pscandrett

Hi all - I have a few decent bits of kit that I think should be rehomed...

Swisson DMX merger X-MG-51

A fully configurable 5-input DMX merger which can be set to split inputs by DMX addresses, or HTP, or for live backup or concurrent use with multiple controllers in a venue. It has an internal relay that in the event of power failure which will autoconnect the bypass input to the output.
https://swisson.com/en/products/data-distribution/DMX-merger/

The DMX merger was fully serviced a couple of years ago by Stage Electrics, and since then it's not been used in anger at all (it still has the Stage Electrics service tag on it!). It's in excellent condition.

Artistic Licence sunDial quad
(1k sunDial 4 Channel Trailing Edge Dimmer + DMX/RDM Control. 1KW 230 VAC)

An excellent product from AL... Great for dimming LED lamps - lots of places use it for houselights. Bought secondhand-newish from ebay for a project that never really got off the ground, and I don't think I'll get round to using it in the near future - so I thought I'd try to sell it again. It looks unused apart from being powered up (I never did much with it!).

Info, data sheets etc: https://artisticlicence.com/product/sundial-quad/
 

Ideally I would like £325 for the sunDial LED dimmer and £500 for the merger but I'm up for negotiation on prices if necessary; make an offer if they're useful to you. Postage at cost (perhaps £25 each?) to the UK. Private sale so no VAT, but can invoice. I'm in Manchester if pickup is easier.

 

Addendum - as I write this, I realise I also have:

Artistic Licence Rail-split (RDM) DMX splitter - two units available

DIN Rail mounted DMX splitters with RDM functionality. These are used, but both power up and work (I haven't tested exhaustively, but worked when I used them briefly for something else). Anyone interested in either or both of these? Make me an offer... The v2 version available are, new, about £250 ex VAT (no VAT on mine). Mine are a bit older, presume v1 (with the orange label). [I shall email AL to see if they're upgradeable to the latest RDM/firmware.] I can get pics tomorrow.

Link to newer version (mine are older): https://artisticlicence.com/product/rail-split-rdm-ii/

I don't quite know what you're asking about the '1 one' but if you're dimming LED houselights one of the standard answers now is to install the Artistic Licence LED sundial dimmer, specifically designed for dimming LED lamps. https://artisticlicence.com/product/sundial-quad/
(This may not answer your question but hope it's useful anyway.)

Expensive, but a lot of TV/filming now use Astera's Titan Tubes in the fittings' diffusers as 'drop in' controllable fluorescent replacements. Without knowing your use context, that may or may not be useful info!

You can't leave us hanging! What was the response when you pointed out that your trap cable had incorrectly passed? How did they reply to try to (re)gain your trust in their service?

If it helps, it looks like it's a generic one that's been marketed under several brands:

Neoflash: https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-2218323624-strobo-1500w-DMX-profissional-_JM#position=3&search_layout=stack&type=item&tracking_id=ade2f11a-d17d-4ba5-9f3b-706a75da5e09

Vaporiser: http://vikinglighting.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1125

Or Vaporizer(!): https://sterlingeventgroup.co.uk/equipment-hire/strobe-light-1500w-DMX.html

I think the best bet is HQ Power https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic-data2.manualslib.com%2Fproduct-images%2F181%2F18062%2F1806164%2Fraw.jpg&tbnid=izuioH9Z8sqlCM&vet=12ahUKEwjygvu4gMb-AhXTnCcCHe9YDWkQMygQegUIARDaAQ..I&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.manualslib.com%2Fmanual%2F1806164%2FHq-Power-Vdp1500st.html&docid=gVuYw_jeo49DyM&w=560&h=560&q=strobe 1500w vaporizer&client=firefox-b-d&ved=2ahUKEwjygvu4gMb-AhXTnCcCHe9YDWkQMygQegUIARDaAQ

That above link takes you to the manual for that: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1806164/Hq-Power-Vdp1500st.html#manual which /might/ be the right one, though the manual itself doesn't have a picture.

