Inexpensive Wireless DMX

[john-sp]

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

[timsabre]

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.

[c0astman]

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.

[dbuckley]

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.

[john-sp]

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

 

 

 

[dmxlights]

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).

[sandall]

Those look a bit expensive. They have gone up a slightly since Christmas, but Amazon do a set of 6 for £120

[dbuckley]

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.

[Jivemaster]

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.

[dbuckley]

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!

[john-sp]

Very useful advice as ever. It has been passed on....

 

Thanks all, John