Trying to set up idmx 1000. Competely lost

[civileng68]

I have a LoR controller with 16 outputs (for now, I will use 2 controllers when setting up but this is my first test on DMX). Anyways, Im using a 16 output controller and an idmx chained to it via cat5 line.

My lights on my controller work perfectly fine but I cant understand how to get my system set up to see or where to find my dmx setup?

Im just lost. I go to hardware and it recognizes 17 units. I would ASSUME that means it picks up my dmx since the regular controller is only 16 units? HOw the heck to I find my dmx to test it? I have a new fog machine and want to figure this out.



Any help would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks

[Donald Puryear]

The Idmx will show up as 16 units. the first unit will be DMX address 1-16, second unit will be DMX address 17-32. If you selct the first IDMX address with the hardware utility, then select console you should be able to control you fog machine. Most DMX devices ship setup with a DMX adddress of 1

[Ponddude]

Alright, lets start with the basics.

First off, remember that a 16 channel controller is one unit, not sixteen units. It has 16 channels, but when you "Refresh" in the hardware utility it will show up as 1 unit. If you have the controller and the iDMX connected at the same time, then the controller will show up and several different unit numbers for the iDMX. Have you changed the unit ID of the iDMX? If you haven't then the default unit ID is E0. When you search in the HU, you will see that 16 consecutive units will show up; E0, E1, E2, E3, etc. Doing the math you will see that it adds up 256, which is the amount of channels the iDMX supports. (I am still angry that LOR still hasn't released the update for the full 512 channels.)

Now to get your fog machine to work you need to assign that unit a channel ID. Think of it like this. The iDMX is controller and the fog machine/strobe light/moving yoke, is the channel. Now the fog machine probably has 1 channel. That means that if you go to the Console in the HU, change it to controller E0 and turn channel 1 on, the fog machine will turn on. You will have to consult your fog machine manual to figure out how many channels it needs. My moving yoke is 5 channels. I set my HU to E0, and channel one controls the pan, channel two controls tilt, channel 3 the strobe, channel 4 the color and channel 5 the gobo.

It seems confusing but once you get it going, its very easy.

[civileng68]

Donald Puryear wrote:

The Idmx will show up as 16 units. the first unit will be DMX address 1-16, second unit will be DMX address 17-32. If you selct the first IDMX address with the hardware utility, then select console you should be able to control you fog machine. Most DMX devices ship setup with a DMX adddress of 1

Ok, in the unit configuration list in LOR hardware, it has my main controller listed and then it had E0-E9 and then some other different stuff. I dont know which that is.

Also on the back of my fogger are some tabs labeled 1 - 9. What should these be on?

I read in my manual for the fogger than I use channels 6-255 for 0-100%. I just dont know what to make of this.



Upon more testing, when I change the polarity of the DMX controller (the button on the controller) the fogger just shoots out fog nonstop. This is confusing me a bit. What does this mean?

[stachows]

OK.. lets break this down.

First off... What model fogger do you have? (so we can look at the manual...)

What LOR Unit ID is your iDMX assigned? (I found out the hard way that it should be assigned an address with a 0(zero) on the end.... This means 10,20,30...Etc.

Scott.

[civileng68]

stachows wrote:

OK.. lets break this down.

First off... What model fogger do you have? (so we can look at the manual...)

What LOR Unit ID is your iDMX assigned? (I found out the hard way that it should be assigned an address with a 0(zero) on the end.... This means 10,20,30...Etc.

Scott.

My fogger is the Chauvet Flex 1800

As for my LOR Unit ID. I have no idea. How do I find this?

[-klb-]

If the hardware utility is reporting your first controller, and then E0 through EF, your iDMX is set up as E0, in 16 controller compatibility mode.

So DMX channel 1 is LOR controller (unit) E0, channel 1. DMX channel 16 will be LOR controller E0, channel 16. DMX channel 17 will be LOR controller E1, channel 1. And it will go on like that from there.

Unless you had something set up to send commands to LOR controller E0, the fogger going on when you reverse the polarity tells us that the first setting was correct. The dip switches on the DMX fogger will in part be used to set the DMX channel that the fogger is listening to. I believe one of the statements above is probably that when the value of the DMX channel that the fogger is configured as has a value of 0 to 5 the fogger is off. With a value of 6 through 255, it is on.

