A response from a friend of mine from way back, that checks into
Controlbooth but doesn't post or join as he should.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Hebbard
To: Brian Shipinski
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 7:37 PM
Subject: RE: Control Booth
Strand CD80AE
Hello Bri' and welcome to 2009!
There's a fellow posting on Control Booth regarding having a
Strand CD80AE
dimmer rack currently running AMX-192 from a
Strand Lightboard M and asking how to have his
dimmer rack receive DMX-512.
Several respectable folks have posted advising he look into Johnson Systems' control electronics and / or an
AMX>
DMX converter.
Even Kelite and footer have it wrong.
The info posted is correct for the original
Strand CD80 but not for the newer CD80AE (Advanced Electronics).
As the OP suggests, his CD80AE will work with either AMX-192 or DMX-512.
As to how you change it, you simply feed it whichever
protocol you want and it'll wake up, think for a couple of seconds, and happily respond to whatever you're sending it.
Of course you have to be sending the correct
protocol to the correct input terminals.
There's a CD80AE rack in my neighbourhood.
It's old
console is an original
Strand Mini-Palette, one of the white plastic jobbies with a single mono-chrome
monitor built in and which speaks AMX-192 only. A few years back, they purchased an
ETC Express which speaks DMX-512 only. Whichever
console they
power up, the rack recognizes the
protocol and goes to work.
Additionally, they have several 9
button wall stations for routine daily control and these run on yet another
protocol which works seamlessly in the background.
Possibly you could explain this to Kelite, quietly in the background as opposed to challenging him publicly.
The OP came back later in the thread having read his old paper
manual that his school keeps on top of their rack.
He should heed the
manual and don't let anyone take it away from the rack.
He ought to make a few photocopies of his
manual as well.
One more little tidbit to file away regarding
Strand CD80AE racks.
Strand offered a compact handheld "Rack
Programmer", at an exorbitant price, exclusively for storing cues and adjusting internal settings within CD80AE's.
What
Strand didn't make public knowledge is that the rack
programmer is absolutely identical to the old LP90
console's focus remote.
The EXACT same
unit with the only change being the plastic
overlay labelling the buttons.
No, it didn't require different internal programming.
Yes it's EXACTLY the same
unit.
Yes I know this for a fact as I've tried it decades ago, O.K., not quite decades but back in 1991.
Strand would like you to think the
programmer only looks similar but requires special software.
Nope! Not true.
Either
unit does either job as long as you know which buttons do which functions.
There! I've put it in writing in an e-mail!!
From memory, I believe there's a large, old, reputable
Strand dealer in your city.
Any of their techs with 20, or more, years of
Strand expertise ought to still remember the CD80AE's and their programmers.
Maybe someday Control Booth will let me post there again.
I'm not sure what went wrong, I used to be able to post on Control Booth but not for the past several years.
Take care Sir!
Toodleoo!
Ron