DMX adapters

[Pdnate]

Hi folks, I need to make a 5 to 4 pin DMX adapter. Anyone have a diagram? I purchases an City Theatrical DMXCat to figure out some issues I was having and the unit is only 5 pin. That is great for my ETC LED's but not so good for a lot of DMX accessories, like iCues and DMX Irises.

 

[sk8rsdad]

5-pin to 4-pin isn’t a thing. 4-pin usually means a pair of wires is carrying DMX data and the other pair is carrying power, usually enough to fry the DMX transceiver if wired incorrectly. The power supply usually handles passing on the DMX data on the proper pair. Do you have the power supply for the accessory?

 

[Pdnate]

I am using a Rosco PSU that has 5 and 4 pin out. The units I want to check are my iCues (4pin) and Apollo EZ DMX irises (4pin).

 

[Amiers]

This?

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You really shouldn’t plug in something other than the listed devices for the PSU. You will either blow something or under power it and it won’t do anything.

 

[danTt]

Plug your dmxcat into the power supply data input. It will pass dmx to the units attached to it.

 

[GreyWyvern]

In a 4-pin cable, pins 2 and 3 carry the data and pins 1 and 4 carry DC power to power the unit. If you were to make a 5-pin to 4-pin cable to plug into your devices, they would not work since they are only getting data but no power, like a moving head fixture that isn't plugged into AC and just has data going to it. The power supply receives data through the 5-pin connectors and sends it out through the 4-pin connectors along with power. That being said, is there a way to make it work using the theoretical 5-pin to 4-pin cable? Yes, but I'm not going to say it here so that I can't be blamed for any damage to equipment.

 

[Dan Fischer]

DMX:
3 pin to 5 pin. No problem
5 pin to 3 pin. No problem
DMX conversion to 4 pin is a no fly zone. This carries voltage and signal. 4 pin is most commonly seen on color scrollers. I wouldn't mess with that.

 

[James Suit]

Hey, @Pdnate - your DMX cat will connect to the 5-pin male DMX connector on the PSU-50. The PSU-50 then passes along both 24Vdc power AND the DMX to the Icues and EZ Irises. To check them, set up the PSU-50 as you normally would for show, plug the Icues or irises in with a 4-pin cable, and connect the DMXcat to the PSU-50's DMX-IN port - you'll be good to go. If you're having other issues with those devices, may be best to check them and see what the hivemind here has to say about possibly solutions - they can be tricky!

 

[Gobokat]

If you're going to be doing a lot of testing/repair of Iris slot accessories and scrollers (i.e. XLR4 gear) just get a small power supply like the Apollo SmartPower-75 - - then you can just plug in your DMX source to the XLR5 and plug in the xlr4 to your accessory and off you go - just be sure the device conforms to the Forerunner/Apollo pin configuration.