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| DMX Questions, and hopefully answers | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Friday December 23rd, 2011 04:37 am |
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26th Post |
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harrison0550 Member 
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Ok I will take partial blame for the OP's confusion about dmx as he sent me a pm asking about it and I have been busy with the family. I said partial blame however because all of the incorrect info below and questions you may have were answered in the videos and threads you said in your pm you had already read and watched. So my advice is to watch them and read them again. I will link each answer to your questions below. On a side note I recommend you stick with LOR software and hardware with of course the exceptions of certain dmx products you may need that they don't offer. ydeardorff wrote: There is an abundant level of information on how to sequence christmas lights in the sequencer. However there seems to be a serious tech black hole when it comes to DMX. Lots of terms, like lynx, and dongles, dip switches etc. Yet no definitive information about setting up the DMX system in ones Christmas display.
I would suggest you go to my account, click on my recent post and read each thread from start to finish that has anything to do with rgb or dmx and make sure you watch all the videos and read the pdf's. It will take a little time but if you do it then you will know exactly what you need to at least start getting your hands dirty. Good luck, Merry Christmas, and get off the forums and spend some time with your family! Talk to you guys after the new year.
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| Posted: Friday December 23rd, 2011 04:41 am |
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27th Post |
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Orville Member 
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friskybri wrote: Orville wrote: Well Friskybri, seems you're in the same boat as I am, you have by your post count 752 posts as I post this, although I know I'm twice that. Guess I'll just have to go and sit in the bad guys corner with William for now! 
____________________ ~Orville~ |
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| Posted: Sunday December 25th, 2011 12:24 am |
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28th Post |
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bretk Member 
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Ok, so I watched the videos (excellent by the way) and set about trying to duplicate yor process. I am running 3.1.4 on windows 7 computer. Have an extra USB 485 lor dongle and a cat 5 crossover with pin 4 to 1 and 5 to 2 made, then it goes thru a 12 v power injector a la coro mega ball and into 2 mega balls. The dmx adapters are set to 110 and 140 via a coro dmx programmer dongle. And are cycling thru the preset pattern and respond to programming commands thru the coro programmer dongle control panel. When I start the com listener it says 30 listener listening on port 8837, 32 listener connection accepted 336, a700eqyA: adapter opened, 32 listener connection accepted 356 and the cycling turns off. then it wont work. if i unplug the dongle to the conventional controller then it sorta works, if i do a smooth fade white then i get a white fade with occ yellow flashes, if i do a green fade then i get a green fade with occasional red flashes. arrrgh! would using an enntec pro fix this!
____________________ Bret   
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| Posted: Wednesday December 28th, 2011 12:53 pm |
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29th Post |
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heystew Member 
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bretk wrote: Ok, so I watched the videos (excellent by the way) and set about trying to duplicate yor process. I am running 3.1.4 on windows 7 computer. Have an extra USB 485 lor dongle and a cat 5 crossover with pin 4 to 1 and 5 to 2 made, then it goes thru a 12 v power injector a la coro mega ball and into 2 mega balls. The dmx adapters are set to 110 and 140 via a coro dmx programmer dongle. And are cycling thru the preset pattern and respond to programming commands thru the coro programmer dongle control panel. When I start the com listener it says 30 listener listening on port 8837, 32 listener connection accepted 336, a700eqyA: adapter opened, 32 listener connection accepted 356 and the cycling turns off. then it wont work. if i unplug the dongle to the conventional controller then it sorta works, if i do a smooth fade white then i get a white fade with occ yellow flashes, if i do a green fade then i get a green fade with occasional red flashes. arrrgh! would using an enntec pro fix this! I witnessed this behavior (flashing during fades) once and it turned out to be a bad dmx adapter (not the coro dmx adapter but one with all 512 dmx channels).. switched it out and the problem went away. this was using a USB 485 as my LOR to DMX converter.
____________________  http://www.rockyrunchristmas.com |
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| Posted: Wednesday December 28th, 2011 01:16 pm |
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30th Post |
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bretk Member
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I am using the $6.00 3 channel devices, and i have tried 3 different ones and they all do the same, now when i use the holiday coro programmer as an adapter they work fine as long as i add one to the channel count (ie megaball 110 which shpould be channels 110, 111, and 112 works fine if i make red 111, green 112, and blue 113 instead) I ordered an enttec pro anyhow to reduce the burden on my cpu as i plan on adding lots of rgb to the show 2 pixel strips, 6 rgb strips, 10 coro balls, rgb spots, a bunch of rgb nodes, and a partrige in a pear tree! Last edited on Wednesday December 28th, 2011 01:19 pm by bretk ____________________ Bret
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| Posted: Wednesday December 28th, 2011 01:56 pm |
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31st Post |
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geronc Member 
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I had to change the pins in my holiday coro programmer. Every time I would set the DMX #, it would set it to 0. Changed the pins and it works like a champ. If you set the DMX # to 110, red should be on 110, not 111. Something is wrong.
