filetme Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Hi all, I have bought an LED Smoke Machine that I want to control from my light show. I have 3 controllers including a Pixcon 16 and two older 16 channel Light-O-Rama controllers. My question is how do I interface the DMX XLR IN from the LED Smoke Machine with any of the controllers? Or do I interface the LED Smoke Machine with the Lightshow software? OR do I need a DMX controller? Thanks for any information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 LOR will control DMX fixtures. You can buy a compatible controller or just use a LOR RS485 adaptor and a crossover cable. There are lots of posts here about DMX moving head lights and how to do it.. Also search Fog Machine, give quite a few hits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Thanks for the reply. There is no LAN input to the Fog machine so I am not sure how a crossover cable connects... but I will look this up and see if I can't find any information. If you have any example you can point me to it would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Yay I think I found what you were eluding to... http://www1.lightorama.com/Documents/DMX-DOC.pdf Just in case others are looking and needing the information. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Yes LOR to DMX crossover. No LAN involved. LAN is NOT compatible with LOR or DMX but uses the same Cat 5 cable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 1 hour ago, filetme said: Thanks for the reply. There is no LAN input to the Fog machine so I am not sure how a crossover cable connects... but I will look this up and see if I can't find any information. If you have any example you can point me to it would be greatly appreciated. Do not become confused by incorrect terms commonly used RJ45 is a connector not LAN, ISDN or any of the other connection protocols that make use of it. Same goes for the RJ11/12 (commonly used telephone wall jack). KNOW what it is for, before plugging things in. Lots of smoke could result 😲 They are used because they are both common and cheap. CAT5 is a wire (properties) specification not an Ethernet Connection. in the case of LOR usage pins 4 an5 ARE NOT used by standard Ethernet. BUT 3 and 6 (LOR supplies/uses accessory power on these) ARE used. and POE DOES apply up to 48V on some of the pins (POE systems can use all 8 in cases) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 10, 2020 Author Share Posted October 10, 2020 So I made the cable using http://www1.lightorama.com/Documents/DMX-DOC.pdf Turned on the LED Smoke Machine and tried to use the Hardware utility to find the machine. Nothing found on that port. When I go to the Console I can hear clicks when I click on/off so I am pretty sure the cable is working but Other than clicks I am not seeing anything happening. So I am confused ... how can I set this machines Unit ID. How can I actually send controls? It has a DMX In with the following information in the documentation: DMX channel: 1. Fog Work 2, R-LED 3. G-LED 4. B-LED 5, Strobe 6. LED auto run speed I really hope someone can help me to understand how to send control signals ... Hoping to use this in a Halloween show. Much appreciate any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 You do not use the HU or set a com port. I wrote this for someone else a couple of days ago. You will set up in net prefs in dmx tab. Open universe 1 or whatever and feed it the LOR adaptor ID. It's about eight alpha digits. If I recall I found in the adaptor properties in device manager. Make sure control panel is running In hardware utility Do not set the com port for the new adaptor. Just leave it set to your normal show com port. Open pixel console, button at bottom. At lower left click the dmx radio button. In the center choose your universe Set the dmx start address to 001 on the fogger. Slider 1 will probably be fog work. 2 thro 6 will be the rest of the commands in your list above. The docs should tell you what values do what on each function. The slider produces dmx values from 0 to 255. Once you get it working you have to create a sequence channel for each function and put the dmx values in that row. You will do that in your Preview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 32 minutes ago, PhilMassey said: You do not use the HU or set a com port. I wrote this for someone else a couple of days ago. You will set up in net prefs in dmx tab. Open universe 1 or whatever and feed it the LOR adaptor ID. It's about eight alpha digits. If I recall I found in the adaptor properties in device manager. Make sure control panel is running In hardware utility Do not set the com port for the new adaptor. Just leave it set to your normal show com port. Open pixel console, button at bottom. At lower left click the dmx radio button. In the center choose your universe Set the dmx start address to 001 on the fogger. Slider 1 will probably be fog work. 2 thro 6 will be the rest of the commands in your list above. The docs should tell you what values do what on each function. The slider produces dmx values from 0 to 255. Once you get it working you have to create a sequence channel for each function and put the dmx values in that row. You will do that in your Preview. Thanks I feel I am real close. I have located the correct port in Device Manager but I just have no idea what I am looking for in terms of the LOR adaptor ID. Once I find this I feel I will be all set. Can you give me an example or the ID you located? Much appreciation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 1 minute ago, filetme said: Thanks I feel I am real close. I have located the correct port in Device Manager but I just have no idea what I am looking for in terms of the LOR adaptor ID. Once I find this I feel I will be all set. Can you give me an example or the ID you located? Much appreciation. Look in the adaptor drop-down in net prefs. There should be all your adaptors there. If you only have two you have a 50 50 chance.. if you still don't have it, I'll talk you through it when I am at my machine tomorrow. Let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 2 minutes ago, PhilMassey said: Look in the adaptor drop-down in net prefs. There should be all your adaptors there. If you only have two you have a 50 50 chance.. if you still don't have it, I'll talk you through it when I am at my machine tomorrow. Let me know. OK. Maybe I have other issues then because with the unit on and plugged in (all other USB devices unplugged) there are no adapters found. Maybe I wired it incorrectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Unplug the fogger. Unplug the cable. Unplug the USB from the pc. Open device manager Plug in usb cable and adaptor only. Should see it appear in ports. If it doesn't it may be not working. Try another adaptor. If that one does work, that cable MAY have fried the other one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 Just now, PhilMassey said: Unplug the fogger. Unplug the cable. Unplug the USB from the pc. Open device manager Plug in usb cable and adaptor only. Should see it appear in ports. If it doesn't it may be not working. Try another adaptor. If that one does work, that cable MAY have fried the other one. So when I unplug USB COM Port 6 disappears. Plug it back in and USB COM Port 6 reappears. COM 4 is my Pixma16 COM 5 has 2 older LOR controllers COM 6 is definitely the fog machine When I open Network Preferences and go to the DMX tab in the Adapter drop down list is empty. If I try to type in COM6 and click ok ... nothing happens ... It does not save. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Well, at least we know the adaptor isn't fried. If you click on the down arrow next to adaptor you see nothing? You should see each RS 485 adaptor listed there, identified by an alpha numeric code like A8008eEg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 No the adaptor drop down list is completely empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 I re-tested the fog machine this AM just to make sure I have not fried it :) It still working using the manual remote control plugged in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 I have just checked the License requirements for native DMX devices and it is calling for advanced. Your profile says Basic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Check your license here. http://www1.lightorama.com/showtime-sequencing-suite/#levels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filetme Posted October 11, 2020 Author Share Posted October 11, 2020 From my order receipt Software Level = Standard(+45.00) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMassey Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 If you look in the chart above, I think you will need to go to Advanced. Contact LOR for confirmation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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