misterm Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I'm the new drama teacher at a high school in south GA and have inherited a lighting problem from the former ones (who didnt know what they were dealing with). First, the old board they were using was fried, so I bought some DMX software and was going to update the system to run off of a computer control. Went to plug it in and found out my biggest problem. The outlet is for a 4-pin XLR cable, which means the system probable runs AMX 192 protocol. Couldn't find an AMX console to buy, so we bought an ETC response converter for DMX-AMX and a used AVEO Precept 36. Plug it in and the lights actually come on, but we have no control over actually dimming them. Now I checked the wiring into the socket, but its not labeled in any form I've seen before. typically, AMX is labeled as 1) Common (or screen or something); 2)Clock +; 3)AMX signal (or multiplex); 4)Clock -. Ours is labeled as (not sure of the order, it fried my brain I worked on it so long) MUX; COM M-1; SENS; COM S-1. Any help that you can offer, we'd appreciate. We're trying to get this drama program back on its feet after some years of neglect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossmck Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 I could be completely wrong but I thought the Avo Precept desks were analogue (0-10v) ? What type of dimmers do you have ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterm Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 I could be completely wrong but I thought the Avo Precept desks were analogue (0-10v) ? What type of dimmers do you have ? yeah, I did to. in fact, it was advertised as such, but when I got it in, lo and behold, its DMX with a 5-pin XLR output. it also has a 25 pin (I think!) optional output, and the manual says something about a Light Lynk demux.not sure about the dimmers, I can check next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterm Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 ok just checked. the dimmers are Electro Controls. the old desk was an ElectroControl Celebrity, probably meant to run just for that dimmer pack. turns out that Strand took over that company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 You can buy a DMX to AMX converter from Doug Fleenor Design. It's available in either 192 or 384 channel versions and is on your side of the pond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterm Posted January 6, 2009 Author Share Posted January 6, 2009 You can buy a DMX to AMX converter from Doug Fleenor Design. It's available in either 192 or 384 channel versions and is on your side of the pond. already have a converter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmills Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 EC used something called ECmux for the Celebrity, about which I find this with a little application of Google: "Electro Controls entered the digital protocol race in 1983. They introduced ECmux protocol, originally known as "Celebrity Protocol" after the console that it was developed for. The protocol was expanded in 1985 to carry channel/dimmer softpatch information. Strand acquired EC in 1986. By 1992, Strand had stopped production of all EC-designed equipment except a new Premiere architectural control system. ECmux was an asynchronous protocol operating at 187.5 Kbaud and 8-bit resolution. EC employed a single-ended (one wire plus common) transmission line for their data signal, which limited the practical control cable length to 150 feets (50m). ECmux used a 4-pin XLR connector, wired as follows: shield or common on pin 1, data (minus) on pin 2, rack overtemp sense on pin 3, and no connection on pin 4. ECmux can carry level data for 512 dimmers in one continuous packet. All protocol versions reserved FFh for a start code, so the maximum value that a channel can reach is FEh (decimal 254)." That does not look anything like AMX to me, and if that is what it is, then fixing that Celebrity might be the best option!There is almost, kind of, sort of, enough information there that someone good with a microcontroller might be able to hack up a converter, but it would need access to the kit for testing (and some measurements) and would be a bit of a project! I think that this may well be what you are dealing with and not AMX at all. These guys http://www.pathwayconnect.com/content/view/32/29/ do a converter box that converts to ECmux among other things (but it looks a bit expensive!).Are there any labels on the dimmer racks, ElectroControls dimmers running this abomination were the QD and Playmate series. Edit: If it is AMX, it is possible that the pinout was transfered 1:1 from an older TA4 connector which might explain things? Regards, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterm Posted January 8, 2009 Author Share Posted January 8, 2009 \That does not look anything like AMX to me, and if that is what it is, then fixing that Celebrity might be the best option! Thanks Dan, your info has helped a lot so far! Any idea about how to fix that beast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmills Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I have never even seen one, EC not marketing into Europe to any measurable extent, and I don't think I have even seen AMX in use (The UK went pretty much straight from Analogue to D54 to DMX by and large), but the usual sort of fault finding would seem to apply.It would be worth seeing if there is a memory backup battery in there as that would surely need replacing, check power rails and for dry electrolytic caps, and just work through it. It might be worth while seeing if you can find one of those converter boxes to hire first just to see if the dimming system itself is even close to functional, and you will obviously want to get the wiring inspected if this install has not been run for a while. What are the dimmers? If it is ECmux they will be labelled QD or Playmate series. Regards, Dan. A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on. You might want to have a chat to these guys: http://www.johnsonsystems.com/ Who seem to have DMX retrofit kits for Playmate and QD series dimmers available (Basically new control cards).Assuming it is an ECmux system, this would solve your problem by allowing you to run DMX directly. Regards, Dan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misterm Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 What are the dimmers? If it is ECmux they will be labelled QD or Playmate series. Thanks, Dan, everything you;ve supplied has really catapaulted me in my research into this beast. As far as I can tell, the dimmers are QD racks. They're not labeled that I can find, but from what I've seen in researching them, the QD matches what our dimmers look like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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