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| Posted: Wednesday December 28th, 2011 03:38 pm |
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32nd Post |
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bdeditch Member 
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geronc wrote: I had to change the pins in my holiday coro programmer. Every time I would set the DMX #, it would set it to 0. Changed the pins and it works like a champ. I also have been told that the Holiday Coro Program uses pins 4 & 5 on the Cat5 and LOR used 1 & 2
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| Posted: Wednesday December 28th, 2011 03:43 pm |
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33rd Post |
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geronc Member
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bdeditch wrote:
You have that backwards. LOR uses 4 & 5, Coro and everyone else uses 1 & 2 for DMX. http://www.lightorama.com/Documents/DMX-DOC.pdf Page 2
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| Posted: Wednesday December 28th, 2011 04:33 pm |
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34th Post |
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bdeditch Member
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geronc wrote: bdeditch wrote: I stand corrected
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| Posted: Wednesday December 28th, 2011 09:57 pm |
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35th Post |
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JBullard Member 
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geronc wrote:
This is a well reported problem since last October. The Holiday Coro adapter will do that when used with LOR software. The adapter is NOT on the LOR tested and approved list. It was tested, but not approved because of its behavior
____________________ John w/ 480 LOR Channels and 2 Cosmic Color Ribbons & 40,000 plus LEDs http://www.TennesseeLights.com |
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| Posted: Thursday December 29th, 2011 12:14 am |
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36th Post |
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Dave H1 Member 
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JBullard wrote: This is a well reported problem since last October. The Holiday Coro adapter will do that when used with LOR software. The adapter is NOT on the LOR tested and approved list. John, Is there an alternative programer that is recommended with the 3 channel DMX units or is the one on Ray Wu's site the preferred one, which I believe is around $45
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| Posted: Thursday December 29th, 2011 01:12 am |
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37th Post |
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geronc Member
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Dave H1 wrote:
Holiday coro has one for $20.http://www.holidaycoro.com/Hardware.asp Last edited on Thursday December 29th, 2011 01:12 am by geronc |
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| Posted: Thursday December 29th, 2011 12:32 pm |
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38th Post |
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JBullard Member
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Dave H1 wrote: JBullard wrote:This is a well reported problem since last October. The Holiday Coro adapter will do that when used with LOR software. The adapter is NOT on the LOR tested and approved list. The Holiday Coro DMX dongle will program the units. You have to use a LOR tested and approved dongle to control the units with LOR software
____________________ John w/ 480 LOR Channels and 2 Cosmic Color Ribbons & 40,000 plus LEDs http://www.TennesseeLights.com |
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| Posted: Thursday December 29th, 2011 03:03 pm |
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39th Post |
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geronc Member
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JBullard wrote:
Correct. Any of these will work to actually make the lights work in a sequence. http://forums.lightorama.com/forum75/28546.html
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| Posted: Thursday December 29th, 2011 09:46 pm |
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40th Post |
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bdeditch Member
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OK So I am going to go thru how I THINK I would set up to do RGB with what I have. I would use the cord that I got from Holiday Coro with the AT5 straight through female-female coupler for easy connection to CAT5 devices.I would then have to make the X/O for to change the pins config to LOR. From that I would plug into my Enttec Pro, out to the first 3 channel DMX controller (From Holidaycoro as well) then I would hook into my RGB Strip. I would have to make sure that I go to the configuration and have the Enttec Pro on there. Now that would just help me program the first DMX Controller, I would have to do each one separately and note the number. Would I have to config this all off of the last Controller, #6, that I am using as well? Now if I was to use the CMB16D-QC and USB-RJ45 ( Do I need the Booster Type), would I be saving myself a lot of time. Or does it really matter which way I go
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| Posted: Thursday December 29th, 2011 11:51 pm |
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41st Post |
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Dave H1 Member
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JBullard wrote: Dave H1 wrote:JBullard wrote:It was tested, but not approved because of its behavior OK, so if I understand correctly to set the addresses and program these $7 DMX controllers, the Holiday Coro USB programer works as intended and I don't need one of the $45 DMX programmers from Ray Wu?? Am I on board with this ???
