Difference between Multicast Unicast --- and Supporting Cast

[k6ccc]

OK, I temp modified one of my E682s so the first 2 clusters (8 strings) are 100 pixels and start at the beginning of one universe and continue straight through to the end of 2400 channels.  You can ignore the 3rd and 4th cluster.  You will notice that 8 strings universes 11 - 15 with part of universe 15 left over.

 

Edited August 11, 2013 by k6ccc

[Frybread]

Thank You Jim..

Maybe I am over thinking this.  I 1-1/1-4 is two universes. and 2-1/2-4 is two Universes.  that is 340 and 340, or 680...  Do I then use the the next block. with the one more Universe I need?

 

I guess I am still missing something.

 

I am assuming that the E682 knows when the string of 1-1, hits 100 and starts with 101 on 1-2... then got to Universe 2 in mid-string to do the next 30?

 

Thank for the help....

[Frybread]

Ok I went back and read the documentation again. Im slow what can I say

So the first 400 lights in block one run from univ.U 11ch1 all the way to U13 ch180 which is 510 +510+180 or 1200ch which gives me my 400 lights.

Block 2 starts where the previous on stops and goes for another 1200ch.

I think I got it now

Thanks everyone

[zanclus]

This is great information. ... I do have a question for you Jim if I may... I set my E682 up with the ip of y router to access the server. Do I need to keep that IP ? Also I would like to run on a computer that will not be connected to my internet, can I do that?

[k6ccc]

This is great information. ... I do have a question for you Jim if I may... I set my E682 up with the ip of y router to access the server. Do I need to keep that IP ? Also I would like to run on a computer that will not be connected to my internet, can I do that?

 

I'm not sure I understand your question.  Your E682 should not have the same IP as any other device on your network.  Duplicated IP addresses are always a bad thing.

Using the screen capture in my post #12, that particular E682 has an IP of 192.168.201.99.  On that network, some of the other devices are:

192.168.201.1  Router

192.168.201.12  A file server (where all my LOR files are stored)

192.168.201.21  The LOR show computer

192.168.201.98  My E6804 controller.

 

As long as everything is on the same subnet, there is no need for the router to even be there except to get to something outside the sub-net.  Interestingly I note that the E682 config does not allow changing the sub-net mask nor setting a default gateway.  I can't say that I have ever needed or attempted to access one of my E680 boards from another sub-net.

 

Since I did not really understand your question, I don't know if I answered it.  If not, can you re-state it so I understand what you are asking.  Networking I understand pretty well (it's part of my job).

[zanclus]

Jim, I have my E682 set to 192.168.x.205 . My router and all of my devices have different last 3 numbers. I ran test all works fine,I set up Lor using Unicast using same Ip as the E682. Ran sequence sequence works. All this was done while my cable was plugged into the router and commands set from computer via wifi. I have read that traffic on wifi can cauuse lags so my question is can I run directly off the computer without using the wifi or internet?

[jerryb721]

zanclus,

The manual  http://sandevices.co...ting_Manual.pdf

shows you how to do it with or without a router. It starts on page 10

 

Here is a small quote from that page:

Connect an Ethernet cable directly between a PC and the E682. If there is a wireless connection to the PC it must be disabled. Reboot the PC. With the E682 powered on, press AND HOLD the PROG button. While holding PROG, press and release RESET. Continue to hold the PROG button pressed, and after a few seconds you will see the red and green LEDs flash on and off together. Wait until the 3^rdon/off cycle has completed, then release the PROG button

(after the LEDs go off for the 3^rdtime, but before they come on for the 4th time).

Edited November 7, 2013 by jerryb721

[jerryb721]

duplicate. sorry

Edited November 7, 2013 by jerryb721

[zanclus]

zanclus,

The manual  http://sandevices.co...ting_Manual.pdf

shows you how to do it with or without a router. It starts on page 10

 

Here is a small quote from that page:

Connect an Ethernet cable directly between a PC and the E682. If there is a wireless connection to the PC it must be disabled. Reboot the PC. With the E682 powered on, press AND HOLD the PROG button. While holding PROG, press and release RESET. Continue to hold the PROG button pressed, and after a few seconds you will see the red and green LEDs flash on and off together. Wait until the 3^rdon/off cycle has completed, then release the PROG button

(after the LEDs go off for the 3^rdtime, but before they come on for the 4th time).

