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Ethernet Trigger Box (Cinebot Mini) Not Working — RIC Node Not Enabled in flair.ini

CONFIRMED RESOLVED CINEBOT MINI / ETHERNET TRIGGER BOX BOTH

Summary

The Ethernet Trigger Box (used with Cinebot Mini, as opposed to the older DB37 ribbon-cable Trigger Box used with Bolt/RT14 systems) does not function out of the box. No LEDs fire during testing and no trigger outputs activate. The cause is that the RIC node is commented out in flair.ini. Uncommenting it activates the Ethernet Trigger Box. This fix was independently confirmed by two different operators five months apart.

Symptoms

  • Ethernet Trigger Box connected and powered, but no LEDs light up during trigger test
  • Trigger outputs do not fire during runs
  • No error messages in Flair — system appears normal but triggers are silent
  • Problem appears immediately on first use of the Ethernet Trigger Box

Hardware Note — Ethernet Trigger Box vs DB37 Trigger Box

These are two different devices:

Device Connector Used with Mimic ports
DB37 Trigger Box DB37 ribbon cable Bolt, Bolt Jr, RT14 systems Yes
Ethernet Trigger Box Ethernet / network Cinebot Mini No

The Ethernet Trigger Box acts as a RIC (Remote I/O Controller) node on the network. Unlike the DB37 Trigger Box, it has no Mimic ports.

Cause

The RIC node configuration line in flair.ini is commented out by default — it has a # character at the beginning of the line, disabling it. Flair does not attempt to connect to or communicate with the Ethernet Trigger Box unless this line is enabled.

Fix

1. Locate flair.ini

Default location: 

C:\Flair\FlairClassic\flair.ini
or 
C:\Flair\Flair7\flair.ini

2. Find the RIC Line

Open flair.ini in a text editor (Notepad or similar) and search for the RIC node entry. It will look like:

# RIC:  <ip-address-or-hostname>

The exact line format may vary by Flair version, but it will contain RIC and be preceded by #.

3. Uncomment the Line

Remove the # (and any leading space) from the beginning of the line:

RIC:  <ip-address-or-hostname>

Replace <ip-address-or-hostname> with the actual IP address or hostname of your Ethernet Trigger Box. Refer to your MRMC setup documentation or the sticker on the device for the correct address.

4. Restart Flair

Save flair.ini and restart Flair completely. The Ethernet Trigger Box should now be detected and its LEDs should light up during a trigger test.

Confirmed by two operators independently

Josh Ellis-Tufts reported this fix in June 2024; Adam Bowman independently hit the same issue and confirmed the same fix in November 2024. This is the known out-of-box setup step for the Ethernet Trigger Box.

References

Official Documentation

Ethernet Trigger Box Quick Start Guide — p.5: Product Overview

Ethernet Trigger Box Quick Start Guide — p.6: Output Channels

Ethernet Trigger Box Quick Start Guide — p.7: Testing Outputs

Ethernet Trigger Box Quick Start Guide — p.8: Testing Trigger Inputs

Flair Classic Manual — Ch.5 Setups: External Camera Setup — p.90

Flair Classic Manual — Ch.18 Synchronisation — p.277

Flair Classic Manual — Ch.19 Inputs, Outputs & DMX: Triggers On/Off — p.286

Flair 7 Manual — Ch.5 Setups: External Camera Setup — p.52

Flair 7 Manual — Ch.15 Synchronisation — p.227

Flair 7 Manual — Ch.16 Inputs, Outputs and DMX: Triggers On/Off — p.236

Flair Classic Manual — Appendix: Flair.INI Configuration — p.364

Flair 7 Manual — Ch.20 Technical: Text Config Files — p.276

WhatsApp Excerpts

  • 2024-06-19 00:41 - ~ Buddy Bleckley: We’ve triggered other iPad apps with a mouse trigger, I think we did Aputure’s Sidus link, we’ve also built esp32 Bluetooth triggers, and in a pinch we’ve used car door lock actuators to physically press a Bluetooth or USB keyboard. We haven’t tested the frame accuracy of any of them.
  • 2024-06-19 00:49 - ~ Niko: Mouse triggers work pretty well and with a nice accuracy. Some DMX decks have a socket for triggering, that you can link with the trigger box. Also an external DMX interface trough USB can work as the deck can receive an external DMX signal for launching the light program. There are lot of options for a physical deck. For virtual decks a hacked mouse or keyboard could work. If you are used to program microcontrollers there are some options for emulate a mouse or keyboard
  • 2024-06-19 01:49 - ~ Josh Ellis-Tufts: Does anyone with a Cinebot Mini have the Ethernet trigger box? We just got ours and despite all the connections and LEDs looking like it’s connected properly, none of the triggers are working. Are there any extra setup steps I’m missing?
  • 2024-06-19 01:52 - ~ Niko: Josh, do the triggers work when pressing the test button on the config window ?
  • 2024-06-19 01:52 - ~ Josh Ellis-Tufts: No, none of the trigger specific LEDs are flashing when I test them
  • 2024-06-19 01:56 - Timothy Heys Cerchio: Is the RIC node in Network correctly loaded?
  • 2024-06-19 01:59 - Timothy Heys Cerchio: Because it's the Ethernet version and is specific to Cinebot Mini 😉
YouTube Triggering and Timing in Motion Control

▶ 00:30 — Trigger families overview: external triggers and output triggers