electronics as far away as possible from the turntable.
  2. Separate the power lines of the strobe lights from the power lines of the turntable.  If possible, the strobe lights and the turntable should be powered from different outlets that are on different circuit breakers.
  3. Power the turntable through a computer backup power supply.  In order to completely isolate the potential for noise coming from the power lines, have the turntable powered from a charged backup battery supply (UPS – uninterrupted power supply) that is disconnected from the outlet.  The turntable requires fairly low power and it will last a while on the UPS.  Unfortunately, if after this test the turntable continues to fail with the strobe-lights, then this is EMI coming from the air.  Except from moving the strobe-light trigger circuit further from the table, the only other solution is spelled next.
  4. Use continuous lights.  If all else fails, use continuous lights, where the voltage in the power line does not change abruptly and there's less EMI.