HowardShank Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Would someone please be kind enough to explain auxiliary networks?What are they used for?How are they configured?Do they require more RS485 adapters?Thank you in advance for your time.Howard Shank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Levelius Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Auxilliary networks are used to provide more than one cable run to controllers. This allows the network load to be split over multiple cables in instances where large numbers of controllers are used with fast action sequences requiring a lot of channels to be controlled at one time. It can also be used to split the network betweek animation and musical sequences for easier organization.I think this is how the channel count was increased fromt the original 1024 to the current 4096 as well.Each aux network will require it's own serial port and RS485 adapter.-Gary- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Levelius Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 As for configuration, I think you'd define them in the hardware utility or through any place you would configure the normal channels. As for using them in your sequences, you'd use the network sellect pulldown menu for each channel/controller that you wish to switch to one of the three aux networks.-Gary- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted July 5, 2009 Author Share Posted July 5, 2009 Thanks for the explanation Gary! I see where each network is an individual RS485 network on a comm port. This is also where you configure the dasher and/or X10 ports.The configuration is located in the Sequence Editor under Edit->Preferences->Network preferences. You can configure networks Regular, Aux A, Aux B, Aux C.I also see where you select the network in the "Channel Settings" dialog box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.farney Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Gary Levelius wrote: Auxilliary networks are used to provide more than one cable run to controllers. This allows the network load to be split over multiple cables in instances where large numbers of controllers are used with fast action sequences requiring a lot of channels to be controlled at one time. It can also be used to split the network betweek animation and musical sequences for easier organization.I think this is how the channel count was increased fromt the original 1024 to the current 4096 as well.Each aux network will require it's own serial port and RS485 adapter.-Gary-Great explanation!Anyone actually used this feature yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted July 5, 2009 Author Share Posted July 5, 2009 I believe you are right about the channel count. RS485 allows for 32 transmitters/32 receivers per network. If a controller has 16 channels, then one network could potentially contain 1024 channels, if you use 64 - 16 channel controllers.So adding Aux A, Aux B, Aux C to the regular network would in fact give a total of 64 controllers per network x 4 networks = 256 controllers which if maxed at 16 channels each would give 4096 channels.I think the new DIO32, ServoDog and Cosmic Color Ribbon will be increasing the channel count even higher, but the limit of 64 controlling units on a single RS485 network will remain. (I wonder how the Firefly affects the count since when configured it uses 3 controller addresses.)If I remember correctly the LOR Help File says Unlimited controllers, but I think there is a physical limit of 64 per RS485 network spec. So there appears to be an inherent limit of 256 controllers based on the software limitation with regards to the networks; Regular, Aux A, Aux B, Aux C.I have not used or configured anything like this yet. I don't think my front yard is big enough to need multiple networks unless I find lag in regards to the animation sequences being run at the same time as my musical animation. Even then I'd probably need to upgrade the PC speed before I look at separating networks. I may find it beneficial to do a 2nd network so I can have better cable management. Only time and testing will tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 This was quoted from Dan in another post.The post is in regards to using ELL"We use 1/8 load RS-485 chips so you can have 8 x 32 or 256 nodes on the network. LOR only supports 240 unit IDs on a network.Those are theoretical numbers based on the specifications of the components used. However in real world you probably get more like 70 to 100 units on a network. The real limitation will be the number of channels and the activity level. The ELLs only support speeds up to 56kb while without them you can run the network at twice that speed."If there was a limit on the units that a network that will support such as the 32 that is mentioned in this thread. Then why would LOR not limit unit numbers to that number? The do limit assigned numbers to what they can support.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted July 5, 2009 Author Share Posted July 5, 2009 I see now. The RS485 standard is 32 devices, however LOR is using a non-standard variation of the RS485 network.Here's a great document that helps explain different unit load scenarios for RS485.http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slla166/slla166.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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