I did  that and I  could  not  access the  web  server. The only  way  I  could  access the  server  was  to  use my   actual  IP address

[zanclus]

Think I may have  found  the  problem... seems  my  laptop will not  access the  internet  via  the  Ethernet port.  (I use the  laptop  to   do my  testing because it is  easier  to work  with). I will  try on  my  show computer to see if  I  can access the  E682 directly.

[zanclus]

Well looks like  I  am   done  with  this  for  the   season...... This morning  I bring  my   deslktop  out to  my workshop connect the Ethernet  cable  to it  from my  E682 board power the  board up and I hear a  crackling and  smell  burning.  apparently  something  went  bad  with the  board. because It  was  working  ok  last night  when I was testing   my  pixels and  I did  nothing  but connect a Ethernet cable and turn on the power. Same setup as last  night.  I know the  cable  is  good  because it is  the  one  I  use to connect my  PC  to the  router so I guess I wont be  having  lights  this  year.

[jerryb721]

That's really terrible, perhaps Jim at sandevice can get out repaired in time. Send him an email and see what he can do.

Sorry to hear that has happened. Good luck

[k6ccc]

Ooh, that sucks!

[zanclus]

Yeah it really  does suck and  to think  today is  my  birthday too  lmao......

[zanclus]

Well just  got  off  the  phone with Jim at  Sandevices. He thinks I have a  faulty board and is  sending a  new one  out  to  me asap. I  am very impressed with the  support Sandevices  has. A  great  company. One cant  go  wrong  purchasing from  them!!!!!!!!

[Duckie24]

If I am just running one E682 (in addition to LOR controllers), can I just directly connect the E682 to my RJ45 port on the show computer?  Or does one need to have a router between the computer and the E682?

 

Also, Jim, I'd be very interested in use of file server for storage of LOR files.  That may have to wait until the Holiday Lighting off-season though.  Right now I transfer files between sequencing and show computers.  Hadn't thought of putting them on my NAS device.  Do you have a separate NAS for your lighting network? I was going to keep lights separate from my house network.

 

Thanks!

[k6ccc]

Duckie24, to answer your first question, the proper answer is that to run directly from your show computer answer to the E682, you need to use a crossover cable.  HOWEVER, since the majority of LAN devices these days are auto-detecting, it is very unlikely that you would need that.  Back when I first started with LAN cabling, a crossover cable would have been needed, but very unlikely now.

 

As for using my server for my LOR file storage, it makes it very easy.  I have a computer running Windows Server 2000 (yea, it's an old OS, but it still works for me) that functions as a file server and domain controller.  When my show computer boots, it automatically logs into the domain and gets the L: drive mapped to a shared directory on the server.  When I log into this computer, I am also logging into the domain, and also get the L: drive mapped to the same shared directory on the server.  The LOR installations on both are looking for all the LOR files on L:\ directory (which if you are picky is really on \\Venus\Light-O-Rama from a network standpoint, or if actually on the server computer, it's D:\Light-O-Rama).

 

All this is on my normal (all wired) LAN.  One of these days, I will put a second NIC in the show computer and move the E1.31 traffic onto it's own LAN.  My post in message 9 implies that I already had moved the E1.31 traffic to it's own VLAN, but until a couple weeks ago I did not have E1.31 traffic there all the time.  The E6804 shows an up time of 448 hours since I converted the rose lights to E1.31.  Now I have greater motivation to get the E1.31 traffic off my normal LAN (although with a smart network switch, it's not a problem).

[Steven]

Another possible high-level functional difference (although I've never tried this myself): Any number of devices can be listening to a single multicast address (whereas there should be only a single device listening to any given unicast address).  So if you had two separate E1.31 devices, and for some reason you wanted the lights hooked up to each of them to act exactly the same as each other, I suppose you could set them both up to be universe 37, and then set up the LOR configuration to say that universe 37 should use multicast.

 

One practical example for this, which I derived from the Sandevices documentation, is if you had 2 E6804 devices, and each had 84 pixels, and you wanted to put them both on the same universe, with the 2nd one starting with channel 129.