Color scroller question

n1ist

Well-Known Member
I just got my hands on some gel scrollers (PanCommand Color Ranger CR-100) but did not get the power supply for them. They have a 4 pin male XLR connector and rotary switches for group number (0-99) and address (1-10)
Judging from various posts, pin 1 is ground and pin 4 is +24 and it looks like pin 2 is data- and pin 3 is data+, but what format is the data? I applied power to 1 and 4, and it scrolled all the way to one end and homed itself to the start of the first panel, so that seems to be correct. Is the data DMX?
/mike
 
Agreed, trying to go low budget on something like a scroller just doesn't sound like a good idea. As I'm sure you know, those things really like to have "clean" power and the power supply will do all the regulating and data switching for you. I don't know the PanCommands but the powersupply should also give you error data, gel usage time, etc. Good luck.
 
Well, now I know why I got them so cheap; two are dead, one seems very flaky, and one looks OK. Mechanically, they are fine, so I will probably toss together a small board to take DMX and drive the motor. It's just a micro and an h-bridge... Thanks.
/mike
 
I just got my hands on some gel scrollers (PanCommand Color Ranger CR-100) but did not get the power supply for them. They have a 4 pin male XLR connector and rotary switches for group number (0-99) and address (1-10)
Judging from various posts, pin 1 is ground and pin 4 is +24 and it looks like pin 2 is data- and pin 3 is data+, but what format is the data? I applied power to 1 and 4, and it scrolled all the way to one end and homed itself to the start of the first panel, so that seems to be correct. Is the data DMX?
/mike

I am sorry to say but, from my current knowledge this company first of all does not exist any more and second of all is violating the USITT DMX 512 protocol. Very few scroller power supply units actually use pin 4 for +24 since the fact that probably everything else in your theater does not run +24 volts on pin 4 it is highly recommended that you do not use these scrollers or you could actually end up frying your lighting board or dimmers. Other wise make sure that the scroller and your PSU have the same pin config.
 
Actually, it doesn't violate DMX; the scroller has a 4-pin XLR (like most scrollers and gel rotators) so there's no chance of connecting it straight to a board... The protocol on pins 2 and 3 may be DMX, but the cabling isn't.
 
Actually, virtually all scroller power supplies provide +24v on pin 4. This is pretty much the standard.
-Fred

That is very true. The pinout of Apollo Smart Color scrollers, Chroma Q's, Rainbow scrollers, and the Wybron Forerunner product line all use the same pin configuration as stated earlier-

Pin 1 Ground
Pin 2 neg data
Pin 3 pos data
Pin 4 Positive 24V DC

N1st, how are you certain two of the scrollers are 'shot'? Is there an issue with the PC board, or are there other signs of electrical/mechanical failure?
 
Just my guess based on the smell :) It looks like they want to to draw about 250mA from pin 1 (at 22-24V) which toasts a 4.7 ohm 1/4W resistor in series with pin 4. For that value resistor, it either shouldn't be pulling more than 200mA... I can fix the resistor, but need to trace the circuit a little further before I will power it up again.

OK, I did a bit of further checking. Just because the plug fits, doesn't mean it should :) This scroller has pin1 as rs485-, pin 2 as rs485+, pin 3 as gnd and pin 4 as +24. There is a clamp on the rs485 that tried to dump the return current thru the 4.7 ohm resistor, which is why it blew. I guess when I first tried it, the negative cliplead must have grounded out to the connector frame which is why that worked (I didn't have any 4-pin XLRs on hand). Now to make a correct cable and see if it will respond to DMX.

/mike
 
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That Looks like a standard DMX power supply that everyone else uses for color scrollers, I-cues, gobo rotators, etc... There are at least a dozen companies out there that make them. Shouldn't be hard to find one at your local theater dealer or on line.

I think Apollo makes a small one that runs around $125.
 
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<This scroller has pin1 as rs485-, pin 2 as rs485+, pin 3 as gnd and pin 4 as +24.> THAT would make an Apollo or similar PSU very unhappy...
 
Sorry Fred, Twisting my head sideways to read a PDF with a 3 year old sitting on my lap being crazy sort of through off my game. Yep, looks like you need to purchase a special morpheous version of a power supply.
 
Silly question, but instead of hunting around for a weird or specialized power supply, why don't you pull out the XLR jack and rewire it for a "standard" 4-pin PSU? Or if you don't want to mess with the unit internally, just make up some 4-pin jumpers that adapt from the wrong configuration to the correct configuration. Then if you ever want to bring in other scrollers or other 4-pin devices on the same PSU, your set.
 
<just make up some 4-pin jumpers that adapt from the wrong configuration to the correct configuration. >

While this could be done, please label the jumpers with bright gaffer tape (I know, wrong thread...) and what these jumpers are. Jerry-rigged components have a tendency to never to away, even when you want them to. While these may be in your care, it's hard to guess where these scrollers and jumpers may wind up down the road.....
 
Thanks for the pointer to Morpheus; the manual for the ColorFader gave the other tidbit of info - the mapping from group and address to DMX channel. Setting the internal switch to position 5 (ETC Expression) puts it in DMX mode.

Since I don't have any other scrollers, I will wire up a custom cable going from the 4-pin XLR to two DMX XLRs and a laptop brick for power. I will label it as only for the ColorRangers to avoid smoking anything else :)

/mike
 
Before you go butchering a laptop power supply, I think you may be better off with the idea posted earlier about making 4-pin to 4-pin adapters and using a normal scroller PSU. Here is why, scrollers, believe it or not, draw a lot of power. You generally need a PSU that can supply 150W to power 4 or 5 scrollers, and most computer PSU's don't supply that much. Also most scroller PSU's provide opto-isolation between the DMX feed and scroller outputs.

You really are better off using devices that do what they are designed to do, so, a scroller PSU for scrollers, and a computer PSU for a computer.
 
Before you go butchering a laptop power supply, I think you may be better off with the idea posted earlier about making 4-pin to 4-pin adapters and using a normal scroller PSU. Here is why, scrollers, believe it or not, draw a lot of power. You generally need a PSU that can supply 150W to power 4 or 5 scrollers, and most computer PSU's don't supply that much. Also most scroller PSU's provide opto-isolation between the DMX feed and scroller outputs.
You really are better off using devices that do what they are designed to do, so, a scroller PSU for scrollers, and a computer PSU for a computer.

Or in other words, if you blow something up don't come here asking how to fix it. Very expensive consoles and whatever else is on your DMX chain are not any fun to have to send out to repair.
 

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