jcblincs Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 hi - newbie here can anyone explain the difference between 3pin XLR and 5pin systems for DMX. For a set up using approx 20 channels to control fixed lights is there any practical difference in the two systems ?thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 I'd search the Blue Room for this if I were you - there have been DOZENS of topics with about as many opinions..! :D edit - PM'd mods before this launches into a new diatribe of 3 vs 5... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woofy Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 hi - newbie here can anyone explain the difference between 3pin XLR and 5pin systems for DMX. For a set up using approx 20 channels to control fixed lights is there any practical difference in the two systems ?thanks By the book - 5 Pin XLR's are the required connector for DMX, 3 Pin XLR's are excluded (not allowed).However 3 Pin XLR's are very popular, if not predominant. I recently purchase some Stairville Led Par56's, Mobile color 150 and some scanners. All have 3 Pin XLR's on them. An alternate pair is defined for 5 Pin XLR's on pins 4,5 but rarely used. 3 Pin XLR's:Pin 1 - CommonPin 2 - DMX -Pin 3 - DMX + 5 Pin XLR's:Pin 1 - CommonPin 2 - DMX -Pin 3 - DMX +Pin 4 - Alt DMX -Pin 5 - Alt DMX + As far as practical differences are concerned, you will probably find 3 Pin XLR's are cheaper but that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Moderation: As predicted, we're going to close this topic as it has been done rather a lot. I was going to post a link to the most useful topic, but entering DMX 5 3 pin into the search box brought so many topics up, I've not had time to see which to recommend. This I will leave to the OP to have a read through. Paul Mods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Bloke Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 You may like to look at the Wiki entry for this or this thread which asks virtually the same question as yours, or this interesting discussion or any of the many other topics on the Blue Room that discuss this. To keep everything in the same place, I'll close this topic and we can all comment on one of the others if we wish to chat further. Oops!!! Looks like Paul and I were doing the same thing at the same time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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