Changing Order of Controllers

[BCBjorklund]

Hi All,

 

I moved to a new location and with that I had to reshuffle my design.

I have set it all up (lights and controllers) and moved the controllers around and they are no longer in sequence, They have power and Cat5 cable from lap top all the way around to last controller 8 - 16 channel and 1 RGB Flood Controller.

The first controller(C1) I tested works fine. All the other controllers will not turn the lights on when I test.

All connections are good.

Do I need to Readdress each controller in sequence?

your help is always appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Bruce

Edited November 30, 2019 by BCBjorklund
typeo

[Mr. P]

Controllers do not need to be in any order. You will just have to go back to the basics and add one controller at a time. Stop when a controller isn't recognized and find out why before adding another.

[PhilMassey]

The order does not matter.

You either have a bad jack in the first unit output or second input  or a bad cable  between the two. 

[BCBjorklund]

Thank you I will try replacing cable first!

[TheDucks]

Do pay attention to NETWORK.

They either must stay ON  the same CHAIN (dongle) or you need to use Channel configuration  in the SE to change the Network (for each sequence)

Order  does not matter unless you are supplying power to an ELL from a dongle or another controller (That must be capable)

[Euro92]

So if I have 4 controllers I don't have to use them in order with the ethernet cord. Example 1,2,3,4.... can I do 1,4,2,3? I do not need to go in order? THanks

Edited December 3, 2019 by Euro92

[TheDucks]

2 hours ago, Euro92 said:

So if I have 4 controllers I don't have to use them in order with the ethernet cord. Example 1,2,3,4.... can I do 1,4,2,3? I do not need to go in order? THanks

That is correct. The only rule is the Terminator (a jumper setting in Gen 2 Pixies) is at the end.

If you don't have a newest version controllers with a built in one, you can make your own with a 120 ohm resistor and a old CAT5 cable stub .

[Mr. P]

I have been doing this for a number of years now and I have never used a terminator or terminated the last controller in my networks and have never had any problems. I do understand that it is recommended and I believe it was k6ccc who mentioned something about larger networks should be terminated but most people here are not using dozens of controllers. I also believe that if terminating was so important then you would hear more about it from LOR or they may even provide these terminators with their controllers. The only terminators that are provided are in the newest Pixie's which is just recent so I think the excuse of terminating is actually overrated for most peoples shows.

In my opinion.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Mr. P

[k6ccc]

Let me say this about that.  The DMX specification requires termination.  The major limits on a DMX network are 32 nodes, 4,000 of network cable in a linear configuration (no star or splits), and a termination at both ends of the network.  With that said, most of us are running far less than 32 nodes, and far less than 4,000 feet of network cable, so yes, we can generally get away without the termination at the far end (the LOR USB to RS-485 adapter provides a termination at that end).  However as many of us are adding more and more devices, and more importantly going to higher speed networking, termination is going to be more important.  Back in the old days with let's say a dozen controllers on a 500 foot network running at 56.7K speed, termination was not overly important, but add a 1000 feet of cable, another dozen nodes, and bump that network up to 500K or 1000K and all of a sudden it becomes far more important.  I suspect that is why LOR has added terminating resistors to the newer high speed controllers.  I can also tell you that from what one of the LOR engineers has said, if they are working on a trouble ticket that appears that it MAY be network related, one of the first things that they will ask about is network termination.

With all that said, my recommendation is that your networks should be terminated - particularly if they are running at the higher speeds.  For what it's worth, I have all three of my LOR networks terminated - including my regular network that runs at 56.7k non-enhanced and has one InputPup on it with less than 200 feet of network cable.

Terminations are very easy to build if you don't have a controller at the end of your network that has them built in.

 

[Mr. P]

I agree that as networks get larger and faster terminators may need to be added. My point here and now is someone comes in asking a question on why something isn't working, they have four or five controllers and one of the main things brought up is did you terminate your network? 99% of the time the problem isn't going to be if the network was terminated or not. My show is larger then most on here and I have never terminated a network, not saying I might have to some day but most on here do not need to worry about terminators at this point.