Pulsar Conversion

[jexjexjex]

Hi all.

 

Many moons ago, I bought a couple of Pulsar 6 way analogue desks to send out on hire to small venues.

 

At the time, I knew that they would need "converted" to the Zero88/Everyone else standard but, given that there is a terminal block inside, it should have been dead simple.

 

No such luck - or maybe I'm just stupid!

 

I've used Tom Baldwins pinout table for 8pin DIN as a guide and swapped over the numbers accordingly.

 

I'm not getting any lights fading in/out at all on my dimmer pack (Zero88 Beta2), so I've either missed something, or the two terminal blocks inside the desk don't simply run 1 - 8 as I assumed.

 

What I am getting, is the test LEDs for channels 3 & 4 coming on dimly.

 

Can someone help by confirming what wire colour goes (or should go) where?

[bruce]

Does the Pulsar desk have a built-in PSU, or does it expect a supply from the dimmer? According to the manual on the pulsar website, I think it can do either. For testing, use an external PSU at this stage. It needs 14-25V DC.

 

Can't answer the specific question, but it shouldn't be too difficult to work out, given a few minutes and a voltmeter.

 

There are 8 connections on the desk. These should be 0V, +V (supply) and the 6 0-10V outputs.

 

Look at the PCB beside the connections. Look for a pattern. 6 of them will be "similar" and 2 "different". Try to work out which of the 2 "different" ones is ground (it'll be connected to a track that goes all over the board) and which is supply (it'll probably go to a voltage regulator).

 

Once you've identified this, connect up the external PSU and power it up. Pull all the faders down.

 

Stick a voltmeter between 0V and each other terminal. They should all read 0V.

 

Raise fader #1. Check all the terminals - one should now be at +10V.

Repeat for the other 5 faders.

 

Once you've identified these channels, you can try using a power supply from the dimmer.

 

have fun!

[cliveybaby]

pulsar pins

 

1 - + in/supply

2 - 0v

3 - ch1

4 - ch2

5 - ch3

6 - ch4

7 - ch5

8 - ch6

 

zero 88 pins

 

1 - ch1

2 - ch2

3 - ch3

4 - ch4

5 - ch5

6 - ch6

7 - + in/supply

8 - 0v

 

as long as your controller is self powered

then you do not need the + in/supply at all

just connect the 0v as a reference

 

Cliveybaby

[bruce]

I don't think that's what he's asking, Clive - that pinout info is all on Tom's pages that he provided the link to. It's the pinout of the internal terminal block that he needs.

 

Jex - Check you're looking at the DIN plugs from the "right" side when working out the numbering. If only you'd asked a couple of weeks ago - I chucked a couple of pulsar-to-sensible adaptors in the bin....

[erik10_4]

I assume the Zero88 is set to 'positive' output to the desk (red indicator light on front panel rather than green) as the Pulsar desk is expecting positive supply ?

[cliveybaby]

Gotcher,

 

I could help if I saw a pic

 

Bruce's method is the best to go

 

its a lot easier than you think

 

once youve got your + and - then its

 

sorted

 

Bruce mentioned that the 0 volt should be obvious, it should

 

Also Pulsar had a habbit of priting the values and signal info on the other side of the

PCB, I dont know the little desk you are using but have a look

on the PCB side that is facing the inner side of the front panel

 

Good luck

 

Cliveybaby

[Neil Hampson]

Don't forget that the DIN plug numbering does not go around in order 1-8, (CW from gap 7,3,5,2,4,1,6&8 in the middle) but on the Terminal strip it is most likey to go in the right order.

As it seems to be Ch5&6 that come on could it be that you have converted the wrong way aroung I.e gone from Zero88-Pulsar again rather than Pulsar-Zero88, as the cable conversion is not symetrical you need to apply the conversion correctly. I had a couple of Pulsar Dimmers on hire and I had to make the cables as the convertor, I remember spending most of my rigging day making them work, I was just about to phone up to have the dimmers swapped when it occured to me that swapping the cables the other way around makes a different pinout... (I marked the cables up after that!)

