Okay, it seems that this thread took a slight detour into the world of "just because you can, doesn't mean you should..."
Kirk Starks or somebody else at
ETC can confirm, but I believe the
RFU cable is
DMX compliant, though generally not used for that type of data connection.
If the
wire was pulled according to
ETC Spec (Belden 9728 or approved equal), the only difference with the
RFU cable would be the extra set of conductors and shielding. Technically,
RFU uses the same type of underlying data
protocol (RS-485) that
DMX uses, so data transmission down the pairs would not be a problem.
One thing to remember is to make sure that the
adapter is wired correctly.
Don't
wire anything to pin 6, as that one carries
voltage.
You would actually want to make sure that you do more than that and make sure that you
wire on a shared twisted pair.
...will a 5 pin
DMX connector plug into a wired
RFU port, whatever the pin configuration?
Some 5 pin connectors do fit in the
RFU ports supplied by
ETC. However connecting
DMX straight into a
RFU port will split the Data+ and Data- onto different sets of twisted pairs.
You would want to
wire pins 2 and 3 of the
DMX connector to pins 2 and 1 respectively of the
RFU connector.
The next problem that comes into
play is the common/
shield. In
DMX, the
shield is a part of the specified cable and is wired to Pin 1. In
RFU, the common is specified as a seperate
conductor. That seperate
conductor, like the +12VDC
line, doesn't need to follow the rules of a
daisy chain topology, it only needs to be connected together. While it is uncommon to
home run those conductors while daisy chaining everything else, it has happened in the past. What that means: you may get flickering or unusual behavior connecting the
shield of
DMX to the common of
RFU. Therefore, you may wish to connect it to either pin 3 or 4 of the
RFU connector to maintain the
daisy chain.
Which ever way that you choose, be consistant.
You could also do a connection that sends
DMX data up the now-disconnected-from-the-Expression
RFU cable, and
send DMX back down the
DMX line that you
disconnect from the existing
console to
send DMX to the dimmers -IF there was no other
DMX port into the dimmers on
deck.
This would be the preferred method of this type of jury-rigging of the
system as,
with the properly built adapters, it would allow you to transmit
DMX to your
dimmer rack from the
stage, force you to
disconnect the Expression from the
RFU line reducing chances of
RFU voltage being directed to the
DMX line (and thus into the
dimmer rack), and make it unlikely that someone would leave it this way accidentally for a show or other time you needed to use the Expression in its home location.
However, if that is not the case, turning around the
RFU cable is going to be the best option. 2 new wall mount 5 pin
XLR jacks, 1x 2
foot DMX cable, 1x 30
foot DMX cable for on
stage, and a soldering
iron and your in business.
I would only recommend this if you:
A. are never going to use your
RFU again anywhere in your
system (except maybe directly connected to your
console), and
B. you know the wiring
layout of your
RFU runs to know where the actual start and stop of the
daisy chain is, and
C. you change all of the connectors to the appropriate
connector type (one output, the rest as inputs)
This is
not at all a typical method of operation and one I would usually
not recommend to a facility operating without a technician in charge that [fully] understands the way the system(s) function. It is only a work around to use un-used in the wall cables.
Emphasis added for agreement.
And finally, after my novel of a response, Derek:
Note to ETC wiki authors: The following is confusing...
I'll take a look at that soon, but as it is a open
wiki, if you happen to find a less confusing picture, feel free to post it