DMX Testers

[Matt]

I have seen a DMX tester in kit from maplins... though that was a long time ago.

 

 

Matt.

[andy_s]

Artistic Licence make DMX testers - they do something called Micro-scope 3a which is lots of money (£300ish?) and one called Line-Light 5 which is much cheaper (£30ish). they have a website: www.artisticlicence.com (sorry I don't know how to do links) which no doubt will show you what the difference between them is.

[Brian]

I've got a Micro-Scope 3a and it's a very useful tool, allows you to look at every detail in a DMX data stream. But then I design DMX hardware so I need to be able to do that. You can look at what values you desk is putting out for any channel plus it has a flicker-finder function to find those annoying, well, flickers.

[gareth]

Artistic Licence make DMX testers - they do something called Micro-scope 3a which is lots of money (£300ish?) and one called Line-Light 5 which is much cheaper (£30ish). they have a website: www.artisticlicence.com (sorry I don't know how to do links) which no doubt will show you what the difference between them is.

I have a Microscope 3a, and it's a very good piece of kit, which does a huge amount of stuff. (Having said that, Artistic Licence aren't exactly speedy at updating their library of fixture files on their web site, although they do get there in the end ... and the only way you can update the fixture files in the Microscope is to splash out an extra 70 quid or so on the programming cable, which is a very useful accessory but something which I strongly believe should be included in the purchase price of the basic unit.)

 

The Line-Light 5, while being a useful 'quick-and-dirty' tool to look for the presence of DMX at a socket, is a bit of a rip-off - there's a web site somewhere (I'll dig out the link at some point) which contains a diagram which will enable you to make your own from an XLR5, a bi-colour LED and a couple of resistors.

[Ben]

if its the line light you ar after they are very easy to make up I have done loads, I dont have the resistor values with me but if interested let me know and I will post them when I get home.

[SparkySteve]

Thanks guys... its the line light I want, ideally... alot lot cheaper! I was talking to one of the tech guys at a venue I was working at yesterday and he said that there's a guy at ebay who makes up anything you want... like cable testers, DMX testers which tell u wich pin is dogey an stuff like that, all off phantom power. he couldn't remember the address though :blink:

 

thanks alot for the help, much appreciated!

 

those plans could come in hand if you could email me them it would be great!

 

cheers and out

 

steve

[Martin]

Have a look here for diy DMX tester plug thing.

[SparkySteve]

I'm not sure how it works, but the actual tester thing itself doesn't have a power source other than whats coming down the cable... I jus presumed there must be enough power coming down a DMX line to work (?) but stuff like the mic line testers etc. all use the same sort of thing

[MattH]

Give TMB a go.

 

Matt

[LegendTheatrical]

Swisson makes killer DMX testers at a cheap price! They have amazing customer service and I have never had a problem with their equipment. They are used exclusively in our rental department, as well as our production team. Check them out at www.swisson.com. I am a Swisson distributor you can check out the whole Swisson line at http://www.legendtheatrical.com

[ben.suffolk]

I'm not sure how it works, but the actual tester thing itself doesn't have a power source other than whats coming down the cable

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Its based on the fact that DMX is driven as a differential line, this means that when sending a digital 1 one line is +ve and the other is -ve, when sending a digital 0 this is reversed. By putting a bi-colour LED across the lines (stick a 270R resister in series with it, and another one in parallel - This then gives a load close enough to a terminating plug, and limits the current draw from the LED) it will light with red for one state and green for the other.

 

Now because the data is changing so fast you don't really see all the changes, but you get an idea from the colour what the 'average' digital value being sent is, so with all channel values at 0 it will be biased towards the 0 colour, and with all values at 255 (100%) it will be biased towards the 1 colour (colour for each state will depend on which way round you wired the LED)

 

Hope thats helps

 

Ben

[Andrew C]

As Big Clive shows here.

 

http://www.emanator.demon.co.uk/bigclive/dmxtest1.gif

[Doug kelly]

I can recommend the Goddard Design DMX testers. I have owned a Lil'dmxter for over 10 years now. The mini dmxter is good as well.

 

They are available form Chris at XTBA

 

http://www.xtba.co.uk/

 

I am unsure of the price but they are cheaper now than they were 10 years ago

 

 

Doug

[Matt567]

Hi there,

 

Have a look at the Zero 88 version of the Microscope 3a, the Debug.

 

A really good but of kit!

[ben.suffolk]

Thinking about this a bit more, you could actually use the other style of bi-colour LED, the one with 3 leads, so instead of the the colour changing based on the polarity you power either the red or the green LED with a common 0v.

 

So you could connect common to pin 1 with a resistor and then the other 2 leads to pins 2 & 3. This would give you a few more checks that could be done :-

 

Orange (colour flicker) : All Ok (You should still get the red / green colour bias for all up / all down)

Solid Red : Pin 2 disconnected

Solid Green : Pin 3 disconnected

Off : Pin 0 disconnected

 

The Red / Green would depend on which way you connected the LED of course.

 

I might make one of these up next time I order a few parts from CPC, just to see if it does indeed work as I think.

 

Ben