Multiple LOR universes on the same CAT5 cable

[Davidt]

I suspect the answer will be "it won't, or probably won't, work due to data colisions" but I'll ask anyway.

The scenario is... Two of my neighbours are being tempted to play with a few of my spare LOR controllers for Christmas 2009.

If my LOR controllers are set, for example, with Unit ID's of 01, 02, 03, etc. and being driven by a DC-MP3 Show Director and their LOR controllers are set with Unit ID's of 11, 12, 13 and 21, 22, 23, etc (so that they are unique from mine and each others) driven by additional Show Directors can we connect our 2 (or more) systems together via a CAT5 cable?

The logic is that for most sequences we will be doing our own thing addressing our own local LOR controllers, however there may be times when one of us might like to control some of the other person's lights, if those particular lights aren't being used at the time. This way we could theoretically run a sequence such as Dueling Banjos, or a snowball fight, across multiple houses.

Obviously a high level of coordination / cooperation between the 2 (or more) houses is required, but would it work?

Cheers,

davidt, Australia

[-klb-]

Only one device at a time can talk on the RS-485 network.. In reality, it is just a multiple listener serial port, with none of the protocols or even hardware support for CSMA/CD So you can not have two computers or directors on the network at the same time.

All the multi house displays I am aware of run from a single control computer, and a single FM transmitter... Though they may run multiple networks off the same computer for other reasons.

[Dr. Jones]

The only way I know of to control a seperate LOR network is by using the trigger feature on the DC-MP3 or standalone controllers