DMX Guide

[vokf 0]

Anyone got the faintest idea what this guy is on about ?

:bloodyhell:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not you :joe:

[gadget 0]

Its all just a bunch of 1's and 0's :mcps:

 

Cheers,

 

David

[PWES 0]

You just need the manual to understand the LED panel in its ownright though! :D

 

a manual ??? FFS man up David !!

 

You're a bloke, WHY would you need a manual, or directions, or know how to iron clothes ? :protest:

 

 

[gadget 0]

a manual ??? FFS man up David !!

 

You're a bloke, WHY would you need a manual, or directions, or know how to iron clothes ? :protest:

 

 

Hah, I never said I read the manual! :mcps:

 

 

Cheers,

 

David

[flash911 0]

can you connect "ANY" dmx'd lights together even different makes ?

[superstardeejay 0]

can you connect "ANY" dmx'd lights together even different makes ? blush.gif

 

Of course, that's what its for.

 

 

Getting different makes to sync together however will require a seperate dmx controller, so that the controller becomes the 'master' and the lights all become 'slaves'.

 

Doing it this way will mean you have to programme the controller yourself, you can't expect it to be completely plug-and-play.

 

See the DMX how-to for more info!

 

 

[flash911 0]

Of course, that's what its for.

Getting different makes to sync together however will require a seperate dmx controller, so that the controller becomes the 'master' and the lights all become 'slaves'.

 

Doing it this way will mean you have to programme the controller yourself, you can't expect it to be completely plug-and-play.

 

See the DMX how-to for more info!

thanks , might just leave them in stand alone lol

[Brentford Bob 0]

thanks , might just leave them in stand alone lol

 

 

That's what I'm going towards to!

 

Forgive my stupidity but I just dont get the whole dipswitch thing - I clearly have a feeble brain.

 

I recently bought four Showtec LED par56's and a Showtec Operator 1 controller, fully expecting to be able to "plug and play" but alas not.

 

Is there not a standard set of settings to use?

 

I contacted Showtec who basically said "read the manual" - which I've done, many times but I'm still none the wiser.

 

[McCardle 1]

Just think of DMX lights as being a row of houses in a street. Each House, or light in this case has its own individual number, so that it keeps its own identity.

 

Then think of the DMX controller as being like the postman, and that he only delivers mail to the houses to which it is addressed. He does this by reading the number on the letter and then delivers it to the correct address. If the house has no mail, it gets no delivery as the postman will only direct mail to where he's told to do so.

 

In this case each light 'address' number, is configured by using a row of DIL / DIP switches. The number which the light is assigned is manually configured at the time of installation simply by the moving of one or more switches (which are numbered 1,2,4,8,16,32 etc)

 

Giving a light an Address of 1 or 2 or 4 is easy, simply move the switch numbered 1,2 or 4 and the light will be assigned that number. However the consecutive numbers in between require two or more switches to be selected.

 

Example

 

A light would be given the ID Address of '3' simply by moving both of the 1 & 2 switches to the 'on' position

 

Another light could be given the ID address of '6' by moving the '4' and '2' switches to the 'on' position

 

Another unit could be given the ID address of '20' by moving the '16' and '4' switches to the 'on' position

 

And so on. In other words the light id number is selected by adding together the numbers of the switches which are moved to the 'on' position.

 

Its generally good practice that the light id's are assigned consecutively, so if you had 4 lights, they would be numbered 1,2,3 & 4 - if you had 12 lights they would be assigned 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 & 12 and so on, with each ID being individually addressed by moving the relevant combination of switches to create the ID number.

 

The lights can then be chained together, usually using 3 pin XLR plugs & sockets and connected to a controller. Even though the lights are all connected in a chain, each light is individually 'coded' to the corresponding channel on the DMX controller by way of its DIP switch assigned number, and so if you had assigned number '1' to a light, then only this light would respond when '1' is selected on the controller. Selecting '2' on the controller would mean that light number '2' would respond to the commands on the controller and so on.

 

Thus it is possible to have light 1 showing green, whilst light 2 shows purple, light three shows 'red' and so on, or of course you could select 1 to 4 on the controller and so all 4 lights would then synchronise together, following the same commands as entered into the controller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brentford Bob 0]

Thank you Mr McCardle - I appreciate the time you've spent typing that lot out!

 

Think I'll stick to sound to light for now because I still don't get it!