[stachows]

civileng68,
Do you have the IDMX1000? If you do not have it, then all of this is a mute point.



If you do, and you have it connected to your LOR network, then keep reading.

Make sure no other LOR utilities are running, then open up the LOR Hardware utility.

If your comm port is working fine, you should not get any errors.

Once it is open, click "Refresh" from middle/top. It should say it found "X" number of units... Click on the drop down and se if you can find the DMX1000? What is the first ID associated with it? By default I think it is E0


See the attached file for a little help.

Once you get this we can move forward...I looked at the Manual for your fogger and it is very easy to set up.




Scott.









Attached files

[civileng68]

stachows wrote:

civileng68,
Do you have the IDMX1000? If you do not have it, then all of this is a mute point.



If you do, and you have it connected to your LOR network, then keep reading.

Make sure no other LOR utilities are running, then open up the LOR Hardware utility.

If your comm port is working fine, you should not get any errors.

Once it is open, click "Refresh" from middle/top. It should say it found "X" number of units... Click on the drop down and se if you can find the DMX1000? What is the first ID associated with it? By default I think it is E0


See the attached file for a little help.

Once you get this we can move forward...I looked at the Manual for your fogger and it is very easy to set up.




Scott.

Whew, ok, i'm super happy to be getting some help here.

Ok, I do have the Idmx1000. With that said, here's what I remember (I'm at work now and cant see it exactly). When doing the refesh and going to the drop down, I do remember seeing E0 (and then it had some other stuff beside it, like channel number or something), but dont remember seeing the actual "DMX listed (again I did see E0 though).

I think it was E0 - E9 and then went into A B C or something like that.

I selected each E (E0- E9) and tried to get a response but got nothing.

Now, just to state (this may mean nothing). The front side of the DMX where the cat five is located is a solid red light. ON the rear is a blinking red light.


Also dont know if this means anything, but, on the back of my fogger at the DMX input are 9 tabs. When I got it, the #5 was up and all others were down. What does this mean? The light was red above the tabs. When I moved the tabs (#9 up and others down) it went green. I have no clue what this means but this may be something too I assume?


Let me know your thoughts on what I posted. I think IM at least moving forward here.

[stachows]

OK... This is making much more sense.

First off. It sounds like your iDMX100 UNIT ID is set to address E0. .This is the default, and is just fine.

Let me explain something quick because this might get confusing...

You are dealing with (2) completely different networks:

1. 
   
2. You have your LOR network which is your LOR controllers UNIT ID's. This includes the iDMX, which is technically an LOR controller. (The Unit ID's are all going to be hex ID's: 01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09,0A,0B,0C,0D,0F,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,1A,1B and so on..)
   
3. Your second network is your DMX network... This uses POSITIVE INTEGERS from 1-255.

The IDMX is the interface betrween the two... Your fog machine is a DMX device and therefore only needs to be assigned an DMX address. The 9 little tabs on the back of the fogger are called DIP switches this is how you set the DMX address of your fogger (or any other DMX device). If ONLY #5 was flipped, then your foggers DMX address was set to 16. This can be found on page #14 and 15 of your foggers manual. I recommend flipping all of the DIPS to off except of for #1. this will set the DMX address of the Fogger to 1 and will be the easiest for testing and sequencing.

I will write more in a little bit.

Scott.

[civileng68]

stachows wrote:

OK... This is making much more sense.

First off. It sounds like your iDMX100 UNIT ID is set to address E0. .This is the default, and is just fine.

Let me explain something quick because this might get confusing...

You are dealing with (2) completely different networks:

1. 
   
2. You have your LOR network which is your LOR controllers UNIT ID's. They are all hex (01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09,0A,0B,0C,0D,0F,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,1A,1B and so on..)
   
3. Your second network is your DMX network... This uses POSITIVE INTEGERS from 1-255 no.

The IDMX is the interface betrween the two... Your fog machine is a DMX device and therefore only needs to be assigned an DMX address. The 9 little tabs on the back of the fogger are called DIP switches this is how you set the DMX address of your fogger (or any other DMX device). If ONLY #5 was flipped, then your foggers DMX address was set to 16. This can be found on page #14 and 15 of your foggers manual. I recommend flipping all of the DIPS to off except of for #1. this will set the DMX address of the Fogger to 1 and will be the easiest for testing and sequencing.

I will write more in a little bit.

Scott.

