LordAJ Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 Hi I recently got a Velleman K8062 USB-DMX Controller and have soldered it all together and seems to look ok. But when I plug it inot my computer it doesnt work?? It doesnt look like its sending any DMX signals. I use Freestyler and DMXControl. Does any have any experience with this controller? Anyone ever had these problems? On the disk it didnt look like there were any drivers for me to install. Does anyone know if there are any and where I can get them? For Freestyler and DMX control do you have to have profiles for the lights or can you just output onto the channel and it work? I thank you all in advance. LordAJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsource Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 I'm assumng you bought the kit from Maplin. Contact their Tech support first, and see what they say. Define - Seems to look ok - It dosen't work, so obviously it isn't. What software does the hardware support? Surely the product will tell you. Edit............ Just found this topic... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/lofiversion/index.php/t7235.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMXBandit Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 I have used the Velleman K8062 without needing any drivers. Make sure you tell Freestyler which USB-DMX adapter you are using, and check your DMX channels in Freestyler match the addresses of whatever your wanting to control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted December 26, 2007 Share Posted December 26, 2007 If the lights aren't in the fixture library then yes you'll need to make a personality file before it'll address them properly, or else trying to operate them manually will be really awkward. As the previous post intimates, Freestyler already has drivers for the Velleman kit as standard so no extra ones are needed. You need to go into the configure menu and tell it which DMX adapter is fitted so it can output the correct protocol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 I used a Velleman kit (sound effect module) for a project at work as it saved time designing my own - bit of a mistake! 2 board tracks in particular were so close they had been etched as one. It took a lot of searching and checking circuit diagrams against the real board to find it. Just because your soldered joints look ok, doesn't mean the board is. Check polarities of diodes, check for splattered solder bridging tracks (They are fiendishly close together).It would be interesting to have a look at the string coming out of the unit. Is hyperterminal an option here? I seem to recall DMX is a distant relative of rs232, so would hyperterminal be able to read the string? Just a thought!Problem you have at the minute is that when my unit worked, I heard the sound effect produced, yours may be a little more subtle. C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Not a chance, DMX is RS485 and a very specific protocol, nothing like hyperterminal which is RS232 (or whatever port you've got patched) and ASCII. You best bet is an oscilloscope, or one of those neutrik / other DMX dongles that show correct DMX presence. It's worth noting that even with no chases being executed by the program, the DMX data is still continuously sent as soon as Freestyler is told which converter is connected. I doubt the forum can cover all eventualities for the non-working of a self-assembled circuit board! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 My housemate built one of these, and it took us a good 3 hours to find all the faults on it, mainly from manufacture. Check all the soldering very carefully, the boards seem to get solder spiders very easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 While this is of no use to the OP, CPC appear to sell both the assembled and kit version of this interface. The assembled version is only a little more expensive, but at least you can return it if it doesn't work. The Velleman part number is VM116 for the assembled interface, and K8062 for the kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoppaDom Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 Not a chance, DMX is RS485 and a very specific protocol, nothing like hyperterminal which is RS232 (or whatever port you've got patched) and ASCII. You best bet is an oscilloscope, or one of those neutrik / other DMX dongles that show correct DMX presence. It's worth noting that even with no chases being executed by the program, the DMX data is still continuously sent as soon as Freestyler is told which converter is connected. I doubt the forum can cover all eventualities for the non-working of a self-assembled circuit board! Actually isn't RS485 a balanced version of RS232 with error checking? Poppadom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 RS485 is merely an interfacing standard. It has no mechanism for error checking. It doesn't even define how data frames should be sent. It is balanced though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lyall Posted December 27, 2007 Share Posted December 27, 2007 I had problems getting it to work with USB 1.1 and 1.0... IE it doesn't work! So it might be worth checking that your plugged into a USB 2.0 port... Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Another point I have just remembered, we had no luck in getting it to work with Windows Vista; so if you're on a vista machine it could be that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 Actually isn't RS485 a balanced version of RS232 with error checking? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bh00 Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 I had problems getting it to work with USB 1.1 and 1.0... IE it doesn't work! So it might be worth checking that your plugged into a USB 2.0 port... SimonHad the module running on a USB 1.1 hub (least thats what my laptop said it was) and it seemed to run fine (was your exact kit as well!) Another point I have just remembered, we had no luck in getting it to work with Windows Vista; so if you're on a vista machine it could be that.Also had it running on my Vista laptop. However that was using the included VB6 dlls/example code so could be a slight difference there. Believe the software comes with some different examples in different languages. May be possible to run one of these to see if that can control it? Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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