Analog to dmx converter?

jgels

Member
Hey all,
I have a very particular lighting challenge for a show I am working on. In the show we are going to be using a bike and a dynamo to create a small electric charge. The ideal is that we can then use this charge as an analogue signal and convert it to a dmx signal to control some lights of ours. The less ideal option is connecting it to an old analog dimmer.

So the question is, does anyone know of any adapters that will take analog signal and transform it to dmx signal? I see a lot of dmx to analogue to control architectural lighting but not necessarily the other way.

Also any old portable analogue dimmers you would recommend ?
 
The Leviton/NSI IF-501 will convert 4 channels of analog 0-10vdc to DMX or Microplex. There are several different versions of the IF-501, some of which do not do 0-10, so make sure you choose the correct one.
There are several internal jumpers that need to be set correctly as well. Check eBay.
 
Does it have to be based off the electric charge? I would worry that there is a lot of unknown with what sort of voltage and current the dynamo will output. I would suggest using an Arduino to monitor the speed and out put DMX accordingly. This Guide might be a good jumping off point for measuring the speed of the bike and then a little more digging should clue you into how to spit out DMX from an Arduino.
 
Ok so I got the Leviton/ NSI IF-501. I got a dc current dynamo. cant figure out what im doing wrong with my set up. Basically it goes dynamo, resistor to not get voltage too high, to the analog pins going into the box. Then from the box dmx to our lights.

Basically we got the analog pins going into the box and we are alligator clipping onto the positive and negative pins. Clearly we must be doing something wrong because it doesn't seem to be receiving the analog signal. Even when we just try connecting it to a 9v battery its non responsive.

Any ideas?
 

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I have used this interface box before but not in the configuration that is being used. I have a couple comments about this.

The manual mentions that the analog input will get merged with any DMX signal being applied to the DMX input. If you connected the box to a DMX console then do you see any signal on the output?

The resister in the picture is not really doing anything. There is no need for a resister with a power rating since the input current to the box will be low. If the voltage needs to be dropped from the dynamo then a resister divider with two resisters should work. Probably something in the 1K ohm range.
 
On the DIN 5-pin analog input jack, neg is the center (bottom) pin and positive input for channel 1 is top left, which would appear at the DMX start address if I remember correctly.
Set a fixture to DMX 001 and use your 9v battery to supply the analog signal.
It is possible that DMX start address switch #1 should be down for a start channel of 001 which could be verified if you have a DMX tester or just move it down
and see if your DMX fixture with address 001 responds. Edit: you may have to cycle the power for the new address to be read.
 
Its been a while since I've played with one of those NSI converters, but I remember having to move internal configuration jumpers around, in addition to the front panel config switch and DMX address switch. Make sure you have it set up exactly as per the instructions. If we get deep enough, ill be happy to unearth mime and we can do some comparative troubleshooting.
 
The guy who sold it to me set it all with the internal jumpers to be in the correct mode I believe. Will play around with some of these possibilities now and report back
 

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