WhoDat Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 14 of the boxes in my show. . . are impossible to hook together with cat 5. So, i have 14 light linkers. One hooked to a wired connection, and 14 on each of the other boxes. These are in a straight line and have the light linker mounted exactly the same height. (on top of a city light pole). . .The ones at the end of the chain seem to have intermittent connection. I guess my question is this. . . Does just the main wired connection broadcast the data? Or, do each of the boxes pick up and rebroadcast the data to the next.Take a look at my attached file. . Do i need to do 2 linkers on one of the boxes half way down the chain with one of them being on a new frequency? Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Mr Bullard may be the best person to comment on this, but I'll take a shot.With the config yuou are using, the ELLs are simply a wireless cat-5..it is not a point to multipoint transmit/receive operation. So unless I'm missing the boat completely, you're going to have data constantly being sent down the chain of 14, same as if you were to have 14 controller linked with cat-5.One thought is timing..wondering if you are hitting a timing limit by the time you get to the last couple controllers...Are the distances similar? Other possibility is you have a weak RF link somewhere along the chain...and hence, data drops.Far as I know, there is no real error correction or re-transmission with RS485 (I stand to be corrected..), so if a controller misses a message, it isn't getting another chance.Edit..one other thought is, you may want to experiment with a slower network speed on the ELLs and see if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoDat Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Ok. sounds like i dont need two linkers on one of the boxes down the line. The distances are similar. There are either 2 or three poles on every block. Maybe 150 feet between poles.I'm going to see if it might be another issue.Thanks.Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basis21b Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 The following is based on the assumption the 1602MP3 is where it all starts.From the point of origin, that ELL is acting as a transmitter. The remainder are acting as receivers. I think your issue is the distance between the transmitting ELL and the receiving ELLs that are over three blocks away. I think you have pushing the distance the ELL can transmit/receive. The specs say 1000' is the limit.What you could do is to add a second ELL about half way down the string. Similar to your second drawing except the last controller on frequency 16 would have two ELLs. One on the current channel (16) so it receives the signal being broadcast by the ELL connected to the 1602MP3. The second is on the same channel (frequency 0) as those that are farther away from the 1602MP3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoDat Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 yeah, that's what i had in mind in the 2nd drawing. I just wasn't sure if that will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basis21b Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Check page 11 of the Easy Light Linker User Manual for an example. It is called a Long Distance Relay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 basis21b wrote: The following is based on the assumption the 1602MP3 is where it all starts.From the point of origin, that ELL is acting as a transmitter. The remainder are acting as receivers. I think your issue is the distance between the transmitting ELL and the receiving ELLs that are over three blocks away. I think you have pushing the distance the ELL can transmit/receive. The specs say 1000' is the limit.What you could do is to add a second ELL about half way down the string. Similar to your second drawing except the last controller on frequency 16 would have two ELLs. One on the current channel (16) so it receives the signal being broadcast by the ELL connected to the 1602MP3. The second is on the same channel (frequency 0) as those that are farther away from the 1602MP3.You are correct, I grossly grossly misspoke here. It is doing a point to multi-point kind of operation as currently configured.I did the smart thing this time and pulled out the manual...rather than do a page 10 type of configuration, you want to do something similar to page 11.Thanks for correcting me, and keeping the OP headed towards a solution that would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoDat Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Thanks you guys! I'll add the 2nd linker as in my drawing above and make the frequency changes on the last few linkers.My worry was having both linkers plugged into one device. But looks like that should work.Thank You!Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBullard Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Just saw this post.basis21b nailed it dead on.I had a telephone conversation just last night with a fellow in South Carolina setting up a city show, and he was having the same issue.Recommended him to use the Long Distance Relay also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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