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| Posted: Friday December 30th, 2011 01:17 am |
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42nd Post |
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JBullard Member
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Dave H1 wrote: JBullard wrote:Dave H1 wrote:JBullard wrote:It was tested, but not approved because of its behavior Correct
____________________ John w/ 480 LOR Channels and 2 Cosmic Color Ribbons & 40,000 plus LEDs http://www.TennesseeLights.com |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 8th, 2012 04:58 am |
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43rd Post |
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dmoore Member
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ydeardorff wrote:I know the 512 controllers have the Ethernet through point connections making them chain-able, whereas the little white 3 channel controllers that can be found for 3 bucks don't. So they would have to be on the end of said chain as the last element. They are completely chainable, just like any other RS485 controller (such as LORs, Lynx, etc). Here is a video showing 90 controllers (corostars) all one a SINGLE CAT5 signal cable: http://vimeo.com/18221711 You can chain they using just standard 3 way CAT5 splitters - less than $1 each. For an idea on the way to make these daisy chain, see our megaball instructions: http://www.holidaycoro.com/kb_results.asp?cat=7 The white controllers have been argued as not being addressable. Well I have found this making the claim it can make them addressable. Yes, we had an application written that allows you to use a cheap RS485 cable to program the controllers. It also allows you to use the same $20 cable as a 'dongle' for testing with xLights and LOR S3. We are currently working with the mfg to make a hand-held programmer, reader, tester (red, green blue type tests) for the great little controllers. We should have some information when we return from china in March. If you just want to play around with this and want to get pretty much everything you need, including the dongle, we sell a sample pack for about $50: http://www.holidaycoro.com/product-p/35.htm
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| Posted: Wednesday February 8th, 2012 05:11 am |
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44th Post |
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dmoore Member
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bdeditch wrote:geronc wrote:I had to change the pins in my holiday coro programmer. Every time I would set the DMX #, it would set it to 0. Changed the pins and it works like a champ. HolidayCoro here... Our DMX module programmer/dongle is setup for use with pins 1/2 - the standard E1.11 standard. LOR uses 4/5 (this is based way back in the day when LOR controllers used RJ11 phone wire for connections). On the off-set of the address in LOR S3 - we are aware that the address is offset, as is LOR. We have sent the person who writes S3 a programmer so if they elect to, they can adjust LOR S3 as was done for the Lynx/Enttec Pro dongles. http://www.holidaycoro.com/product-p/54.htm
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| Posted: Wednesday February 8th, 2012 05:14 am |
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45th Post |
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dmoore Member
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JBullard wrote:geronc wrote: That is completely correct. We've sent over a dongle to LOR hoping they would add it. It does work fine with xLights and for building and testing display elements, that is a better choice since there are so many built in test functions. There is no off-set problem in xLights. Also be aware that as I recall, the Lynx/Enttec dongles also suffered off-set addresses, so this is somewhat common.
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| Posted: Wednesday February 8th, 2012 05:16 am |
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46th Post |
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dmoore Member
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Dave H1 wrote:
Yes but you CAN, for testing (I don't recommend using the HC programmer/dongle for "production" displays) also use xLights (free) which has a ton of test tools built into it.
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| Posted: Sunday February 26th, 2012 06:55 am |
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47th Post |
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bdeditch Member
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ydeardorff wrote:There is an abundant level of information on how to sequence christmas lights in the sequencer. However there seems to be a serious tech black hole when it comes to DMX. Lots of terms, like lynx, and dongles, dip switches etc. Yet no definitive information about setting up the DMX system in ones Christmas display. What size of Power supply are you running from each module if you are running 20 M of strip lights? Are there the 30 LED's per meter?
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| Posted: Sunday February 26th, 2012 01:46 pm |
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48th Post |
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dmoore Member
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bdeditch wrote: What size of Power supply are you running from each module if you are running 20 M of strip lights? Are there the 30 LED's per meter? I can't find where he was indicating he was controlling 20 meters of RGB strip. I can offer up some generic advice: * NEVER trust any spec as it relates to power consumption on this strip lighting - do your own measurements prior to use * I question the need to 60 leds per meter, usually 30 is sufficient for what we are doing * It is possible to fry the lead strip(s) if too many are hooked end-to-end, just like there are limits on the number of incandescent strings you can hook end to end. When in doubt, reinject power at each strip (pixels, where possible) or put in a seperate controller/power supply. These articles may help those trying to determine how to measure power consumption when calculating how many DC powered items you can hook to a controller: http://www.holidaycoro.com/kb_results.asp?cat=23 *
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