rate wheel enable/dissable?

You are correct in that there is not an option to enable/disable the rate wheel.

If your rate wheel is not working (during a crossfade pull back or push forward on the rate wheel to manually override fade time), you could check its connection to the front panel PCB. If you remove the front panel you will see a white header on the under side of the PCB which goes from the rate wheel to the front panel itself.

Hope this helps. Feel free to give us a call if you are still having issues.

Also the rate wheel does not change effect speeds. It only works on crossfades and chases. If you are wanting to change the speed of a chase there are 2 other options.
1) press and hold the choose key for the master you want to change. Then tap the play button twice at the seed you want to change it to. This is very helpful when trying to match the speed of a song.
2)Hold down the choose key and adjust the first encoder wheel. You will see the speed displayed in BPM.

yeah, i know it does not change effect speed (tho i sure wish something did.)

I guess il just hafta pop it open. It could use a good dusting too while im in there.

thanks for the advice.