connecting different types of DMX units

[JMackenzie]

Hello.

I am probably being stupid asking this, but I am a little confused.

A few months ago I purchased four "par 64" type LED lamps and a Skytec controller.

 

I set them up with DMX addresses 1, 17, 33, 49, as suggested by the manual for the controller. They are however only 5 channel devices. This allows me to have them all creating the same colour washes together, or fades or strobe. By using "scenes" I can also have the individual units doing different things.

This week I purchased another "Wash Type" LED unit , a rectangular fitting.

It however turns out to be 4 channel.

I set its address to be 65, but then realised that the control faders on the desk are doing different functions from the other 4 units.

To try and get them to function as five all doing the same, I then set its DMX address to 66. This gives me RED, Green and Blue controlled by the same faders on all units.

Unfortunately, Fader 4 controls Intensityand Strobe on Unit 5, but on the other 4 units it controls crossfade speed. Fader 1 now has no effect on Unit 5.

Should I be able to use a mixture 4 and 5 channel units , using the same controller, or is the "fade" function simply just built into the DMX device?

I hope this is not too vague!!

John

[lite_lad]

im not 100% sure what you mean... but I think your problem is because different DMX units have different "profiles" which is basically what each channel does.

it will probably tell you in the manual for each light what there profile is. What is the exact controller as someone else may have used it before?

 

but with the profiles its basically:

 

one unit could have

 

channel 1: red

Channel 2: green

Channel 3: blue

Channel 4: strobe

 

and another unit could have:

 

Channel 1: strobe

Channel 2: red

Channel 3: blue

Channel 4: green

 

so if you put up channel 1 on both units then the first would bring up the red while the other one would be strobing (although it probably wouldnt do anything unless one of the colours was up!)

 

hope this makes sense? and someone else should know how to make this work for your desk, but this is why it doesnt work!

[Wilflet]

by the sounds of it the last fixture, having one less channel, is probably lacking a fade channel.

 

Am I right in thinking that you have one fader on the desk that controls ch 1, 17, 33 etc. with fader 2 doing ch 2, 18, 34 etc?

can they be controlled individually (a page button perhaps)?

 

Will you always want both types of fixture doing the same? Perhaps if you address it to say 6 you have the faders for it available at the same time as fixture 1, not too much hassle to program it in with the others, and can be used on its own/differently.

[KevinE]

You don't say what model of skytec controller you have, but this mismatch of faders between makes of fixture is common in the DMX world and is overcome by what is known as 'channel patching'. This is where you can program what faders control what DMX channels so you can re-arrange them to all be in the same position for your convenience.

 

Most 'DJ' or budget DMX controllers dont have this facility at all, though its standard on pro desks.

 

If your Skytec isnt patcheable, you'll have to learn to live with it!

[JMackenzie]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I shall explain further.

My DMX controller is a "Skytec 192 Channel Professional DMX Operator".

My original lights are LEDJ eco PAR64.

The new one is a LEDJ RGB252 Wash type.

All the equipment was bought from CPC.

 

Looking again at the manual for the new lamp, it lists a little table.

Channel 1 RED 0-100%

Channel 2 GREEN 0-100%

Channel 3 BLUE )-100%

Channel 4 Shutter /strobe/Dimmer

Blackout 000

Intensity 001-189

Strobe 190-350

Full on 251-255.

 

To get this to work in conjunction with the others, ie all doing the same thing, I have shifted its start address up by 1, from 65 to 66. This makes the colour faders all in the same position. Trouble is, with fader 4 doing different functions, unless I have it at Full on (251-255), my new lamp would be strobing at some positions.

For normal wash use, this does not matter, but for nice smooth colour changes, my new lamp will have to be left off.

 

The original 4 PAR64's use channel 1 0-63 RGB control

64-127 is 7 colour fade

128-191 is a 7 colour change

192-255 is a 3 colour change

 

The speed of fades and changes is controlled by Channel 5.

 

Channel 2 is Red intensity

Channel 3 is Green intensity

Channel 4 is Blue intensity.

 

I had always thought that the DMX controller did all the functions to control the lamps, but I realise that they must have different functions built into them, or "PROFILES" as was already suggested. I dont think I am going to be able to use them all to do the same thing. If I set up some scenes, I can probably make better use of what I have.

We do quite a bit of "sound to light", controlled from the DMX controller, triggered by the sound desk. I have not tried this yet with the new lamp, as I have only had it three days.

Thanks to all of you for your help.

[greenalien]

Here's something to try - when the intensity channel of your new light is set to 100%, can you still control the red, green and blue channels completely, i.e. from 0 (out) to 255 (full on)?

 

If so, you should be able to do all youir patches just by using the red, green and blue faders, and leave the intensity fader full on all the time. The desk will then take care of running your sound to light chases.

[dmxtothemax]

You can use lights with different profiles on one controler,

It might get complicated,

But with a little paitence you can set up some preset scenes that make it easier,

Or check the operaters manual to see if you can shift around the order of the control channels,

In some desks you can, some you cant.

[KevinE]

You can't on that DMX operator.

 

You will just have to store some scenes and then run them from the scene buttons or build them into a chase or show and run them that way.

Of course you can have them doing the same thing in a scene because you will have set the faders first!

But in manual control mode, you're going to be fiddling with faders everywhere.