ETC Link ports- DMX?

Uncle Dirtnap

Active Member
If you look through my prior posts you'll see the local high school theater I'm working with has had some instability with their old colortran Innovator light board for the past few years. The theater was built in the 90s, and has 2 ETC sensor racks and originally had an old expression board.

One of the other parents stumbled across an ETC Express and we picked it up. I'm going to be setting it up, and had a few questions for the hive mind.

In the booth, there is a panel with the 6 pin ETCLink connector. This is currently plugged into the DMX out on the colortran, so I assume they are using the ETCLink wiring to carry DMX. There are no DMX ports I can find.

I thought the 6 pin ETCLink just carried dimmer feedback information, not control information or DMX, meaning I will also need DMX to the sensor racks? Why are there 2 or 3 ETC Link wall ports- just for other possible board placements?

Thanks- been reading antique networking marketing literature and it is flashing me back to my Novel certification.

-rj
 
It sounds like someone repurposed the face plate and connector to carry DMX. At the other end by the dimmers the cable is probably wired to the dmx input.

At least this is what my really smart systems folks said.
 
While you could maybe rewire the installation to use ETClink, it would be simpler to unplug the DMX from the Colortran board and plug it into the Express DMX port. If you really want to rewire something, replace the 6-pin wall plate with a 5-pin XLR to reduce future confusion.

ETClink is proprietary and obsolete, making it difficult to quickly swap consoles if your Express fails. ETClink is an ethernet-ish protocol so it does not carry DMX directly.
 
If you look through my prior posts you'll see the local high school theater I'm working with has had some instability with their old colortran Innovator light board for the past few years. The theater was built in the 90s, and has 2 ETC sensor racks and originally had an old expression board.

One of the other parents stumbled across an ETC Express and we picked it up. I'm going to be setting it up, and had a few questions for the hive mind.

In the booth, there is a panel with the 6 pin ETCLink connector. This is currently plugged into the DMX out on the colortran, so I assume they are using the ETCLink wiring to carry DMX. There are no DMX ports I can find.

I thought the 6 pin ETCLink just carried dimmer feedback information, not control information or DMX, meaning I will also need DMX to the sensor racks? Why are there 2 or 3 ETC Link wall ports- just for other possible board placements?

Thanks- been reading antique networking marketing literature and it is flashing me back to my Novel certification.

-rj

Curious as to why there’s a permanent Link port in the booth, but no DMX. No point to Link if the console can’t send DMX to the dimmers from the same location. Maybe do some more searching.

And yes, Link is a feedback system from Sensor dimmers to an ETC console, uses a 6 pin XLR connector. The wiring is DMX compatible so sometimes gets re-used for that, but a 6 to 5 adapter would be needed, unless somebody swapped the plate connector to 5 pin and didn’t change the label.
 
What everyone else has said.

Etclink while nice. The only reason to make the switch back is for some added info sent to the board.

Gonna go with label didn’t get changed.
 
I was completely wrong!!!!

There is another wall plate with 'data' and 'Remote focus', both of which tie into the colortran. The ETCLink and ETCNet ports are unused. So data is DMX. Hopefully the dimmers are plugged into the ETCLink, and I just need to scrounge a cable. ETCNet is an interesting addition- I'm going to have to see if it provides a way for us to have access to the extra universe on our board without additional wiring-

-rj
 
I was completely wrong!!!!
ETCNet is an interesting addition- I'm going to have to see if it provides a way for us to have access to the extra universe on our board without additional wiring-

-rj

If the ETCNet port is RJ45/Cat 5 it can handle DMX on that wiring. Really, Really old ETCNet 1 used ThinNet on coaxial cable and BNC connectors. That's not good for what you want to do.
 
Spent the afternoon getting the Express hooked up. The colortran RFU won't work, and the ETCLink isn't responding, but otherwise things are good. There is a RJ45 ETCnet port in the wall, but I'm not sure where else it goes except for midhouse by the sound board.

Could I use the RFU as a DMX out? Seems like an easy cable solution. There are a few 'DMX in' ports in the wings, but nothing for DMX out. Would the DMX in work as DMX out with a gender change?

-rj
 
Spent the afternoon getting the Express hooked up. The colortran RFU won't work, and the ETCLink isn't responding, but otherwise things are good. There is a RJ45 ETCnet port in the wall, but I'm not sure where else it goes except for midhouse by the sound board.

Could I use the RFU as a DMX out? Seems like an easy cable solution. There are a few 'DMX in' ports in the wings, but nothing for DMX out. Would the DMX in work as DMX out with a gender change?

-rj

RJ45 would likely be connection points for an ETC Net1 system, so possibly another single receptacle backstage or in the house ?. On an Express level, you would need a Net1 Remote Video Interface, where you would get a video for an LD, as well as a connection for an RFU. Net1 never used network switches, so probably only one run to somewhere.

The console RFU connection cannot send DMX, if that’s what you are asking. An RFU connection in the booth would typically be to connect the console RFU port via 6 pin XLR to connections backstage, etc.. to allow RFU use. You can repurpose that cabling for DMX with 5 to 6 adapters.
 
You need to map out the wires.

The easiest way is to get drawings for the last major renovation. Go to the maintenance dept, district facilities office or even ETC themselves!!

Determine which run are 'touch n go' and which are independent runs. DMX inputs, ETCnet and RFU connections are often done with such daisy chain methods. I find the best way (and the most work) is to open the boxes at all points and see what the wires do. You may even have to cut a line to break those chains so you can test each part. An electrical circuit finder ("sniffer") is the easiest tool.

DMX input can start in the booth or on stage opposite the dimmers. It ends in the dimmers or architectural control device. Typically there is only one input run, so converting it to output would be hard.
Console RFUs end at the booth and are often seen all over the catwalks and backstage.
ETCnet is nothing like a modern ethernet. I suspect CAT3 wire.

None of that means you can't take a twisted wire pair (and shield) off a connector and put it on something else. RFU wire can be 3 pairs! I've been creative in similar aged places and gotten outputs for 2 universes on stage.
 
"flows both ways"? No, that would acting like a Y splitter and cause all sorts of signal issues. But the 2nd pair is probably unused...
 
You should contact Phone Support at the Factory to see if they can send you a PDF of the control riser for that system. If possible go to the CEM module of either of the dimmer racks and select "About", "System" and then scroll right and should see either the system name, job number or both. This will help them locate the information you need. If this was a new installation it's always possible that the working name is different from the final. Any and all information you can provide PS will definitely help them.

Lin Wheeler
ETC, Inc
 
These 'call ETC' responses are absolutely the most fantastically true statements ever. I now have a complete schematic if the theare, list of original equiptment, original patch charts, circuiting diagrams. It's the holy grail. Thank you!

I was hesitant - calling a company for support 25 years later doesn't seem feasible. They are incredible.

-rj
 

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