Brentgi
Active Member
We just purchased 18 Chroma-Q Inspire's to replace 14" scoops that were used for house lighting. First of all, I'd like to state that I couldn't be happier with the product. It is RGBW and I love being able to dial in a decent color temp.
So here's the deal: I read through the documentation to see if there was a limitation to dmx addressing or if there were a certain number that I could put in the DMX line. Se as there were none, I went ahead and drew a plan that would connect all 18 fixtures together, obviously terminating the end.
The job required me to create my own cable terminations, and I checked each cable as I went along. The cable was attached to the ceiling and various beams using a mixture of cable staples and straps. The longest run was the initial run from the console (where we have an optobox) to the first fixture. Approx. 70'. From there, the average runs were between 16'-25'. Nothing too crazy.
The fixtures were tested and addressed on the ground before they were bolted to the ceiling. But once the installation was complete, only the first 3 fixtures would respond appropriately to commands. Other lights would flicker, while others would simply not do anything. This sounded like a terminator issue, but keep in mind that I made sure to put a terminator on the last fixture.
I called my sales rep to see if she new anything specific regarding these fixtures. She replied with an email: "Fleenor said he thinks it might be a cable only 8 units should be fine in 1 run under 1500ft." First glance, I agreed that it might be the cable. But then I don't know if I was confused by the lack of punctuation or what, but I thought it was strange that she said "only 8 units should be fine" and I was curious as to whether or not she meant to write 18 instead of 8.
Nonetheless, I started with the 8th fixture in and disconnected the remaining fixtures from the line. No dice. I did this with the 7th fixture as well... still only the first 3 fixtures responding. Finally, I disconnected the output of the 6th fixture and was able to gain control over the first six fixtures. My initial thought was that only six fixtures could be connected together. This was close to the "8" that I was thinking.
Meanwhile, I had decided to run them in sets of six. So I needed to go pick up some more DMX cable to get this working. On the way there, I got a call from the service dept. of Chroma-Q or AC lighting (I think they are the same?). The tech told me that there shouldn't be a problem with running all 18 fixtures in one sequence.
When I got back on campus, I got the bright idea of inspecting the cable between the 6th and 7th fixture. Sure enough, the person I had helping me had stapled through the cable in a couple of places. So the first thing that I did was replace the cable. To my disappointment, there was no change in behavior and the problem presented itself again.
So I ran a new line from the optobox to the 7th fixture, and I would not believe it, but I had no problem controlling fixtures 7 - 18 on the same run. So this pretty much put a wrench in the theory of only 6 lights in a run.
Being the good LD that I am, I put a terminator on the 6th fixture, and it started acting erratically. Took the terminator of, and it was fine.
Drawing my own conclusions, I would say that the 6th fixture has something wrong with the DMX out port and I am going to see if I can get the fixture replaced.
What are you thoughts?
p.s. the console is an ETC Element.
So here's the deal: I read through the documentation to see if there was a limitation to dmx addressing or if there were a certain number that I could put in the DMX line. Se as there were none, I went ahead and drew a plan that would connect all 18 fixtures together, obviously terminating the end.
The job required me to create my own cable terminations, and I checked each cable as I went along. The cable was attached to the ceiling and various beams using a mixture of cable staples and straps. The longest run was the initial run from the console (where we have an optobox) to the first fixture. Approx. 70'. From there, the average runs were between 16'-25'. Nothing too crazy.
The fixtures were tested and addressed on the ground before they were bolted to the ceiling. But once the installation was complete, only the first 3 fixtures would respond appropriately to commands. Other lights would flicker, while others would simply not do anything. This sounded like a terminator issue, but keep in mind that I made sure to put a terminator on the last fixture.
I called my sales rep to see if she new anything specific regarding these fixtures. She replied with an email: "Fleenor said he thinks it might be a cable only 8 units should be fine in 1 run under 1500ft." First glance, I agreed that it might be the cable. But then I don't know if I was confused by the lack of punctuation or what, but I thought it was strange that she said "only 8 units should be fine" and I was curious as to whether or not she meant to write 18 instead of 8.
Nonetheless, I started with the 8th fixture in and disconnected the remaining fixtures from the line. No dice. I did this with the 7th fixture as well... still only the first 3 fixtures responding. Finally, I disconnected the output of the 6th fixture and was able to gain control over the first six fixtures. My initial thought was that only six fixtures could be connected together. This was close to the "8" that I was thinking.
Meanwhile, I had decided to run them in sets of six. So I needed to go pick up some more DMX cable to get this working. On the way there, I got a call from the service dept. of Chroma-Q or AC lighting (I think they are the same?). The tech told me that there shouldn't be a problem with running all 18 fixtures in one sequence.
When I got back on campus, I got the bright idea of inspecting the cable between the 6th and 7th fixture. Sure enough, the person I had helping me had stapled through the cable in a couple of places. So the first thing that I did was replace the cable. To my disappointment, there was no change in behavior and the problem presented itself again.
So I ran a new line from the optobox to the 7th fixture, and I would not believe it, but I had no problem controlling fixtures 7 - 18 on the same run. So this pretty much put a wrench in the theory of only 6 lights in a run.
Being the good LD that I am, I put a terminator on the 6th fixture, and it started acting erratically. Took the terminator of, and it was fine.
Drawing my own conclusions, I would say that the 6th fixture has something wrong with the DMX out port and I am going to see if I can get the fixture replaced.
What are you thoughts?
p.s. the console is an ETC Element.