john-sp Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Does anybody have experience of the cheap wireless DMX units around such as these. We have a customer who is looking for 21 systems for a project in a church where cable runs are an issue. As a noise boy I have very little experience with wireless DMX and have always held the view that if it can be done with a wire it will be cheaper and more reliable! It would be nice to use a more expensive named system but the customer's budget does not stretch that far. Any thoughts and guidance are welcome. Thanks in advance, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 if it can be done with a wire it will be cheaper and more reliable! You have already found the answer... One of the main drawbacks with those plug type wireless devices is that each one has a wall-wart type power supply which turns a small neat solution into a messy one.The other problem I have had with low power 2.4ghz devices like these is that they work fine in an empty room but when you get a lot of people in there blocking the signal and also lots of mobile phones in there pinging for wifi the reliability becomes very poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0astman Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 I've used similar devices in a 300 seat auditorium for the last couple of years. The transmitter is on the stage rather than at the lighting desk so distances are much reduced. I also use multiple receivers so the impact of a failure is reduced. I have 20 units bought direct from china. I've had one failure. I wouldn't use them as my main way of getting DMX from the desk to the stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Yeah, I use these type of devices, albeit in a different form factors, for getting DMX to hard-to-reach places. I keep the transmitter and receivers reasonably close, ie under 100ft. They work just fine. I assume you mean 21 receivers and one transmitter; I think from memory there is eight available frequencies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john-sp Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 Thanks everybody for your help, I've passed on your comments to the customer and I think we are going to carry out a few experiments with them to find the best solution. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmxlights Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I have these and have stopped using them. I had one light that failed and started sending its own DMX and upset and lost control of the lights because the recever can be used as a transmitter as well. I did not know this at the time it happened. It was after I done some test on them and found this out now I will not use them for something important. Also I found that when using more that 3 i.e. 2 recevers and 1 transmitter they would mess with wifi and it would stop. Put a gender changer on them cheep ones and you can use it to transmitte DMX. I have bought ones from Thoman http://www.thomann.de/ie/varytec_wtrdmx_transmitterreceiver.htm they have a switch on them and can be switched from tranmitter to recever. ok they are not neet but very reliable and do not mess with wifi. I have 15 of these and had about 10 of them on the go at the same time with no problems transmitting 2 differen universe. Also never had them dropping out with a room full of people (400 to 500). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandall Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Those look a bit expensive. They have gone up a slightly since Christmas, but Amazon do a set of 6 for £120 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Put a gender changer on them cheep ones and you can use it to transmitte DMX. Yes, each of the devices is a transceiver. If you feed it DMX, it will transmit, otherwise it receives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 A friend had some wireless DMX which made him unpopular when he wiped out the wireless voting for a competition at the event. Watch your transmitters actually do comply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 These elcheapos have a number of specified spot frequencies, and the box units with a display show what it is, its a narrowband signal. I've not had any issues running one channel of them alongside WiFi, but that is a sample size of one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john-sp Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Very useful advice as ever. It has been passed on.... Thanks all, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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