[springgrove]

I agree that this is easy to do once you've sorted out the arrangement. Often manufacturers use a helpful colour coding on the wires from terminal block to socket, e.g. black=0V, brown=1, red=2, orange=3, yellow=4, green=5, blue=6, some other colour (e.g. pink) = +V supply. Like the resistor colour code.

[jexjexjex]

Hi all

 

Thanks everyone for the info so far.

 

Cliveybaby, I can't do a photo but hopefully the diagram below is of some use.

 

As most of us know, inside the Pulsar desk there are 2 terminal blocks, labelled and coloured as shown below.

_

| |# +ve supply White

| |# Earth Black

| |# Output 1 Brown

| |# Output 2 Red

|_|# Output 3 Purple

 

_

| |# +ve supply Empty

| |# Earth Empty

| |# Output 4 Yellow

| |# Output 5 Green

|_|# Output 6 Blue

 

If someone can tell me what colour goes where, I'll be eternally grateful.

 

I must admit, this is why I tend to leave the electronics to someone else!

 

Build a show? No problem. Programme and operate? Easy. Lantern maintenance? Bring it on! Electronics? Errrm, no. I'd rather pay someone to do it properly than risk damageing something very expensive...

 

Either way, all pointers gratefully accepted.

 

Thanks.

[bruce]

| |# +ve supply White

| |# Earth Black

| |# Output 1 Brown

| |# Output 2 Red

|_|# Output 3 Purple

 

_

| |# +ve supply Empty

| |# Earth Empty

| |# Output 4 Yellow

| |# Output 5 Green

|_|# Output 6 Blue

 

and Clive says:

1 - ch1

2 - ch2

3 - ch3

4 - ch4

5 - ch5

6 - ch6

7 - + in/supply

8 - 0v

 

So you need a cable that joins together the respective circuits. ie a 8-pin DIN which goes to the dimmer, where pin7 is connected to one of the +supply terminals on the desk, pin8 is connected to earth, and pins 1-6 are connected to outputs 1-6.

 

If you're using a separate PSU for the desk (are you?) leave pin7 on the DIN unconnected.

[springgrove]

So, If you want to connect from the terminal block to the 8-pin DIN socket, then looking from the BACK (solder side) of the socket, the connections with your coloured wires are as follows:

			Red


  Green		  Yellow


Purple			   Brown
	   Black


 White		Blue  
		 _
		| |

 

The thing at the bottom is the locating pin.

 

Nigel

[Neil Hampson]

I've never actually seen the inside of the Pulasr dimmers but I can see the reasoning of using the resistor colour code to order the cores. I don't want to confuse anyone here so this is Off Topic, but the 'Standard' colour order for cores in a multi is usually thus: (as it's based around a dozen colours I can only guess that it's a very old british standard)

1 [RED] Red

2 [bLU] Blue

3 [GRN] Green

4 [YLW] Yellow

5 [WHT] White

6 [bLK] Black

7 [bRN] Brown

8 [VIO]Violet

9 [ORG] Orange

10 [PNK] Pink

11 [TRQ] Turquise

12 [GRY] Grey

 

Beyond this a second colour tracer stripe is used giving a theoretical total of 78 combinations, but due to the simialr colour it is usualy limited to 36. Strand certianly used to use this convention.

[cliveybaby]

All is good

 

The colour coding is for reference when wiring up

as far as I know their is is no right or wrong way as long

as you are uniform

 

the resistor colour codes make sense

 

and Nigels plan also

 

just take your time

 

and remember soldering 8 pin dins is a pain in the bum

solder the centre pin first and work around

 

if you are stuck I have a few old ones lying around PM

 

Cliveybaby

[jexjexjex]

Quick update...

 

All done, all sorted, albeit after two atttempts.

 

Thans everyone for the advice.