DMX Daisy Chaining Question

[dlucks]

Let's say I have 5 DMX lighting fixtures as follows:

- 2 effect lights of the same make/model (E1 & E2)

- 1 DMX mirror ball motor (M1)

- 1 DMX strobe light (S1)

- 1 Scanner light (O1)

 

The 2 effect lights' owner's manual will say you can set one for master and the other for slave and trip a dip to have one do inverse movements/effects as the other, right?

 

My question is...is there anything special I need to do to accomplish the master/slave for the 2 effect lights AND daisy chain the rest of the fixtures inline as well?

 

Does it matter which order the fixtures are linked together? That is, do the 2 master/slave devices need to be adjacent? And does the master device have to be first in line?

 

Could you chain them this way:

 

M1 > E1 > E2 > S1 > O1

[CPlater1]

can we have some more information? Are you using a control desk with all this? normally you can daisy chain in any order, as it is a data signal, but I would suggest having the master light 1st in the chain.

 

HTH

 

Chris

[jayselway]

Welcome to the Blue Room :)

 

Looking at the info you have given, it looks like the only two units which are of the same make and model are the two effects.

 

So, I presume you wish to use another controller for the other units, (motors strobe scan)??

 

My understanding is that you can only ever have one controller on a DMX chain. Therefore, if you set one effect to master, you are "in effect" creating a controller. Hence, these two effects would have to be on a seperate DMX chain to the other units. Can you not control the two effects from the same controller as the other DMX units?

 

Hope that helps a little...

 

Jay ;)

[dlucks]

ok...a little more info regarding the controller.

 

I'm hoping to have a single, simple controller like the Chauvet DMX-50a (http://www.chauvetlighting.com/system/fixtures/dmx50a.html)

 

Is it possible to string together the fixture list in my initial post in one DMX chain and have the 2 identical effect fixtures act as master/slave to one another?

[CPlater1]

on some lighting effects it is possible, but if you want the two lights just to be master/slave, have those two just connected together. Most effects lights do stand alone OR DMX, not many do both. What effects lights are they?

 

HTH

 

Chris

[dlucks]

Chris,

 

The effects are Chauvet Fascination: http://www.chauvetlighting.com/system/fixt...ascination.html

 

I guess I'm hoping to set these up inverse to one another in a master/slave config and then just be able to control them both (in sync) from one "button" on my controller. The other fixtures, obviously, will each be assigned "buttons" of their own.

 

DLucks

[CPlater1]

AFAIK this isnt possible, but there may be some people who have done this.

 

Chris

[thelxbloke]

There is a way to do this as long as you are happy with having to use the controller for everything.

 

Simply put the two effects that you need the same on the same DMX address, this way anything you send to one, the other will do aswell.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Steve

[dlucks]

Thanks Steve. That helps a lot. I feel like a retard for not thinking of this.

 

I do want to use the controller for everything...from the controller, I can set the fixtures into auto mode (sound-activated), control them manually, or program/play "scenes".

 

Isn't this typical?

 

Thanks,

DLucks

[back_ache]

Isn't this typical?

To be blunt, No.

 

You cannot do it the way you want to, to do what you want to do the master light would have to be a controller as well as being controlled and most units don't work this way.

 

To do achive what you want you must have one controller, sending out the control information and every other device just listening.

 

I would forget trying to put a simple controller in, you won't get the most out of your lights, instead look for a controller designed for sound to light that will give you an interface you are happy with, I personally would be tempted to use a PC, an open DMX interface and some free software called freestyler http://users.pandora.be/freestylerdmx/

[Silver_Rayne]

I think putting both effects units at teh end of your DMX chain with the same address but using the invert dip on one of them they should both respond to the controller in the same way.

Alternativly have them at the end of the chain and set one as a master and do not address the second but but set it as the slave, I'm doubtfull this would work but it is worth a try.

so for ex

M1 (48) > S1(49) > O1(50) > E1(51-53) > E2(51-53I)

M1 (48) > S1(49) > O1(50) > E1(51-53M)>E2(S)

 

Will have a play later if I remember.

[peternewman]

You cannot do it the way you want to, to do what you want to do the master light would have to be a controller as well as being controlled and most units don't work this way.

I think what the OP actually wants to do is have them respond the same, apart from invert the pan on the second one.

 

I think putting both effects units at teh end of your DMX chain with the same address but using the invert dip on one of them they should both respond to the controller in the same way.

Yep that sounds like it should work fine, assuming the invert dip applies to the DMX control too.

 

However you will get more flexibility, assuming your controller can control enough channels, by having them on different addresses. Set the invert dip by all means. But separating them gives you more options.

 

HTH

 

PN

[Tomo]

Master/Slave settings will not work if there is a DMX controller in the system, because the DMX controller is automatically the Master Of The Universe, and there can be only one!

 

What you can do is set many fixtures/lights to the same address, so they will do exactly the same thing.

Adding a pan and/or tilt invert to one will make it mirror the movements in the pan / tilt domains, which is often helpful in limted Universes.

 

It does not matter what order your fixtures/light are plugged into the DMX chain.

The controller is always first, then do it in whatever order makes the most sense given the physical locations of the units, and never, ever use a Y-cable.

 

If you can tell your units to go into 'sound-to-light' mode via DMX, you won't be able to tell the two units to do the same thing while in that mode so you'll probably be better off using a controller with a sound-to-light mode.

[back_ache]

I think what the OP actually wants to do is have them respond the same, apart from invert the pan on the second one.

 

The way I read it he wants to cascade the controllers, in other words he wants control via DMX the controller in the first unit so that it either passes-thru his commands or creates a sound-to-light DMX stream for itself and devices downstream of it.

[thelxbloke]

Can I refer people to post 9, the reply to my previous one.

 

I do want to use the controller for everything...from the controller, I can set the fixtures into auto mode (sound-activated), control them manually, or program/play "scenes".

 

I think the OP wants to do this using the inbuilt sound to light capabilities of the controller specified here.

http://www.chauvetlighting.com/system/fixtures/dmx50a.html

[sitequote]

Beat-activation, tap sync, auto run

Grab any fixture on the fly

[/sitequote]

Thus he would hit the specific fixture button on his controller then hit the sound to light button and hope for the best. Then by copying the DMX address onto two fixtures have two doing the same thing.

 

 

Or is my deductive reasoning playing up?? :wacko:

 

Steve