Control/Dimming Help! - Dimmer Packs and DMX won't communicate

tjpeter95

New Member
My school has a theater program coming up soon. We lost our tech guy and now no one knows how to make our stage lights work!
Warning: I am totally new to this. There is a lot of lingo I am picking up as I read through instruction manuals, so I don't know if I am explaining everything perfectly.

Here's the equipment we are dealing with:
  • NSI DDS 9600 (There are two packs daisy chained together -- every light is plugged into this, Pack 1 has a label that reads "Channel 1-6" and Pack 2 reads "Channel 7-12")
  • ADJ DMX lightboard (It is attached to the dimmer packs via a plug on the rack, which the dimmers are also hooked to)
I know the lights and the dimmer packs are working and I know the lightboard is working, but I can't get them to function together. I have read the instruction manuals for each, but I can't figure out how to affix each channel on the dimmer boxes to a Fixture on the DMX operator. I read about MPX Addresses in the DDS manual and DMX addresses in the lightboard manual, but I am struggling to understand how they work or if I am doing/looking at the right thing as I flip the pieces of the dipswitch to program the board's fixtures.

Please help me -- how do I get these dimmer packs and DMX board to work together?
Let me know if there is more info necessary. I will provide what I can.
 
Hi and welcome to the booth.
Can you tell us the model of the ADJ light board?
For trouble shooting it can be easier to take the board to the dimmer and have only 1 DMX cable out of the board and plugged in to the dimmer.
Once you have that done (and I am going to make some guesses about your board) and everything is powered up slide the first fader up and see if you get anything.
Is there buttons down the left side labled scanners? If there is press the first one and repeat the fader movement to see what happens.
This is as far as I can take you without the model of the light board.
Regards
Geoff
 
Hi and welcome to the booth.
Can you tell us the model of the ADJ light board?
For trouble shooting it can be easier to take the board to the dimmer and have only 1 DMX cable out of the board and plugged in to the dimmer.
Once you have that done (and I am going to make some guesses about your board) and everything is powered up slide the first fader up and see if you get anything.
Is there buttons down the left side labled scanners? If there is press the first one and repeat the fader movement to see what happens.
This is as far as I can take you without the model of the light board.
Regards
Geoff
The ADJ board seems to just be called an "ADJ DMZ Operator" -- here is a link to the exact board https://www.adj.com/dmx-operator

There are buttons on the dimmer packs, but they are focus test buttons. When I hit them, they turn the lights on that are attached to that dimmer channel. At least I know the lights work! The only other buttons I see are the MPX address switches on the front.

The dimmer instruction manual shows a diagram with a board attached directly to the dimmer's daisy chain, but I was concerned: the DMX Operator's manual says not to plug it into a dimmer pack in the safety instructions.
 
The ADJ board seems to just be called an "ADJ DMZ Operator" -- here is a link to the exact board https://www.adj.com/dmx-operator

There are buttons on the dimmer packs, but they are focus test buttons. When I hit them, they turn the lights on that are attached to that dimmer channel. At least I know the lights work! The only other buttons I see are the MPX address switches on the front.

The dimmer instruction manual shows a diagram with a board attached directly to the dimmer's daisy chain, but I was concerned: the DMX Operator's manual says not to plug it into a dimmer pack in the safety instructions.
I see where you are worried about plugging into the dimmer pack. It refers to do not power the controller from a dimmer port. Only power it from a power outlet on the wall.
I was correct to get manual control over the fixtures you need to press the top left fixture button and then the first light on the first dimmer pack should come on.
The dimmer packs should have an address able to be set. in this case it should be set at 1 for the first pack and 7 for the second pack. I have not been able to find much info on the dimmer at this point in time so if you have a photo or a link then post it up for us to see.
Regards
Geoff
 
Ah, I misunderstood which plug it was warning me about. Good to know I won't burn anything down!

Here is the manual to the dimmer packs -- https://www.fullcompass.com/common/files/16542-Specsheet.pdf
You mention an address on the dimmer pack. That seems possible through the MPX address set by the dipswitch on the front. Page 8 of the manual talks about them -- but is a DMX address (the address for the board fixtures) the same as an MPX address (the address for the dimmer packs)? Unlike most videos I have watched to figure out how to program lights to the DMX Operator, the dimmer does not have a display that shows a channel number. Instead, it seems to need to set an address in binary.

If I set the binary code into the MPX address of the dimmer pack will that correlate to the channels of the DMX Operator's Fixture buttons?

Thanks for the help so far -- it really is much appreciated. Especially if you're really coming in from Australia (I hate to disturb your morning routine for my rookie problems).
 
Ah, I misunderstood which plug it was warning me about. Good to know I won't burn anything down!

Here is the manual to the dimmer packs -- https://www.fullcompass.com/common/files/16542-Specsheet.pdf
You mention an address on the dimmer pack. That seems possible through the MPX address set by the dipswitch on the front. Page 8 of the manual talks about them -- but is a DMX address (the address for the board fixtures) the same as an MPX address (the address for the dimmer packs)? Unlike most videos I have watched to figure out how to program lights to the DMX Operator, the dimmer does not have a display that shows a channel number. Instead, it seems to need to set an address in binary.

If I set the binary code into the MPX address of the dimmer pack will that correlate to the channels of the DMX Operator's Fixture buttons?

Thanks for the help so far -- it really is much appreciated. Especially if you're really coming in from Australia (I hate to disturb your morning routine for my rookie problems).
No problems. Remember experts were beginners once! I am enjoying my morning coffee at the moment. The dip switches for setting the address should be set as per the AMX settings.
I assume this all worked in the past? so on the first pack it should be 0000000 and the second pack 0110000 that gives address 1 and 7.
 
No problems. Remember experts were beginners once! I am enjoying my morning coffee at the moment. The dip switches for setting the address should be set as per the AMX settings.
I assume this all worked in the past? so on the first pack it should be 0000000 and the second pack 0110000 that gives address 1 and 7.
That would be logical -- however, the packs were set to codes that correspond with channel 54 and 60 from the manual. Do you think this has any significance or was someone just messing with buttons?
They definitely did work in the past, even if no one around me seems to know how!
 
Well that is a bit odd but made sense to someone I guess. use fixture button 4 and fader 6 that should bring up the first light. if that works then I would look at the addresses and decide if you can use 1-8 because that puts it on the first fixture. Take pictures of things before you change them and only change one thing at a time. That is the best trouble shooting process because if you change lots of things at once and it starts working you may never know what was wrong.
 
Very well. I will try that out and be sure to photograph everything. Thanks so much for the help. Have a nice day!
 

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