Control/Dimming Chauvet Datastream4 DMX Splitter

k_dipietro

Member
Hey All,

The company I work for just picked up a new Chauvet Datastream4 DMX Splitter, and I'm only noticing now as I read the manual that apparently this particular splitter doesn't work well with Dimmers. To be specific, I think that the signal after being boosted doesn't play nicely with the DMX inputs on a dimmer but I'm unsure. Tried to search further on their website (and on Control Booth) but haven't found anything yet. I believe that I've noticed this problem before on another unit we own, but I thought the amplified ports on the unit were buggy because when I moved the cable to the Thru port the dimmers worked fine.

Wondering if anyone could shed some light on why this would be an issue, and if anyone has experienced this before with this model? Did you end up purchasing another model (around the same price range) that did properly support Dimmers?

Thanks for your help!
 
It looks to me more like that manual is telling you not to power the splitter with a dimmer, even set to non-dim (which is good advice for anything that isn't an incandescent lamp). I didn't see anything in there about it causing problems on the data side. The dmx chip inside your dimmers isn't likely to be substantially different from the dmx chip inside anything else.
 
I agree. Data is data. The only difference is refresh rate, which is from the controller, not a splitter. In some rare instances it might make a difference to a splitter, but it would be a pretty rare instance. it's a simplistic rule, but dimmers are for lamps. Not anything with a motor or a transistor.
 
All makes sense, thanks for your advice. I believe we did have a refresh rate issue with one of the splitters once, so perhaps that's it. Reason why I was asking in the first place was because on the cover page of the Datastream manual there's a snapshot section listing features, and one of the lines says "OK on Dimmer: NO". There's no further explanation other than that, which is why I ask, but you're both most likely right about not powering it off a dimmer.

Thanks for your help!
 
Hey All,

The company I work for just picked up a new Chauvet Datastream4 DMX Splitter, and I'm only noticing now as I read the manual that apparently this particular splitter doesn't work well with Dimmers. To be specific, I think that the signal after being boosted doesn't play nicely with the DMX inputs on a dimmer but I'm unsure. Tried to search further on their website (and on Control Booth) but haven't found anything yet. I believe that I've noticed this problem before on another unit we own, but I thought the amplified ports on the unit were buggy because when I moved the cable to the Thru port the dimmers worked fine.

Wondering if anyone could shed some light on why this would be an issue, and if anyone has experienced this before with this model? Did you end up purchasing another model (around the same price range) that did properly support Dimmers?

Thanks for your help!
What kind of dimmers are you using? I've had no trouble with Elation or Leprecon tree-pack dimmers on split ports.
 

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