Recent content by MikeDonovan

Hello. What’s the better practice when using 3-pin XLR connectors with 4-wire plus shield cable? Should wires 4 and 5 be soldered to pins 2 and 3, or simply left disconnected? I’ve come across cables of both varieties. What are the advantages and disadvantages for each method? Obviously, 5 pin...

Here’s the opinion of a festival designer: I’ve seen a lot of designers come through my festivals with a lot of different acts. Their shows have ranged from punt shows off of my house files, up to fully automated time code shows. Regardless of how the shows are played-back (punt, operator...

Hello. Can someone suggest a source for reliable DMX-512 Terminators? I’m like to add 20-25 XLR5 terminators to my personal kit. I’m based in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Thank you.

Canadian here, but still respectful of flags. Please pardon me if my suggestion goes against the US Flag Code. Could you set up some tables, or chairs to take the bulk of the flag as you tie it to the batten? Could a couple of people then guide it as the batten flies out? On a related note...

So is the jury still out on the dependability of sending Art-Net or sACN directly to fixtures through a fixture-to-fixture daisy chain of Cat6 EtherCON?Isn’t it strange that fixture have these connectors and can accept these protocols if the industry isn’t ready to accept them as a standard?

I don’t intend to use a fixture to convert from network to DMX, then pass that DMX to other fixtures. I have nodes for that. I want to send sACN right to the fixture with EtherCON and daisy chain onward with EtherCON. The DMX would be ‘embedded’ in the sACN.

I was skeptical as well of the comment when it was mentioned. I don’t have access to the actual fixtures yet, but according to the manual, they accept Art-Net and sACN and are IP addressable. I’m 95% comfortable in saying that the 2 RJ45 connectors are a network in and out, used for...

Hi Rob. I’ve been looking at your switches. They’re definitely a front runner for my rig. One concern I’ve heard is that the network ports on the fixtures themselves are not switches, simply ports wired together in parallel, which would lead to problems further down the line. Have you, or...

Hello. I have a festival coming up in June, and we’re considering wiring the majority of the rig with Cat6 and sending sACN or Art-Net directly to the fixtures. How reliable is this? I reached out to a lighting forum on Facebook and got mixed reviews.Last year, we wired the entire rig with...

Does ChamSys have palette filters?Just thinking as an MA guy here, but this might help. I can use preset (MA for palettes) filters to include certain attributes. With Camsys, can you update your palettes with only the colour attribute selected in your filter, thereby removing dimmer information?

I was taught to lay out the console based on stage volume, either acoustic or from backline. Drums, bass, electric guitars, keys, horns, strings, any other instruments, vocals.

We don’t officially require them for operators or passengers of lifts.Where we do require it is people who are working on the ground, near the lift. This is especially true of the ground person who is assisting the person in the lift. Also, on a busy site with other companies involved, we...

Thanks for all of your help.

Not quite. The Wall is happy running in 120V with 0V on the neutral (in relation to ground) but to save on current draw, we'd like to run it in 208V. So the question is if the wall would be happy with 2 hots, each at 120V to ground and no neutral wire. The 3-wire connection coming from our 208V...

Thank you. It is not the voltage itself that concerns me, but the relationship between the two wires and how the power supply would react. But if each Hot acts to complete the circuit for the other (in the same way a MAC700 does) it will be ok, yes?