Clairifcation on Gen 2 AC and CMB24DC in S4

[ClydeL]

Leaving the Expo yesterday, I realized I had a question about setup.  I understand the enhanced LOR protocol in S4 requires the "red" (high speed) RS 485 dongle, and controllers on that dongle need to be Gen 3 boards.  My question is that if I currently use the Gen 1 or 2 controller along with my current "black" RS 485 dongle, will my CMB24DC continue to work on the non-enhanced LOR protocol?  At the show, I learned that the Gen 1&2 controllers had to be on a separate network from the Gen 3.  But, does that mean that Gen 3 won't work on the original non-enhanced LOR protocol? 

 

Thanks again for a great expo and some great classes.

 

Clyde

[k6ccc]

First of all, the new Gen-3 controllers work just fine on non-enhanced networks. So, yes you can run old and new controllers on a single non-enhanced network. However you could not use sequences that include intensity files on the non-enhanced network. Since intensity files are the only way to control lights from the Pixel Editor, you could not create sequences in PE to control lights via a non-enhanced network.

For your first comment, as far as I know, running a network at 500k speed requires a high speed (red) RS-485 adapter, but using enhanced protocol does not. So if you are using an enhanced network at a slower network speed, you should be able to do that with a black RS-485 adapter. Use of enhanced networking does not mandate 500k speed. If I have that wrong, someone please correct me. - I think I'm going to test that right now too.

[k6ccc]

OK, confirmed.  Use of LOR Enhanced network does NOT require the high speed (red) RS-485 adapter.

 

Here is the testing I did to confirm this.  My year-round landscape lighting currently contains two networks (I add one more for Christmas).  Both of the year round networks are using several year old low speed (black) RS-485 adapters.  Currently they are both set for 57.6K speed and are not set for enhanced.  My regular network has three CMB16D 16 channel DC controllers, two CTB16D 1st generation 16 channel AC controllers (although one is turned off during the off-season), and two ServoDogs (both slated to be replaced with InputPups).   The first step for the test was to update two of the three CMD16D DC controllers to firmware version 1.34 so that they could operate on an enhanced network.

 

My girlfriend (AKA my wife) just called me for a lunch date, so this posting will wait until I get back from lunch.  And yes, she is still my girlfriend even though we've been married for 25 years .

Edited July 19, 2015 by k6ccc

[k6ccc]

OK, back from lunch...  I took the visualization from last Christmas and stripped everything out except the RGB light strips that are driven by the three DC controllers and saved that with a new name.  Then I went into SuperStar and created a VERY simple sequence using the 27 channels in use on the three DC controllers.  I exported that SuperStar sequence to a new sequence in the new format as an intensity file into a new sequence.  I then opened that new sequence in Sequence Editor.  The sequence showed the intensity file from SuperStar and within it, there were the three DC controllers listed.  Of course I could not see the sequencing on those channels.  Last step was to set the Sequence Editor to play the visible screen and loop at the end.  Started the sequence and walked outside for a look.  The sequence was playing just fine.

 

So the conclusion is that Enhanced Protocol does not require a high speed RS-485 adapter (unless a high speed network is used), nor does it require use of high speed networking.

[ClydeL]

I just pulled into St Louis.  I left this morning after posting up this question.  Thank you Jim, I appreciate the test.  I'll be home tomorrow night and can test it out myself on Tuesday.   I have a feeling I'll be ordering a red dongle since I wanted a spare to keep in the shop for testing. 

I'm a bit confused about how DevMike explained it to us at the Expo.  He said that Gen 3 controllers would not run on the old RS485.  I KNOW he said the Gen 1&2  Will not work on the enhanced protocol. 

My setup is simple.  I have two 16PC V2 and 5 CMB24DC's to run and want to make sure the old protocol will work with them even when using the pixel editor or the SuperStar Sequencer.

 

Thanks again!

[k6ccc]

Thank you Jim, I appreciate the test.  I'll be home tomorrow night and can test it out myself on Tuesday.   I have a feeling I'll be ordering a red dongle since I wanted a spare to keep in the shop for testing. 

Thanks again!

 

You're welcome for the test.  It's something I would have done eventually anyway.

 

As for a high speed adapter, that's what I did.  I have used two low speed networks for my landscape lighting for several years.  When I added 300 CCPs for arches last year I bought a red adapter for that and a second one to have a spare.  I can always use a red one for a slow speed network, but not the other way around.  Besides, for the $2.00 difference in price, I can't think of any reason I would buy a slow speed adapter ever again...

Edited July 20, 2015 by k6ccc

[Joe2000]

Jim,

Thank you for your post. You statement "Besides, for the $2.00 difference in price, I can't think of any reason I would buy a slow speed adapter ever again..."

was exactly what I was looking for, I wanted to purchase a backup and was not sure If I could use the RED adapter.

 

Thanks again.

Joe

[ebrown1972]

I run 3 networks. All of my 800 pixels run on 2 networks. I have 1 red high speed adapter and 1 black regular adapter. Each of these 2 networks are set at 500k. The black adapter keeps up with the red one perfectly. I think I even read on lor website that some of the black adapters run at 500k just fine and the one I have does. So you may want to test out the black adapters you have at 500k before you dismiss using it.