ETA: searching VDP1500ST throws up other examples.

What do you need from the manual, out of interest?

(If it helps, I searched for 1500W strobe and browsed the pictures that came up, then searched other terms thrown up there.)

This thread is the best thing I've found that explains what went on, and why most Three customers were never going to get it.

https://twitter.com/davwheat_/status/1650149573313085441

As I understand it... essentially, your phone polls occasionally to see if there's any emergency thing to show you. If there is, on the next poll it downloads it and displays it. If there isn't, it goes back to sleep. The alert (and 'there's an alert to fetch' message) was 'live' for 20 minutes or so, from 1459-1520, so if you turned your phone on at 1515 then you'd still get the alert, but if you'd not got it by 1520 you were never going to get it at all.

The issue with Three is that they made the whole thing live a single time, so if your 3 phone /happened/ to poll in that short timeframe it would have alerted you. Otherwise, if you missed that one time, you've missed the boat and your phone would stubbornly stay silent in ignorance.

Also, it seems that on a previous test scenario, Three dropped the ball then too (with the same problem!).

I found it interesting.

If their budget is tight(er), what about looking for a secondhand ZR33/44 or similar? As we've established, Martin/Jem stuff is built to last and a year or two's use of one of those might convince the budget holders to invest in a new similar model when it finally dies. (I note there's a ZR22 on ebay at the moment...)

Are you swapping the cable across physical outputs from the desk (ie unplugging from one socket and putting it in another) or swapping logical ones (within the DMX network settings and sending different universes via the same socket)? Do you have a Swisson or DMXcat or similar to actually see what the output of the desk is coming out of the DMX output sockets and comparing them?

It does sound rather baffling, but the best I can think of is that one of the wires of the DMX cable (internal to the desk) might have become severed or intermittent somehow. It doesn't explain why one light works and the other doesn't if they're identical really, and it sounds puzzling.

 

Is it just a serial connection? You suggest that it might be easily hackable... (not that I have a project for it really.)

20 minutes ago, richardash1981 said:

On the "get something else for the show" route, I'm seeing a couple of Light Processor Q series desks available. I've never met one before, but they seem to be basic two-preset desks with DMX out (and various fancy stuff I hope not to have to use!). Anyone got any opinions?

In my experience Light Processor kit has generally been pretty solid and reliable; they probably 'do' DMX properly. I think they're now one of the brands of the company that also bought Zero88 (I've lost track of who it is now? Cooper Controls? Genlyte? Strand? Phillips? Anyway...) and I think much of their stuff is made in the same places as those other brands so there's some heritage to that equipment too. Certainly I've used Light Processor dimmers and DMX distros without much hassle. </single data point>

I've PM'd you about a Swisson XRC-200, but you might find it easier/as easy to hire another lighting desk for your 'something else' and use the Sixer for your LED strip, if you know that works. You can then use the hired/acquired desk for your main show over Easter...?

On 12/24/2021 at 11:27 AM, sunray said:

All I can say to that is thank heavens for Christmas lights for one month of the dark winter. Since our street lighting was changed from SOX to LED we are living in a dismal poorly lit safety hazard.

If it's that bad, have you taken it up with your council?

30 metres is quite a way. If they don't need to be controllable or particularly focussed I'd be inclined to look at the architectural world or similar - and that's something I'm not familiar with, sorry. I'd give someone like AC (or Stage Electrics, or White Light, or the usual suspects) a ring for a chat with their installation or special projects divisions to see what they can suggest. (Not negating your posting on here for advice at all!) Good luck.

I was originally going to suggest something like one of the Chauvet IP rated profiles with a narrow lens, but then realised they're not 'cheap'! (What sort of beam size are you after/what are you illuminating? How bright does it have to be?)

Although we're all trying to consume less power by using LEDs, what's the reason for requiring LED?

