Parscan II Configuration

[scheetham]

Ive recently bought two Stage-Lighting Parscans II. Came with 1 PSU box, and a Flying Pig DMX -> MRL Converter.

Plus cables to connect the items together. However, one cable is missing from the collection and that was a cable between the

converter to the PSU unit. Tried to do a pin configuration, but no joy. Looked on the internet for info regarding these lights, but theres such limited info about them. Even the Stage Lighting - archive website is down.

 

So was wondering if theres anyone out there with experience and technical know how of these units. Ive read a lot that they are unreliable etc, but id love to resurrect these units again.

 

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

Many Thanks.

 

Steve

[swampman]

Analysis time: what connector is used. Internally what are the pins at both ends connected to and did you check out FlyingPig (High End Systems/ now part of Barco!) site for info on the converter - or better the forum http://forums.highend.com/ if you sift through that something may come to "light".

[niclights]

Does anything in this thread help?

[scheetham]

Many thanks for responding.

 

I have contacted High-End. But unfortunalty no one there knows of anything about the Protocol Converter.

 

Ive done a pin configuration of the PSU box. It is as follows:-

 

Pin 1 - +24volt

Pin 4 - Ground

Pin 7 - Data

Pin 8 - Data

 

Only these pins are connected on the Parscans themselves. And I know that the Parscans are picking up the supply as there are indicator lamps on the parscans circuit board, and when 1st switch on of the PSU,

the Parscan try to turn then stop.

 

Ive took the side panel off the Parscan to see where the Data cable goes, and its marked on the circuit board as "+Data" and "-Data"

 

The protocol converter has a XLR output and has pins 2 and 3 connceted the board. So I presuming that these are the + Data and - Data out. But unsure at this stage. I have connected them directly but theres

no response with the Desk. There is a Data indicator on the Converter, which flashes green, so DMX is present.

 

So still at scratching head stage. But all good fun.

In the meantime I shall plough through the forum of the HIGH End Website.

 

PS. Does anyone know how to post photos on here. Ive got photos of the units, but cannot post them up.

[Tom Baldwin]

Do you have access to an RS485 - RS232 converter? The MRL protocol is pretty straightforward, and only runs at 9600 baud, so with a converter you could quite easily route it into a terminal program on your PC, and see if the protocol stream is doing anything in response to the desk.

 

Also, have you tried swapping Data + and Data - in case they're the wrong way around?

[scheetham]

Tom

 

Ive a USB - RS-232 that I can connect to my laptop. So yes, I could try and connect it to my laptop. And see what kind of responce I receive from the protocol.

Would you suggest running "Terminal"???

 

Tryed swopping the leads round on the protocol to the PSU, nothing happens. Maybe from the test above ill see what happens. It could be a case of

a faulty PIC chip. As there is one in there with a label on it that says "Strand Hex".

 

You dont happen to know what the MRL Protocols are?

[Tom Baldwin]

Hi Steve,

 

Because RS-485 is electricall different to RS-232, it's not enough just to have a USB - RS-232 converter for your laptop, you will also need something that performs the electrical conversion from differential (RS-485) to single-ended (RS-232).

Hyperterminal is adequate (ish) to look at the protocol - ideally you want something that can dump out the binary values being transmitted, but you can still get an idea what's going on with such a simple terminal program.

 

If you can't get RS-485 into your laptop, you could still get some mileage out of looking at the raw trace on an oscilloscope. If you don't have one of those, then just connecting a bi-colour LED to the data pins would help - the colour should be static in the quiescent state, and flicker/ shift colour when commands are sent. If you see nothing/ no change, that might well suggest the RS-485 driver chip on the converter is dead.

 

I have a summary version of the protocol, if you PM me your email address, I'll send it over. It's a command based protocol (cf state-based DMX) which means there's less traffic to look at on a scope.

 

HTH,

 

Tom

 

P.S. where are you located? There might be someone near you who could help further.

P.P.S. to upload photos, use a free 3rd-party host like Photobucket or Imageshack.

[scheetham]

Tom

 

Great. I live in Manchester, so if there is anyone local that be great.

My Email address is:- steve.cheetham@virgin.net

 

I shall try using my oscilloscope and see what there is.

[swampman]

Check this parallel topic on Strand power suplies

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=14120

 

About a PC and RS232, older/desktop PCs had/have 9 and 25 pin serial connectors and a variety of pin positions and protocols (search the web...) but with a BASIC program running under MS-DOS/FreeDOS you can access the port and output serial data at different BAUD rate (speeds) and hack the system. Windows and Linux make direct port access more complicated since they are not designed for easily fiddling by normal users with that layer of hardware.

 

Pulsar demultiplexers (and FX I seem to remember) had this as a useful input option called PMX and it worked. It used the same connector as the DMX but the pin assignement was different: 1:GND, 2 signal, 3 signal GND; 4 no connection, 5:V+ for electronics in demultiplexer.

If you tied either the + or - signal to ground via a resistor (warning: at your risk of damage)and sent data you might receive/send something or you could locate an IC that does the conversion to a balance digital signal.

[scheetham]

Swampman - Thanks for the reply. I did see the topic

link that you provided. My PSU unit is

 

similar to that, but uses other connectors instead of the 5 pin

XLR's but the inners of that PSU is

 

the same as mine. I understand how the PSU works. It's the Protocol

Converter that im scratching my head with.

 

 

 

For example, how do I address the Protocol Unit.? Eg, say I wanted the

unit to be DMX Value 1?

 

 

 

Usedlighting - who I bought the parscans and kit from, say that the values

could be obtained from the Parscans themselves as they do

 

have binary thumbwheels on them.

 

 

 

Hopefully ill do the oscilloscope test tonight, as ive not had time this

weekend to play with them, so ill see if I can pick anything up from that.

 

 

 

But in the meantime, ive now managed to put the pics up of the Protocol unit

and the PSU on here.

 

So hopefully if anyone recognises them and help, that be great.

 

The PSU Below

 

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/daftyi/DSC04136.jpg

 

The Converter Below Inside the Converter below

 

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/daftyi/DSC04133.jpghttp://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/daftyi/DSC04134.jpg