Scott. Thanks so much for your help man! I cant wait to get home and check this out. I know you are going to write more so I'll just leave this out there as a question based on what you said.



OK, so assumning all is ok right now, why was my fogger not responding when in hardware I selected "all on" when I had E0 selected? Was it because of hte tabs on the back not set correctly?

Ok, so I'll change the tabs where only the #1 is selected up. So this should make E0 active or E1?

Thanks so much for taking time to help man. If I figure this out, I owe you a beer! Of course I dont live near you so that may be difficult but hey, you can always know a guy in South Florida owes you a beer.

[-klb-]

It should make your fogger unit E0, channel 1.

[civileng68]

-klb- wrote:

It should make your fogger unit E0, channel 1.

Ok, so im going to test this when I get home tonight. cant wait.

[stachows]

Your getting closer, but you are confusing the two networks (which is easy to do)...

E0 is the address of the iDMX controller on the LOR network, and therefore where the DMX address start in the LOR utilities

Kevin has it, it will be controller E0, Channel1 or "E0.01"

If your fogger had 4 DMX channels, then it would be Controller E0 channels 1-4. but since your fogger only has one Channel, that is all you need.

SO,

Open the hardware utility and click on the console button. Set the controller type to "iDMX-1000 - DMX" or "iDMX-1000 - LOR%". Then change the UNIT ID to E0. It should look like the attached file.

Next, since your fogger produces fog from an intensity of 6-255, move the first slider E0.01 above 6 and you should start to see fog (if it is warmed up). The higher you slide it up, the more fog it will produce. Anything below 6 will do nothing.

Does this make sense to you?

Let me know if this works...


Attached files

[civileng68]

stachows wrote:

Your getting closer, but you are confusing the two networks (which is easy to do)...

E0 is the address of the iDMX controller on the LOR network, and therefore where the DMX address start in the LOR utilities

Kevin has it, it will be controller E0, Channel1 or "E0.01"

If your fogger had 4 DMX channels, then it would be Controller E0 channels 1-4. but since your fogger only has one Channel, that is all you need.

SO,

Open the hardware utility and click on the console button. Set the controller type to "iDMX-1000 - DMX" or "iDMX-1000 - LOR%". Then change the UNIT ID to E0. It should look like the attached file.

Next, since your fogger produces fog from an intensity of 6-255, move the first slider E0.01 above 6 and you should start to see fog (if it is warmed up). The higher you slide it up, the more fog it will produce. Anything below 6 will do nothing.

Does this make sense to you?

Let me know if this works...

aaaaah dude i am getting it now i think! I may not be 100% but im getting it!!!!!!



Ok, yeah in the console I'd change it to DMX but where you want me to put E, I had 1.

Ok, im gonna try that! IM getting excited. Yeah I know iits nothing big but I love when I learn how to do stuff like this. I feel so much smarter ! ha!



OK, I'll update tonight!



So lets say I get it working. To go into LoR editing, I have shows built. For fog I just have a MIsc. channel. so I can change that channel to what? what will i put in editor for that channel?

[-klb-]

Device type Light-O-Rama, Unit E0, Circuit 1

[civileng68]

-klb- wrote:

Device type Light-O-Rama, Unit E0, Circuit 1

nice!



Thanks!

[stachows]

Then , while you have the intensity set above 6(DMX)on that channel it will produce fog. The higher the intensity, the mor fog.

Keep in mind that LOR intensities go from 0-100 and DMX intensities goes from 1-255. There is a translation table somewhere, or you can use the DMX intensity setting if you have a newer version, but or a fogger this is not that big a deal at all.

I would just use the LOR intensity settings built in and make sure to use a setting above 5 or so. 25, 50, 75 or 100% will all work just fine.

Scott.

[civileng68]

stachows wrote:

Then , while you have the intensity set above 6(DMX)on that channel it will produce fog. The higher the intensity, the mor fog.

Keep in mind that LOR intensities go from 0-100 and DMX intensities goes from 1-255. There is a translation table somewhere, or you can use the DMX intensity setting if you have a newer version, but or a fogger this is not that big a deal at all.

I would just use the LOR intensity settings built in and make sure to use a setting above 5 or so. 25, 50, 75 or 100% will all work just fine.

Scott.

Thanks so much for your help Scott. Its greatly appreciated. I'll let you guys know how it goes tonight.

[stachows]

No Problem... Good Luck...