I've just had a look at the service docs on the Martin website and it has far fewer documents and published service updates than, say, the Mac 250+. About the only thing I can see that you probably can't (on https://www.martin.com/en-US/products/mac-401-dual-rgb-zoom) is a parts list.

I'm just a guy that did one of the Martin service courses some years ago and so have access to that side of the website. There may be someone more experienced with Martin units that may be able to help further.

I have no real idea but rummaging around the web for a manual (which I can't really find) suggests that they /might/ support DMX, though it might just be on the pages I found for keyword spamming. Regrettably it seems like a generic eastern driver without much in the way of support, documentation or probably even consistency across batches...

This page:

https://www.sk6812.com/?p=2994

has the cryptic line "There is a special version, only suuport Artnet," and has among the "Supported Pixel LED Drive chips:" DMX. Whcih is a bit odd.

If you have one that supports Artnet then the Tiger Touch or GMa2 will theoretically be able to talk to it, with the appropriate incantations and luck.

Do you have the T500k already, or are you looking to buy it? If the latter, I'd look for something with more of a pedigree, manual and support...

(I'm not sure if this post helps much or not. I hope it does.)

Um, reversed polarity is a thing on DMX, surely? If pins 2 and 3 are swapped, most devices won't recognise the data and indeed some older units and fixtures were pins 2+3-, I think, rather than the conventional 2-3+. It's more rare now I think, but @Robertdazzler that's all you need to do in a swap adaptor if you want to make one up to be prepared.

Looks like the company might have fizzled out:

Gov uk

Cached version of their website from 2020 here: Cached website

Some images of their products (eg Montano, Adoni) can be seen in the google image search.

I hope they /have/ survived though.

Just on the Cannon and Ball stuff, a recent episode of the Panto podcast was an interview with Tommy Cannon. Possibly worth a listen; I'm half way through having listened to a bit on the tram home.

Podcast: https://pantopodcast.podbean.com/e/86-tommy-cannon/

What sort of scale of events do you work on? If for gigs you want to supplement a floor package (or even flown) rig you already have you could get some panels of video wall and dangle/rig them around the space, as squares, strips or any other shape... or you could get some lighting units which have multi cells which you can map from your desk/media server. Do you have anything in mind particularly? Do you just want patterns and shapes, or what you might call 'proper' video content?

Let us know the sort of rig you have already (along with your control surface/setup) and perhaps we can use that as a springboard for ideas. Can you link to any pics/videos online that have inspired you to ask the question?

That link 404’s for me. I found this though. https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/WorkingWithMedia/DMX/index.html

Bizarrely hotlinking to it gives a 404, but navigating to it via the rest of the site shows it fine. Put 'Moment Factory' into the search on the 404 page and navigate to it from there (top link at the moment) and it'll show up.

Just a quick queery, I have a 1.5" 100ft length of hemp which I used to use with a pair of double 2" blocks for raising aerial masts [canterlever method] but it has been stored for a number of years in a cavity brick built unheated Granny annex. Before it's dumped would it be of any interest to anyone?

A stage manager friend posted on facebook today that he was after some old hemp for something... barriers, I think. Perhaps I can put you both in touch?

Worth pointing out this isn't some sort of amatuer cheat, it's done in live broadcast all the time. Any complicated sequence that can be pre-recorded will be. The news at ten on BBC is pre-recorded every night through to the end of the titles. Loads of live sports will have opening sequences recorded just before on-air. If you think back to Saturday night lottery gameshows, almost all of them were recorded months in advance, even though the actual draw was live, with the same presenter in the same clothes or references between the live and recorded parts.

 

Basically, don't think of it as a cop-out, think of it as a tool for making a better show for your audience, which is what everyone really wants.

As an example of this, there's Talking Telephone Numbers that went wrong when VT wound the tape whilst on air. This youtube link shows what was actually broadcast, and then the same thing with gallery talkback. The perils of 'live' TV!

Is this style of button bank any use? Seems to come in various configurations and button types:

Grayhill keypads

Edit: there were other replies as I replied, so I don't know if my response is appropriate now...