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Trying to understand......


zman

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First off I am new to DMX, and trying to figure out why what is happening is happening.

Setup - IDMX controller at E0, one 6 channel colorwash, one 2 channel zap strobe. The wash is set to unit ID 1 on the dip switches and the zap is unit ID 2. Using LORII.

WIth just the wash on the IDMX, it behaves as it should. Primarily, channels 2-4 are R-G-B repectively.

With Just the zap connected to the IDMX, Channels 2&3 operate the strobe (why not 1&2?) When I put the 2 together, channels 2&3 are operating both lights. So I attempted to reset the zap to 7 figuring that the wash was 6 channel, well then I could not find out how to get it to strobe. Then a few other combinations looking at the IDMX manual.

Next I try to put the yoke light in line. Ultimately the display will have 2 zap strobes slaved together, 2 yokes slaved together, and 12 colorwashes with the odd numbers slaved together, and the evens slaved together. Then I have to figure out taking all this into the Sequence Editor.

My head is spinning, it's late, can anyone point me in the right direction.

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I have not used LOR dmx, but will give you a start.

The traditional DMX console assumes 16 channels of dmx control for each fixture. So fixture 1 has an address of 1, fixture 2 has an address of 17, 3 at 33 and so on. The console has sliders for each channel that are used to assign a value for that channel. So, fixture one addressed as 1, will have 16 sliders to manipulate that fixture. The sliders adjust channels 1-16. A fixture addressed as 17 will have sliders that operate channels 17-32 and so on up to 256 channels (512 in advanced applications).

Based on your example, your wash fixture has 6 channels and your strobe fixture has 2. In traditional DMX, you would ID your washes to 1 and use sliders 1-6 to control. You would set strobe id to 17 and use sliders 1 and 2 for control (which is actually channels 17 and 18). Each channel is adjustable with a value from 0-255. For example, a color wheel may have the following values: 0-61 white, 62-141 violet, 142-211 rainbow, 212-255 red. By adjusted the value of this channel (pushing up the slider) you adjust which color is displayed.

You don't have to follow the rule of 16. Since your washes only use 6 channels, you can assign the next fixture at 7. Using your strobes as an example, they need two channels (7 and 8) so you could start assigning your yokes at 9.

I think your problem is a simply a matter of proper addressing.

If you want the same type of fixtures to behave in the exact same way, you just assign them the same number.

Like light displays, dmx takes some planning.

It appears that you have 12 washes that you want to control in groups of 6. So set the ID for the first 6 to 1 and the second 6 to 17. Set your strobes to 33 and your yokes to 49. That way each page of the console will operate one group of fixtures.

Alternatively, you can address your fixtures using only the required number of channels for that fixture. You could address half your washes at 1 and the other half at 7. That way sliders 1-6 control the half the fixtures and 7-10 the other half. You could address your stobes at 11, having slides 11 and 12 operate your strobes. If your moving yokes are only using 4 channels, you could assign to 13 and use slides 13-16. That would allow full control on one screen. PLEASE NOTE - However you plan to do this, pay attention slect channel grouping. If you address using 1-16 per fixture, you will need to slide the 'select channel group' to make sure you have the proper dmx channels appearing for control.

I hoped I have helped more than confused.

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The last fixture in your DMX universe needs to be terminated. Are you using a terminator plug on the zap strobe? Some fixtures have the termination resistors built in and you use them by means of the DIP switches.

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Termination may be required but its hard to say. Typically, termination must be made on cable runs in excess of 500 feet. I have ran several hundred feet of non-terminated dmx will no ill effect, and I use mic cable (call me crazy, I even plugged 4 strands of lights together!) As sparky indicated, some dmx fixtures have an internal termination.

You can buy ready made terminators simply make one yourself.

Using a male XLR connector, solder a 90 to 120 ohm resistor across pins #2 and #3. This is used to capture the rf signal and keep it from reflected back up the line.

A good place to start would be setting each type of fixture to 1 and test each one seperately. This will make sure fixture is working, your cables are working, and LOR is sending the proper dmx signal. Then expand. My money is still on the addressing.

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Ever have one of those days? You know where you start out to do one thing and whammo, 8 hours later you are still not gaining traction. Today was that for me. I reviewed this at 7am was going to attempt a quick response, Got 2and them the job got in the way. Funny, I started out to get one thing done at work too, and still haven't gotten to it! Just one of them days:P.

Thanks! for the responses. First up. Termination. The Zaps have that apparently built into them, cause at least they have a dip swith for it. In my display, they are highest and will be last, so I can terminate on the last zap.

Next, I guess I've got to stop being a guy at times. When I set up the wash as 1 and make sure the zap is in fact 7, 1-2-3 on the switches as the guide states and not just 7 on the switches, boy I felt stupid then.

All channels are working properly at that point. I guess my next sequencing question would be, when I get above channel 16, in the sequence editor, the iDMX manual stated that I would need to change the controller id to something like E2 and the channel to something else. I will toy with that.

BUT, always that but, the flashing of the zap is inconsistent at best if I attempt to controll the flash rate. If I set the intensity on the LOR channel to 100% for both zap channels, it will stobe 3-4 times in 1/10th of a second. I really only want once. When I attempt to set a different intensity, for the flash rate. it will flash sometimes and sometimes not. There is no adjusting on that intensity that seems to make it consistent. Not sure if that is normal or not.

Next, to put the Yoke in the mix later tonight or tomorrow. It looks like I have an option of 6 or 8 channels. I think 6 will suffice as I don't need fine adjustment for pan and tilt. The dogs are REALLY gonna freakout now :shock:

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zman wrote:

BUT, always that but, the flashing of the zap is inconsistent at best if I attempt to controll the flash rate. If I set the intensity on the LOR channel to 100% for both zap channels, it will stobe 3-4 times in 1/10th of a second. I really only want once. When I attempt to set a different intensity, for the flash rate. it will flash sometimes and sometimes not. There is no adjusting on that intensity that seems to make it consistent. Not sure if that is normal or not.


Triple check your addresses are all correct. I had a similar issue caused by me thinking the stobe was setup for a different starting channel. I was one number off so what I thought was the flash rate channel was something else.

Check your strobe manual too. At the very least, it should spell out the DMX table values, but it might also note special cases for your DMX values. Depending on the intensity of my channel one of my stobe, channels 2-4 do completely different things. Make sure the manual doesn't specify any weird requirements like this to get the DMX table values you're using.
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