LOR -> DMX -> E1.31 Questions

[XYrZbest]

So i am getting ready to do my light o rama show for this Christmas, last year was my first year and got the whole lighting thing worked out but to control it was very tedious. I ran cat 5 from the LOR controllers outside into my garage and used a Cat 5 to USB adapter from light o rama and plugged it into to my old laptop in the cold garage, while I did the programming inside the controlling was very hard to do in the garage. This year i would like to use my much more powerful desktop which is upstairs this means i would have to run cat 5 up to my room just for LOR... I did my research and believe that this is not the case... If i were to use DMX and E1.31 i could control this from my room with out running cat 5 so here goes my assumption. I would run the cat 5 into the garage and convert into DMX with a crossover cable allowing for it to communicate with a E1.31 bridge, the crossover cable would connect to one of the 4 universes on the bridge and then would output as E1.31 using IP, from there i would plug it into my Ethernet jack in my garage and then connect it to my network, this would give it an IP and allow me to go to my network connected desktop upstairs, and access the whole LOR setup over E1.31 and IP from there i would use LOR S3 advanced with support for E1.31 and connect to the LOR network using the IP allowing for me to connect to lights... 

 

This is the map that i planned out and assume would work

 

Lights -> 2 CTB16PC LOR Controllers (Daisy Chained)-> RJ45 Crossover Cable (LOR to DMX) -> E1.31 Bridge -> Network (Ethernet) -> Computer -> LOR S3 (Using my normal shows and standard controls)

 

This is what i believe is true from the research and reading i have done on the internet, if this is not true someone please tell me before I order my supplies to add this functionality to my setup.

 

Here is the area i have questions about...

 

1st --- If I want to add DMX lights (non LOR) to my setup can i connect these to the second RJ 45 connector on the E1.31 bridge and will this allow for me to control the DMX lights on the LOR S3 and will all of these lights on the same universe... or does S3 not use universes?

2nd --- Can I expand in the future adding another E1.31 board to my setup adding another IP on my network and still use all the lights in the same show

3rd --- Can I add support for E1.31 sACN allowing me to control the light show on any device on my network and if I use an external IP and port, control outside my network... and what would I need to add this functionality to my setup

4th --- WHERE CAN I FIND A E1.31 BRIDGE!!!! I have searched for a good one that uses RJ45 connectors for DMX in and E1.31 out (but i guess i could just use 3 pins for dmx) and have found 2 reccomended ones that are both out of stock i found one kit but don't know how hard and how long it will take to build. Does anyone have any recommendations or ideas for what E1.31 Bridge i could use I only need 1 maybe 2 (in the future) DMX universes

 

Bridges

http://www.diyledexp...products_id=245

http://www.j1sys.com/ecg-d4/

 

Kit (in stock i might get it if it isn't that hard to build)

http://www.diyledexp...roducts_id=157 

 

Other Options (Would These Work???)

E682 ???
http://www.advatekli...controller.html

 

These 2 Look the most compelling for what I need and there price would they work for what i need

http://www.advatekli...controller.html

http://www.j1sys.com/ecg-d4/

 

or maybe the kit...

http://www.diyledexp...roducts_id=157 

 

[Steven]

If you have an Ethernet jack in the garage, then you already have cat5 from there to upstairs. Why don't you just run the LOR network through this cable?

 

If the answer is that you are already using that cable for Ethernet (and TCP/IP), then here's another suggestion: If your network connection is 100Mbps or less (i.e. not Gigabit), then only 2 of the 4 pairs in the cat5 cable are being used. You can wire a splitter to use the other 2 pairs for your LOR network.

 

As you may have read in another thread, there are some advantages to running LOR instead of E1.31.

[starzen]

Yes you are correct although it was a little hard to dissect

 

your main computer is connected to your house network inside the house

you have a CAT5/6 Ethernet connection to the same network in the garage

you run Ethernet CAT5/6 from the garage outside and connect it to the E1.31 -> DMX bridge

 

you can now connect multiple wires to the DMX bridge. They are CAT5/6 Ethernet connectors but now we are running DMX signals on these outputs

 

you can connect LOR controllers to any of these outputs but they will need the LOR/DMX crossover

you can connect any other DMX devices to any of these outputs no crossover needed

you can even mix LOR and DMX devices on one output making sure that you crossover between DMX and LOR

 

as to your questions

 

1) yes you can add any DMX device to any of the ports. (if you are mixing DMX and LOR on the SAME port you need to crossover)

2) yes you can have any number of E1.31 controllers on your network. Just add a switch in the garage or outside

3) once you are running E1.31 any device on your network can send the E1.31 commands. And yes if it was an external address I think It should work as well but I have never tried a public IP for E1.31

4) the two you listed seem to be fine. J1SYS products have been doing well for me although I do not have their bridge but I use their pixel controllers