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Network Issue?


JamesWright

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I am running my largest display yet and I think that I am having a networking congestion problem, or at least some type of timing problem.

 

Here is the system: A total of 29,682 channels. 15 LOR controllers, 10 CCRs, and the rest is RGB on E1.31 networking. I am using a homemade computer with an ASUS mother board, Intel i5-4670k CPU (4 core) running at 3401 Mhz, 16 GB memory, running Windows 7 Professional. I am using LOR S3 v 3.12.0 software.

 

I am actually using 3 networks to run the show. Network 1 is LOR's LightLinker 485 network and works great. Second is one Lynx network running wirelessly off of a comm port (1 DMX Universe) (works great). The 3rd network is handling all of the rest of the RGB (DMX) channels, using E1.31 and it is working just fine, most of the time. I am currently using 1 network card in the computer for the E1.31 network. I am using a Cicso EA6500 AC wireless router to connect the network together. That is inside the house. Outside I am using 3 each D-Link DAP-1522 Wireless bridges to connect the controllers to the network. I have to use wireless networking because I also control the house across the street and wireless is the only way to get the network connected together.

 

The show is loading and running just fine (one problem, but that is under control). However, I am having a problem that I really did not anticipate. As I said the show runs fine, most of the time. Everything stays in sync - except-- . There are times when it looks as though all of the networks are becoming saturated and then everything slows down and even stops. Then, some moments later all of the data is pushed thru, everything runs to catch up and then everything is back to normal (until the next time). The audio file continues to play with no hesitation. I am sure that the data overload is being caused by portions of the sequence that have extensive pattern and color changes.

 

I was controlling all of the E1.31 network wirelessly. When I found this problem, I hard-wired the mega tree directly between the router and a switch at the tree. That seemed to help a little but the problem still persists. Here is a link to a short snippet video that shows the problem http://vimeo.com/113983608 . The show is running fine before and after the snippet. Note that the mega tree comes to a standstill and then catches up. Also, on the house, the LOR controlled lights also hesitate. Which adds to my confusion.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on the cause of this problem and what I can do to solve it?

Thanks in advance.

Jim

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That is the exact same issue I am having with my mini pixel trees. They are on wireless also.  I don't have that problem with the Plasma Icicles and they are wireless. 

 

My set up is computer (e1.31)----wireless remote----- airwaves------wireless router-------air waves----- wireless remote-------DMX Bridge--------pixels trees. (hicups are here)

                                                                                                                 l

                                                                                                             CAT5

                                                                                                                 l

                                                                                                         e6804 x 2   (no hicups here)

 

I assigned channels to this router and to my home wireless to keep them apart.. seems to have helped a bit.. but still the issue remains.   Anyone have any thoughts I would love to hear them also.  When I test with cat5 back to the computer there are not issues..

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I have a basic theory about doing things wireless.  It's great when you NEED to operate wirelessly.  If you don't need to be wireless, you are likely going to have better performance with a wired connection.  If it were me, I would operate the connection across the street via the WiFi, but do as much of your local network with Cat-5.  It looks like you are at least running fairly high speed wireless equipment, but remember that those are all shared frequencies.  If your next door neighbor is watching NetFlix, it may very well affect your throughput (may or may not be enough to matter, but there is an effect).  You did not tell us how many universes are being run via the Wireless E1.31.  Knowing that makes it easy to calculate the required data rate.

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Wireless can work great.. in my case the Plasma Icicles (8 universes) has never skipped a beat.  The relay from the router to the other remote (4 universes) is where the issue remains.  I can't wire them cleanly so wireless is it.  I just need to figure out what the router is doing that causes the intermittent freezing. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Looks to me like you have some fault on the network - wired and/or wireless - and that is causing retransmissions, which are periodically overflowing your network cache buffers. Replace CAT5 runs, check for wireless interference, etc.

I'd run a network sniffer and see if you have a lot of retransmissions.

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cables are fine.  No interference that I am able to detect.  I hadn't thought about a network sniffer.. or retransmissions..  I will research and see what I can find.. Thanks

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Does it happen consistently at the same points in various sequences, or is it random with respect to that?

 

If it's at the same point consistently, it might just be that there are too many things happening all at once.  If so, please send me (bob@lightorama.com) an email with the following information:

 

(1) This thread's URL, which is: forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/34365-network-issue/

 

(2) An example sequence that it happens on

 

(3) A time at which it occurs in that sequence

 

We recently made a little tool to try to automatically smooth out certain kinds of short rapid consecutive lighting effects, in a way that doesn't seem to have much (if any) effect to the human eye, but that can dramatically improve performance in certain situations.  I'll give it a try on the sequence that you send me, and send the results back to you so you can check whether or not it helps.

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