ETC Source 4wrd & DMX Loss

Brentgi

Active Member
I recently installed some Source 4wrd retrofits. I am really happy with these fixtures and they perform as advertised. Great job ETC!

However, one thing that I cringe to think about...

When the S4wrd loses DMX, the light goes out. And there's no way to change DMX loss behavior.

Just hope the desk doesn't quit in the middle of the show or no one bumps the splitter. Or else it's going to get dark.
 
If you have DMX gateways/nodes, depending on which flavor you have you should be able to configure the loss behavior to Hold Last Look. If your distribution is console direct to fixtures or through opto-splitters you're probably out of luck.
 
If you have DMX gateways/nodes, depending on which flavor you have you should be able to configure the loss behavior to Hold Last Look. If your distribution is console direct to fixtures or through opto-splitters you're probably out of luck.

Yup, I'm working with the latter. I wouldn't mind going the direction of gateway, though. Maybe you'd be willing to share your suggestions on an inexpensive gateway with loss behavior control?
 
While I love using Arduino, I would never use one in line with my rig in a mission critical situation. They may work fine, but are not heavily tested for reliability, and there would be no vendor support. Look at Pathway and Enttec products.
 
While I love using Arduino, I would never use one in line with my rig in a mission critical situation. They may work fine, but are not heavily tested for reliability, and there would be no vendor support. Look at Pathway and Enttec products.

I've got a nano running in my wall right now for architectural control. While I agree show dependent applications might not be sound, there's a lot to be said for the ATMega chips with no boot time and low power needs. Mine's been running now for a few months with nary an issue. I'm planning to do a bit of a writeup on it since it has proven itself to be a useful addition to our space.

The shield uses a serial data line from the Arduino and just houses the RS-485 chip that converts the DMX into the correct balanced protocol. Most of the shields enable the RDM functionality, but I haven't seen definitively that any of the software libraries for Arduino actually support it. Most stuff I found online gets to the point of sending data, but not much past that. I think it's possible, but I can't speak to that point. I ended up buying a shield, but it didn't have isolation so I made my own which added a DC-DC converter and an optocoupler. When I get some time I'll put a build guide together.

Thinking further, to use one to solve OP's problem would probably require multiple shields since you'd need one to act as a receiver and the other as a master for the next leg and you'd want to electrically isolate both runs. It would also be tricky with coding and I'm not sure if the Arduino could handle processing one stream and then resending with coding that would get it to hold on signal loss. But as a simple send device I've found it particularly useful.
 

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