DMX Newbie

[c7williams]

HI All, 

 

I am totally brand new to DMX. I ordered 3 of these https://magicallightshows.com/collections/products/products/magicolour-hg230b-beam-v2 moving head lights. 

Aubrey pointed me to https://www1.lightorama.com/PDF/MovingHeadLights-S5.pdf?fbclid=IwAR24iENWI0IQc9NP-X0NFXHWdoiXtW-NMnDtYPQBed6VZ_WrfJvq9jSIrmA on how to set up these lights with LOR. However I have a few questions. 

1) Will I only need 1 of the iDMX1000 adapters or will I need one per light? https://store.lightorama.com/collections/computer-adapters-and-repeaters/products/smdmxin

2) Based off the manual it looked like the iDMX1000 has an RJ45 in/out on one side and a DMX in/out on the other side. This leads me to think i will need 1 adapter per light but looking at the iDMX1000 it looks like its not a weatherproof device. Should it be stored inside with XLR cables running to the lights?

3) Best place to order XLR cables

4) Will I need male to female cables to connect into the MagiColour 230 beams?

 

Thanks in advance

[k6ccc]

31 minutes ago, c7williams said:

1) Will I only need 1 of the iDMX1000 adapters or will I need one per light?

Only one.

My opinion, unless you like spending lots of money, the iDMX1000 is a very expensive way to get a DMX signal.  There are other ways that cost hundreds of dollars less.  Tell us what your network arrangement is and we can give suggestions.

 

31 minutes ago, c7williams said:

3) Best place to order XLR cables

Lots of places, but here are a couple:

Monoprice - https://www.monoprice.com/category/cables/pro-audio-cables/dmx-cables

FullCompass.com - https://www.fullcompass.com/category/accessories/cables-snakes/microphone-cables/xlr-to-xlr/

I get connectors and build cables as needed.

34 minutes ago, c7williams said:

4) Will I need male to female cables to connect into the MagiColour 230 beams?

Each hop from device to device will have a male on one end and female of the other end.

 

[PhilMassey]

You only need one adaptor per universe. A universe is 512 channels and each light usually uses 10 to 15 channels depending on features.

I have 6 lights, cheapo variety, on one lor rs 485 low speed adaptor. That ends up being 6 x 15 channels.

The connectors are not waterproof, but neither are the lights. Those domes in the picture are 600 bucks each 

My lights are deep under my eaves but not protected with covers. They have survived 3 seasons. If you want sky beams you will need covers and may need to be mindful of aircraft if you are near the pattern.

Feel free to pm me if you you need more help.

[c7williams]

17 hours ago, k6ccc said:

Only one.

My opinion, unless you like spending lots of money, the iDMX1000 is a very expensive way to get a DMX signal.  There are other ways that cost hundreds of dollars less.  Tell us what your network arrangement is and we can give suggestions.

 

@k6ccc My network set up is as follows; It consists of 11 networks.

Regular
Aux A
Aux B
Aux C
Aux D
Aux E
Aux F
Aux G
Aux H
Aux I
 

[c7williams]

16 hours ago, PhilMassey said:

You only need one adaptor per universe. A universe is 512 channels and each light usually uses 10 to 15 channels depending on features.

I have 6 lights, cheapo variety, on one lor rs 485 low speed adaptor. That ends up being 6 x 15 channels.

The connectors are not waterproof, but neither are the lights. Those domes in the picture are 600 bucks each 

My lights are deep under my eaves but not protected with covers. They have survived 3 seasons. If you want sky beams you will need covers and may need to be mindful of aircraft if you are near the pattern.

Feel free to pm me if you you need more help.

Thanks @PhilMassey 

So DMX must run on the black low speed RS485?

I purchased the enclosures which have areas for the cables. So I'm thinking the iDMX1000 should stay in the house and just run XLR cables to the first light in the daisy chain. Seem logical?

Edited August 9, 2022 by c7williams

[PhilMassey]

Never tried it on a red HS, but I expect it would work. Plenty of speed on a LS adaptor. You will need an RJ 45 to XLR crossover cable. You will assign it as a DMX USB adaptor, give it a universe number and use the adaptor id displayed in Device manager. not the com port. It will be a 6 digit alpha numeric ID.

[Steven]

Instead of XLR cable, you can also use Cat 5 cable with XLR connectors. I'm not sure what the price difference is, but it should be just as reliable.