Running Cat5 directly into Ion

StephIsabel

Member
Hi all,

I have a very low-end LED controller with Cat5 ports that I am trying to run directly into an ETC Ion. I can't seem to make the light board see the controller, although the controller claims it can go directly into any DMX control system. I have tried all of the deep settings in the shell of the Ion to no avail. Anybody run into this problem?
 
Nothing is broken.

The Ion console does not accept DMX input from another console. I assume you might be trying to read DMX or other channel values from the other console ?, to use somehow in the Ion ?.

The LED controller information about DMX means it can talk to dimmers and other devices that use DMX as the method to receive console data.

Ion, being another controller, has no method to interface with a console via another consoles DMX output. Ion can interface on an ETC Net 2 or sACN network with assorted other devices via the Cat5 port. In that setup it can work with ETC remote focus units, a WiFi router and other devices running compatible software (iOS remote console software, same in Android, or OSC controls), as well as dimmers, other ETC consoles (as backup as example), as well as gateways and nodes outputting DMX to dimmers and devices.
 
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You can't use a standard cat5 patch cord from one device to another - need to connect all to a switch. That's a very simple view, best I'm capable of. There are special patch cords that can connect two devices - mine us yellow (or red - I don't recall for sure - maybe purple - just not blue or grey).
 
You can't use a standard cat5 patch cord from one device to another - need to connect all to a switch. That's a very simple view, best I'm capable of. There are special patch cords that can connect two devices - mine us yellow (or red - I don't recall for sure - maybe purple - just not blue or grey).

Color of jacket on cat5 is not standard. The special connectors have been called cross over cable but I don't believe every device can handle direct connections.

However what is likely happening here is he has an LED driver for an LED strip that uses cat5 as the input for dmx. I've seen a couple of these pop up once in a while so all that's needed is to find the pinout of the device and make a dmx adapter to change from 5 pin or 3 pin whichever you are using to Ethernet.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
 
Bill has the answer. You need to connect both devices to a network switch (not on the internet please!) for this to work. Otherwise the typical colour for a "crossover" cable is a yellow jacket (though standard patch cables do come in the yellow variety, they simply will not work!). Hope this helps.
 
OK - then high likelihood that if the patch cord is blue or grey and not home made, it's not a crossover cable. If you have to rely on color - like me - you need help. :) Switches are cheap and avoid this problem. That is assuming the device is indeed looking for network and not dmx.
 
Bill has the answer. You need to connect both devices to a network switch (not on the internet please!) for this to work. Otherwise the typical colour for a "crossover" cable is a yellow jacket (though standard patch cables do come in the yellow variety, they simply will not work!). Hope this helps.

Just to add, crossover cables are no longer needed for most modern equipment. Auto MDI-X is now built into most equipment to automatically detect the cable type used and compensate for it.
 
Just to add, crossover cables are no longer needed for most modern equipment. Auto MDI-X is now built into most equipment to automatically detect the cable type used and compensate for it.
True. Though crossovers are always my first thought (thanks to the guys @cisco for beating it into my head), especially when dealing with older devices.
 
This is what I call a "ghost post'.

A week and a half of answers and no further comments or questions from the OP.
 

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